Gaza: hunger is “worse than the bombings”

Gaza famine constitutes ‘form of genocidal violence’, say 10 human rights experts

After nine months of a near-total Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid, 10 United Nations experts said Tuesday they had seen enough and that Israel was waging a “targeted starvation campaign” in Gaza.

“We declare that Israel’s intentional and targeted campaign of starvation against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine throughout the Gaza Strip,” the experts said.

“We call on the international community to prioritize the delivery of humanitarian aid by land by all necessary means, to end the siege of Israel and to establish a ceasefire,” they added.

Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the right to food, together with other experts such as Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, and Paula Gaviria Betancur, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, issued the statement.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 33 children, mainly in the northern Gaza Strip, have died of malnutrition since the war began in October.

The group of ten human rights experts cited the deaths of three children aged 13, nine and six months due to malnutrition in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah since the end of May, leading them to assert that a famine is taking hold.

“With the deaths of these children from starvation despite medical treatment in central Gaza, there is no doubt that famine has spread from northern Gaza to central and southern Gaza,” the experts said.

Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva called the statement “disinformation.” “Israel has continued to strengthen its coordination and assistance in delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, recently connecting its power line to the Gaza water desalination plant,” the mission said.

Starvation for months

In June, a report by an independent group of experts known as the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, or Fews Net, warned that famine in Gaza may have been ongoing since April and will likely continue through July “if there is no fundamental change in the way food aid is distributed and accessed” after it enters the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to block the Rafah crossing with Egypt and restrict the entry of aid through the Karem Shalom crossing with the southern Gaza Strip.

“Population’s access to and use of available food assistance has been insufficient to meet needs to date, and much more must be done immediately to ensure that humanitarian food assistance is distributed effectively once it enters Gaza,” the report said.

The US-based organization Fews Net conducted its analysis of the Gaza famine based on three conditions: food consumption, acute malnutrition and mortality.

He concluded that the spike in mortality rates in the besieged enclave is directly linked to “near” famine levels, and that “extremely high” rates of malnutrition among children will lead to severe physiological impacts.

However, famine thresholds were reached in the northern Gaza Strip in April.

Translation: JB for Palestine Media Agency

Source: Middle East Eye