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The Btselem does not say Gaza is in famine, it says there is significant risk that famine will be declared in six months
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|causes=[[2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip|Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip]], airstrikes, and limitation of aid}}
|causes=[[2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip|Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip]], airstrikes, and limitation of aid}}


There is a [[famine]] in the [[Gaza Strip]] as a result of the 2023 [[Israel–Hamas war]]. The famine derives from Israeli airstrikes that have destroyed food infrastructure, such as bakeries and flour mills, and a widespread scarcity of essential supplies.{{efn|The Israeli NGO [[Btselem]] has stated the famine is a direct outcome of Israeli policy: "This reality is not a byproduct of war, but a direct result of Israel's declared policy. Residents now depend entirely on food supplies from outside Gaza, as they can no longer produce almost any food themselves. Most cultivated fields have been destroyed, and accessing open areas during the war is dangerous in any case. Bakeries, factories and food warehouses have been bombed or shut down due to lack of basic supplies, fuel and electricity."<ref name="Israel is starving">{{cite web |title=Israel is starving Gaza |url=https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20240108_israel_is_starving_gaza |website=[[B'Tselem]] |access-date=17 January 2024 |date=8 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213200043/https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20240108_israel_is_starving_gaza |archive-date=13 February 2024}}</ref>}} This has left over half a million Gazans on the brink of starvation and is part of a broader [[Gaza humanitarian crisis (2023–present)|humanitarian crisis]] in the Strip.
There is a catastrophic-level food crisis with increasing risk [[famine]] in the [[Gaza Strip]] as a result of the 2023 [[Israel–Hamas war]]. The crisis derives from Israeli airstrikes that have destroyed food infrastructure, such as bakeries and flour mills, and a widespread scarcity of essential supplies.{{efn|The Israeli NGO [[Btselem]] has stated the famine is a direct outcome of Israeli policy: "This reality is not a byproduct of war, but a direct result of Israel's declared policy. Residents now depend entirely on food supplies from outside Gaza, as they can no longer produce almost any food themselves. Most cultivated fields have been destroyed, and accessing open areas during the war is dangerous in any case. Bakeries, factories and food warehouses have been bombed or shut down due to lack of basic supplies, fuel and electricity."<ref name="Israel is starving">{{cite web |title=Israel is starving Gaza |url=https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20240108_israel_is_starving_gaza |website=[[B'Tselem]] |access-date=17 January 2024 |date=8 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213200043/https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20240108_israel_is_starving_gaza |archive-date=13 February 2024}}</ref>}} This has left over half a million Gazans on the brink of starvation and is part of a broader [[Gaza humanitarian crisis (2023–present)|humanitarian crisis]] in the Strip.


Human rights groups have accused Israel of using [[starvation]] as a method of warfare. The limited entry of aid trucks has exacerbated the famine, prompting experts to label it as one of the worst instances of man-made starvation in nearly a century.<ref name="Looming Starvation in Gaza">{{cite news |last1=Nolen |first1=Stephanie |title=Looming Starvation in Gaza Shows Resurgence of Civilian Sieges in Warfare |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=11 January 2024 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/health/gaza-israel-hunger-starvation.html |access-date=14 January 2024 |archive-date=13 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240113173728/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/health/gaza-israel-hunger-starvation.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
Human rights groups have accused Israel of using [[starvation]] as a method of warfare. The limited entry of aid trucks has exacerbated the famine, prompting experts to label it as one of the worst instances of man-made starvation in nearly a century.<ref name="Looming Starvation in Gaza">{{cite news |last1=Nolen |first1=Stephanie |title=Looming Starvation in Gaza Shows Resurgence of Civilian Sieges in Warfare |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=11 January 2024 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/health/gaza-israel-hunger-starvation.html |access-date=14 January 2024 |archive-date=13 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240113173728/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/health/gaza-israel-hunger-starvation.html |url-status=live}}</ref>


The entire population in the Gaza Strip is classified in [[Integrated Food Security Phase Classification|Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)]] Phase 3 - Crisis, or above. 50% of the population is in IPC Phase 4 - Emergency, and 25% is in IPC Phase 5 - Catastrophe. According to the IPC, the risk of famine is increasing every day.<ref>{{Cite web |title=GAZA STRIP: Hostilities leave the entire population highly food insecure and at risk of Famine |url=https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/alerts-archive/issue-94/en/ |access-date=2024-02-22 |website=www.ipcinfo.org}}</ref>
==Background==

==Before the war==
It has been argued that 'thoroughly planned impoverishment' had been a longterm policy of Israel for the Gaza Strip.{{sfn|Howard-Hassmann|2016|p=127}}{{efn|According to [[Sara Roy]], a leading expert on the Gazan economy, 'The current desecration of Gaza is the latest stage in a process that has taken increasingly violent forms over time. In the fifty-six years since it occupied the Strip in 1967, Israel has transformed Gaza from a territory politically and economically integrated with Israel and the West Bank into an isolated enclave, from a functional economy to a dysfunctional one, from a productive society to an impoverished one. It has likewise removed Gaza's residents from the sphere of politics, transforming them from a people with a nationalist claim to a population whose majority requires some form of humanitarian aid to sustain themselves.'<ref name="Roy">{{cite web |title=The Long War on Gaza |last=Roy |first=Sara |author-link=Sara Roy |url=https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/12/19/the-long-war-on-gaza/ |publisher=[[The New York Review of Books]] |access-date=18 January 2024 |date=19 December 2023}}</ref>}} As early as 2000 Israel had banned imports of cooking fuel and gas.{{sfn|Howard-Hassmann|2016|p=126}} 8,000 settlers spread over 25% of the Strip had exclusive use of 40% of Gaza’s arable land and most of its water.{{sfn|Howard-Hassmann|2016|p=125}} After [[Israeli disengagement from Gaza|Israel withdrew its colonies]] from the [[Gaza Strip]] in 2005, [[2006 Palestinian legislative election|Palestinian elections]] were held in 2006, which Hamas won. Israel, declaring both the political party Hamas and Gaza itself a "hostile entity",{{sfn|Smith|2019|p=39}} moved to set in place a [[Blockade of the Gaza Strip|blockade]], [[2006–2007 economic sanctions against the Palestinian National Authority|economic sanctions and restrictions]] which aimed to weaken Hamas's rule in the Gaza Strip. [[Dov Weissglas]] explained, "We have to make them much thinner, but not enough to die,"<ref>Trude Strand, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/jps.2014.43.2.6 ''Tightening the Noose: The Institutionalized Impoverishment of Gaza, 2005–2010,''] [[Journal of Palestine Studies]], Vol. 43, No. 2 (Winter 2014), pp. 6-23 p.10.</ref> the idea being "to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger."<ref>Conal Urquhart, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/16/israel 'Gaza on brink of implosion as aid cut-off starts to bite,'] [[The Guardian]] 16 April 2006.</ref> Prior to the blockade, Gaza's population stood at 1,6 million, serviced by 400 trucks carrying goods into the Strip every day. Under the new policy, according to the Israeli [[Non-governmental organization|NGO]] [[Gisha (human rights organization)|Gisha]], Israel permitted only 106 trucks entry to deliver goods.<ref name="Reuters2012" /> To obtain permission to import any commodity into the Strip, proof had to be supplied that they were indispensable.{{sfn|Filiu|2014|p=57}}
It has been argued that 'thoroughly planned impoverishment' had been a longterm policy of Israel for the Gaza Strip.{{sfn|Howard-Hassmann|2016|p=127}}{{efn|According to [[Sara Roy]], a leading expert on the Gazan economy, 'The current desecration of Gaza is the latest stage in a process that has taken increasingly violent forms over time. In the fifty-six years since it occupied the Strip in 1967, Israel has transformed Gaza from a territory politically and economically integrated with Israel and the West Bank into an isolated enclave, from a functional economy to a dysfunctional one, from a productive society to an impoverished one. It has likewise removed Gaza's residents from the sphere of politics, transforming them from a people with a nationalist claim to a population whose majority requires some form of humanitarian aid to sustain themselves.'<ref name="Roy">{{cite web |title=The Long War on Gaza |last=Roy |first=Sara |author-link=Sara Roy |url=https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/12/19/the-long-war-on-gaza/ |publisher=[[The New York Review of Books]] |access-date=18 January 2024 |date=19 December 2023}}</ref>}} As early as 2000 Israel had banned imports of cooking fuel and gas.{{sfn|Howard-Hassmann|2016|p=126}} 8,000 settlers spread over 25% of the Strip had exclusive use of 40% of Gaza’s arable land and most of its water.{{sfn|Howard-Hassmann|2016|p=125}} After [[Israeli disengagement from Gaza|Israel withdrew its colonies]] from the [[Gaza Strip]] in 2005, [[2006 Palestinian legislative election|Palestinian elections]] were held in 2006, which Hamas won. Israel, declaring both the political party Hamas and Gaza itself a "hostile entity",{{sfn|Smith|2019|p=39}} moved to set in place a [[Blockade of the Gaza Strip|blockade]], [[2006–2007 economic sanctions against the Palestinian National Authority|economic sanctions and restrictions]] which aimed to weaken Hamas's rule in the Gaza Strip. [[Dov Weissglas]] explained, "We have to make them much thinner, but not enough to die,"<ref>Trude Strand, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/jps.2014.43.2.6 ''Tightening the Noose: The Institutionalized Impoverishment of Gaza, 2005–2010,''] [[Journal of Palestine Studies]], Vol. 43, No. 2 (Winter 2014), pp. 6-23 p.10.</ref> the idea being "to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger."<ref>Conal Urquhart, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/16/israel 'Gaza on brink of implosion as aid cut-off starts to bite,'] [[The Guardian]] 16 April 2006.</ref> Prior to the blockade, Gaza's population stood at 1,6 million, serviced by 400 trucks carrying goods into the Strip every day. Under the new policy, according to the Israeli [[Non-governmental organization|NGO]] [[Gisha (human rights organization)|Gisha]], Israel permitted only 106 trucks entry to deliver goods.<ref name="Reuters2012" /> To obtain permission to import any commodity into the Strip, proof had to be supplied that they were indispensable.{{sfn|Filiu|2014|p=57}}


Revision as of 20:35, 22 February 2024

Gaza Strip famine
CountryState of Palestine
LocationGaza Strip
Period2023–present
CausesIsraeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, airstrikes, and limitation of aid
ReliefHumanitarian aid
Consequences500,000+ in starvation

There is a catastrophic-level food crisis with increasing risk famine in the Gaza Strip as a result of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. The crisis derives from Israeli airstrikes that have destroyed food infrastructure, such as bakeries and flour mills, and a widespread scarcity of essential supplies.[a] This has left over half a million Gazans on the brink of starvation and is part of a broader humanitarian crisis in the Strip.

Human rights groups have accused Israel of using starvation as a method of warfare. The limited entry of aid trucks has exacerbated the famine, prompting experts to label it as one of the worst instances of man-made starvation in nearly a century.[2]

The entire population in the Gaza Strip is classified in Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 3 - Crisis, or above. 50% of the population is in IPC Phase 4 - Emergency, and 25% is in IPC Phase 5 - Catastrophe. According to the IPC, the risk of famine is increasing every day.[3]

Before the war

It has been argued that 'thoroughly planned impoverishment' had been a longterm policy of Israel for the Gaza Strip.[4][b] As early as 2000 Israel had banned imports of cooking fuel and gas.[6] 8,000 settlers spread over 25% of the Strip had exclusive use of 40% of Gaza’s arable land and most of its water.[7] After Israel withdrew its colonies from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Palestinian elections were held in 2006, which Hamas won. Israel, declaring both the political party Hamas and Gaza itself a "hostile entity",[8] moved to set in place a blockade, economic sanctions and restrictions which aimed to weaken Hamas's rule in the Gaza Strip. Dov Weissglas explained, "We have to make them much thinner, but not enough to die,"[9] the idea being "to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger."[10] Prior to the blockade, Gaza's population stood at 1,6 million, serviced by 400 trucks carrying goods into the Strip every day. Under the new policy, according to the Israeli NGO Gisha, Israel permitted only 106 trucks entry to deliver goods.[11] To obtain permission to import any commodity into the Strip, proof had to be supplied that they were indispensable.[12]

Diplomatic cables subsequently published by WikiLeaks revealed that Israel had informed the United States in 2008 that, while it would take measures to prevent a humanitarian crisis, it intended to keep Gaza's economy on the "brink of collapse".[13] Precise calculations were made to determine the minimum calorific requirement (2,279 calories per person a day) to avoid malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, and these formed the basis for Israel's determination of the truck numbers for food supplies from 2007 to 2010.[14][11][15] The calculation excluded factors such as the collapse of agriculture due to the blockade which dried up access to seed markets.[4][c] Restrictions on foodstuffs included basic commodities like pasta, -that particular item was reintroduced after John Kerry protested at its inclusion in the list of banned imports- and any delicacies, such as honey, sesame snack halvah, bamba,[d] tea, coffee, sausages, semolina, milk products in large packages, most baking products and limitations on meat and domestic cooking gas.[17]

The Goldstone Report discovered that during the 2008-2009 Gaza War, Israel’s invasion had caused deliberate and massive destruction of Gaza’s agricultural sector.[e] Israel also declared 30% of the most arable land in the Strip no-go zones. After 2012, the Red Cross secured an agreement to allow Gazan farmers to cultivate crops of various heights, in areas respectively at 300 metres to 1 kilometre from Israel's fortified border fence. Both cultivators and their rudimentary irrigation devices nonetheless were often exposed to sniping and automated machinegun fire, and crops along the armistice line were, without warning, sprayed by Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. [19] Likewise, Israel placed severe restrictions on fishing within Gaza's waters — the 20 nautical miles agreed to under the Oslo Accords were unilaterally reduced to nine — with fishable areas demarcated with buoys[20] In 2009 Israel further reduced this to a 3 nautical mile limit with the result that 85% of Gaza's fishing water was blocked by Israeli warships.[21] Israel gunships reportedly fired on local fishermen even within these areas.[22]

Start of crisis

Further information: 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
External videos
video icon Emily "Cali" Callahan, an American nurse who worked in Gaza for Doctors Without Borders until early November, describes the humanitarian situation in Gaza to CNN's Anderson Cooper[23][24]

Following the 7 October attack, Israel announced on 9 October that it was blocking the entry of food into Gaza.[25] Because Gaza was already mostly reliant on food aid, the repercussions were felt immediately. On 18 October, Alia Zaki, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme, stated that the population of Gaza was at risk of starvation.[26] Three days later, the UN released a statement saying food stocks were nearly exhausted.[27] By 23 October, Cindy McCain, executive director of the UN World Food Programme, stated people were "literally starving to death as we speak".[28]

On 27 October, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme stated food and other basic supplies were running out.[29] On 3 November, UN officials stated the average Gazan diet consisted of only two pieces of bread per day,[30] and ActionAid stated more than half a million Gazans faced death by starvation.[31] On 11 November, Corinne Fleischer, Middle East regional director of the World Food Programme, stated, "hundreds of people are queueing for hours every day to get bread rations at bakeries," as people were being pushed "closer to starvation."[32]

Airstrikes on infrastructure

See also: Bombing of Gaza

On 18 October, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a bakery in the Nuseirat Camp, killing four bakers.[26] On X, Refaat Alareer wrote the bakery was one of the last in the central and southern Gaza Strip.[33] On 19 October, several more bakeries were reportedly hit by Israeli airstrikes.[34] By 24 October, many bakeries had reportedly closed down, while those still open had hours-long lines.[35] By 28 October Israeli airstrikes had destroyed a fifth of the bakeries operating in the Strip.[36][37] On 1 November, Israel bombed one of the last remaining bakeries in Gaza City.[38] On 2 November, UNOCHA stated more than half of all bakeries in Gaza had been destroyed.[39] On 8 November, UNOCHA stated northern Gaza no longer had any functioning bakeries.[40] On 14 November, Israel bombed Gaza's last operating flour mill.[41] Israeli bombings destroyed Gaza's fishing boats and ports.[42][43] An estimated 22 percent of farmland was destroyed by 12 December 2023.[44] Warehouses, food factories, and lorries were also damaged and destroyed by Israeli bombings.[1][45]

Growing threat of famine

Cindy McCain stated on 17 November that civilians faced the immediate possibility of starvation.[46] Ten days later, McCain stated Gaza was on the brink of famine,[47] as begging for food became the "new norm."[48] On 7 December, the WFP stated 97% of households had inadequate food consumption and 83% in southern Gaza were surviving through "extreme consumption strategies."[49] By 10 December, the UN, international aid organizations, and relief workers in Gaza warned of mass starvation.[50] A representative for Medical Aid for Palestinians stated, "The hunger wars have started."[51] On 15 December, the United Nations estimated nine out of ten residents were not eating food every day.[52]

The IDF has alleged Hamas stole humanitarian aid;[53] killed people seeking humanitarian aid;[54] and keeps its own supply reserves.[55] The U.S. and the UN both denied Israeli claims that Hamas plays a significant role in causing the famine, with a senior U.S. official stating that "the Israeli government has not brought to the attention of the U.S. government… any specific evidence of Hamas theft or diversion of assistance provided via the U.N. and its agencies. Full stop."[56]

On 20 December, the United Nations stated people in Gaza were experiencing "alarming levels of hunger never before witnessed in Gaza".[57][58] On 21 December, the United Nations stated more than half a million people in the Gaza Strip were starving.[59] On December 1, an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report, based on a committee of independent experts, placed almost the entire population of Gaza (93% or 2.08 million) at IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse) with 79 percent in Emergency (IPC Phase 4),[60] and 15% (378,000 people) in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5).[61] On 22 December, UNICEF warned of the increasingly growing threat of famine in the Gaza Strip.[62] On 29 December, Mercy Corps stated half a million people faced "catastrophic hunger and starvation".[63] By 1 January 2024 ninety percent of Palestinians in Gaza regularly went without food.[64]

Famine

On 3 January 2024, Arif Husain, the chief economist at the World Food Programme, stated 80 percent of all people in the world experiencing famine or catastrophic hunger were in the Gaza Strip, stating, "In my life, I’ve never seen anything like this in terms of severity".[65] Food prices rose in Gaza as food stock ran out.[66]

The United Nations humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths stated on 5 January 2024, "People are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded."[67] Experts warned that the famine in the Gaza Strip was the worst instance of man-made starvation in nearly 100 years.[2] António Guterres stated, "The long shadow of starvation is stalking the people of Gaza".[68]

On 16 January, UNOCHA reported 378,000 people in Gaza were in IPC Phase 5, or catastrophic levels of hunger.[69][70] It reported all 2.2 million people in the Gaza Strip were facing acute food insecurity – the highest proportion of a population experiencing starvation in recorded history.[71] The Famine Review Committee (FRC) which compiled the Gaza data on famine in terms of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) on December 1, 2023, forecast that the total population will be at Phase 3 by 7 February and that 25% or 500,000 Gazans will reach Phase 5.[61]

On 21 January, a journalist in the Gaza Strip reported that people were making flour using animal food.[72] On 21 January 2024, the UN reported there were only fifteen bakeries still in operation across the entirety of the Gaza Strip.[73] By 30 January 2024, CNN reported that Palestinians were eating grass to stay alive.[74] On 31 January, the World Health Organization's emergencies director stated, "This is a population that is starving to death."[75] On 12 February, the Food and Agriculture Organization stated there were "unprecedented levels of acute food insecurity, hunger, and near-famine-like conditions in Gaza."[76] Israel attacked fishermen in Deir el-Balah attempting to catch fish to eat.[77]

On 17 February, ActionAid stated that "every single person in the territory" was facing famine levels of hunger, stating that people had even run out of animal feed to eat.[78]

Southern Gaza

On 7 January, the UNRWA deputy director reported severe hunger in southern Gaza, stating, "I don't know how much more they can bear before something explodes in the southern part of Gaza".[79] On 11 February, the mayor of Rafah stated the city was facing famine and that available supplies were only enough for 10 percent of the population.[80] Long queues for food were reported in Rafah.[81] On 15 February, UNOCHA stated there was "an urgent need to establish a stabilisation centre in Rafah for treating children suffering from severe malnutrition".[82] UNOCHA stated on 17 February that people in Rafah were in "such dire need that they stop aid trucks to take food and eat it immediately".[83] On 19 February, Israeli gunboats fired at fishermen attempting to catch fish off the coast of Rafah.[84]

Northern Gaza

The World Food Programme stated nine out of ten people in northern Gaza were eating less than a meal a day.[85] The World Health Organization stated on 25 January that the food situation was "absolutely horrific" in northern Gaza, with rare aid deliveries mobbed by visibly starved people with sunken eyes.[86] A Mercy Corps team member reported he had witnessed such intense overcrowding of thousands around two food aid trucks in northern Gaza that two people suffocated to death.[87] An relief worker with Al Baraka, an Algerian charity, stated northern Gaza was on the verge of famine, saying, "Almost no relief aid has been delivered to the people here since the beginning of Israel's aggression."[88]

On 10 February, the Gaza Media Office stated, "We immediately demand the entry of a thousand trucks daily into northern Gaza until it recovers from the famine".[89] On 15 February, Al Jazeera reported that people in northern Gaza were going days and even weeks without sufficient food.[90] The Food and Agriculture Organization stated that distributing food in northern Gaza remained a challenge as it was "barely accessible".[91] To survive, people ate animal feed, herbs, weeds, and grass.[92] A UNOCHA representative stated, "There are about 300,000 people in the north and I have no idea how they've survived".[93] On 18 February, multiple instances of Israeli sniper attacks on civilians seeking humanitarian assistance were reported.[94] In late-February 2024, a grain mill in northern Gaza shut down due to a lack of fuel.[95]

On 20 February, the World Food Programme stated it would cease aid delivery to northern Gaza.[96] In response to the announcement, the Gaza Media Office stated it was "a death sentence for three-quarters of a million people".[97]

Humanitarian aid

See also: Humanitarian aid during the Israel–Hamas war

On 9 January, Gisha reported that only 6,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza since 7 October, the equivalent of twelve days of aid before the conflict's start.[98] Colonel Moshe Tetro, who heads the Israeli unit overseeing deliveries of humanitarian aid, stated that there was no food shortage in Gaza and that existing reserves are sufficient.[99] Another Israeli official stated, "Don't forget that this is an Arab, Gazan population whose DNA is to hoard, certainly when it comes to food."[100]

Officials stated that the worsening crisis was partly attributable to the limited amount of aid being allowed into Gaza, with Cindy McCain stating, "People in Gaza risk dying of hunger just miles from trucks filled with food".[101] Arif Husain, the WFP chief economist, stated on 24 January that only between 20 and 30 percent of needed aid was entering Gaza,[102] as UNOCHA accused Israel of "systematically denying" humanitarian assistance into northern Gaza.[103]

On 1 February 2024, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for unrestricted humanitarian access, stating, "Everyone in Gaza is hungry."[104] Human Rights Watch stated that the decision of 18 countries to defund UNRWA risked hastening the famine.[105] The World Food Programme stated on 2 February that aid to northern Gaza was being overwhelmingly rejected by the Israelis.[106] Israel bombed a truck loaded with food head toward northern Gaza on 5 February.[107] On 6 February, Israeli forces reportedly open fired on people waiting for food aid trucks in Gaza City.[108] UNOCHA stated it was the fifth report of Israeli firing upon people waiting for humanitarian aid.[109] Al Jazeera journalist Abubaker Abed stated, "Families eat strategically, just to stay alive."[110]

While speaking to CNN reporters in February 2024, some Palestinians stated humanitarian aid was being resold on the black market, with packages already opened. Israeli airstrikes around certain areas also caused prices to spike, with a 25-kilogram bag of flour jumping from $20 in Kahn Younis to $34 after intensified airstrikes.[111] The same month, Human Rights Watch criticized the defunding of UNRWA, which they termed "the main humanitarian channel into Gaza", in the face of "mounting risks of famine and a binding order by the World Court in a case about genocide".[112]

On 13 February 2024, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich blocked a U.S.-funded flour shipment to Gaza and stated he had done so "in coordination with the prime minister".[113][114] White House National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan confirmed Israel was blocking flour from entering Gaza.[115] On 14 February, the Financial Times reported that an aid shipment that could have fed more than 1 million people for a month had been blocked at the Israeli port of Ashdod, with the Israeli government stating the food would not be released.[116] In a 21 February article CNN reported that according to documentation examined by both the UN and CNN, a UN humanitarian convoy carrying food supplies was fired upon by the IDF before being blocked from entering northern Gaza on 5 February.[117]

Effect on children

See also: Effect of the Israel–Hamas war on children in the Gaza Strip

On 14 January, Philippe Lazzarini stated, "Whenever you go to a school, the kids are looking at your eyes begging for a sip of water or a loaf of bread."[118] On 16 January, officials reported newborn babies with undernourished mothers were dying within days, and children weakened by starvation were dying from hypothermia.[99] On 18 January, the deputy executive director of UNICEF took a tour of the Gaza Strip, stating he had witnessed "some of the most horrific conditions I have ever seen" and that "thousands of children are malnourished and sick."[119][120] On 10 February 2024, a UNICEF spokesperson said Gaza had the world's highest rate of child malnutrition.[121] On 17 February, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported an instance of an 8-year-old girl who had died from starvation and dehydration.[122]

On 19 February, UNICEF found that nearly 16 percent of children in northern Gaza under two-years-old were "acutely malnourished", with 3 percent suffering from severe wasting.[123] One mother in northern Gaza described the situation on 21 February, stating, "My little one wakes up at night screaming from hunger".[124]

Accusations of war crimes

Main article: War crimes in the Israel–Hamas war

On 18 December 2023, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of "using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip".[125] On 16 January 2024, UN experts accused Israel of "destroying Gaza’s food system and using food as a weapon against the Palestinian people".[126] The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, stated Israel was using hunger as a weapon against Palestinians.[127] On 23 January, Alex De Waal stated Israel was committing a war crime through enforced starvation, stating, "An entire population being reduced to this stage is really unprecedented. We haven’t seen it in Ethiopia, in Sudan and Yemen – pretty much anywhere else in the world."[128]

On 13 February, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, stated, "Kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food. That is a war crime. It is a textbook war crime. And that makes those who orchestrate it war criminals."[129] A representative from the Palestinian non-profit organization Juhoud for Community and Rural Development stated, "The denial of access to food, water, and other necessities consists of a serious violation of international law".[130]

Reactions

January 2024

On 7 January, secretary-general of the UN António Guterres stated "widespread famine looms" in Gaza.[131] The UN special rapporteur for health Tlaleng Mofokeng responded to Guterres, stating Gaza was experiencing "deliberate starvation not famine".[132] Speaking at the United Nations Security Council on 12 January, Martin Griffiths stated colleagues who had made it into northern Gaza in recent days had described "scenes of utter horror: Corpses left lying in the road. People with evident signs of starvation stopping trucks in search of anything they can get to survive."[133]

On 11 January, the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories stated there was no hunger in Gaza.[134] On 16 January, Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on food, stated, "What we’re witnessing in Gaza is an entire civilian population made to go hungry... this is a result of Israeli bombardment, this is a result of the denial of humanitarian relief. We’ve never seen anything so brutal happen so quickly".[135] Following a visit to the Rafah border crossing, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen described the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza as an "unnecessarily cumbersome process".[136]

The heads of the World Food Programme, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization issued a joint statement stating significantly more humanitarian aid was needed in Gaza.[137] Mohammad Mustafa, the chief economist of the Palestine Investment Fund, stated, "Maybe more people will be killed or die from hunger and famine than the war itself."[138] After major Western donors announced they were suspending funding of UNRWA, the agency stated "over 2 million people [are] depending on it for their sheer survival" as "hunger stalks everyone."[139]

February 2024

On 14 February, a joint statement by fourteen major human rights organizations, including Action Against Hunger, ActionAid, Danish Refugee Council, Handicap International, INTERSOS, Islamic Relief, Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council, Plan International, Project HOPE, Save the Children, Solidarités International, and War Child UK stated, "The risk of famine is increasing each day in Gaza due to the continuation of hostilities, and the continued blockade of the Strip."[140]

The American Friends Service Committee stated, "Everyone is hungry in Gaza today. That is just enormous and truly catastrophic, and we’ve never seen anything like that before."[141] Alex de Waal, a British academic, stated, "There’s no doubt that certain senior members of the Israel government and certain groups within Israeli society have the intent of starving Gaza."[142] He further stated, "Nothing compares to Gaza over the last 75 years."[143]

On 18 February, the heads of eight major humanitarian organizations — including the Norwegian Refugee Council, Mercy Corps, Refugees International, Oxfam America, CARE USA, Save the Children, Action Against Hunger, and Catholic Relief Services — wrote a joint op-ed, stating, "If the situation continues we will see one of the biggest disasters we have faced as humanitarians... this crisis will soon reach a tipping point, where emergency food aid won't be enough. Averting mass death becomes harder as starvation gains momentum."[144] The Gaza Media Office stated on 20 February, "We hold the US administration and the international community additionally to Israel fully responsible for this famine."[145]

On 21 February, World Food Programme chief Cindy McCain stated, "A famine doesn’t have to happen. But if things don’t change, it will".[146]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ The Israeli NGO Btselem has stated the famine is a direct outcome of Israeli policy: "This reality is not a byproduct of war, but a direct result of Israel's declared policy. Residents now depend entirely on food supplies from outside Gaza, as they can no longer produce almost any food themselves. Most cultivated fields have been destroyed, and accessing open areas during the war is dangerous in any case. Bakeries, factories and food warehouses have been bombed or shut down due to lack of basic supplies, fuel and electricity."[1]
  2. ^ According to Sara Roy, a leading expert on the Gazan economy, 'The current desecration of Gaza is the latest stage in a process that has taken increasingly violent forms over time. In the fifty-six years since it occupied the Strip in 1967, Israel has transformed Gaza from a territory politically and economically integrated with Israel and the West Bank into an isolated enclave, from a functional economy to a dysfunctional one, from a productive society to an impoverished one. It has likewise removed Gaza's residents from the sphere of politics, transforming them from a people with a nationalist claim to a population whose majority requires some form of humanitarian aid to sustain themselves.'[5]
  3. ^ The complicated procedures for obtaining clearances from Israel at the transit points also caused notable spoilage further reducing the food allowed in. Prospective import goods had to arrive in Israeli trucks, which were unloaded as the goods were transferred to 'neutral' trucks that then were allowed transit to the Gaza side. Once there, the consignments had to be unloaded from the neutral trucks and reloaded on Gazan trucks.[4]
  4. ^ A peanut-butter flavoured corn snack, prohibited because, according to one Israeli official, 'We don't want Gilad Shalit's captors to be munching Bamba right over his head".'[16]
  5. ^ The agricultural sector, including crop farming, fisheries, livestock farming and poultry farming, suffered direct losses worth some US$ 170 million. Indirect losses have still to be definitively calculated. One business organization estimates that 60 per cent of all agricultural land had been destroyed, 40 per cent directly during the military operations. Moreover, 17 per cent of all orchards, 8.3 per cent of livestock, 2.6 per cent of poultry, 18.1 per cent of hatcheries, 25.6 per cent of beehives, 9.2 per cent of open fields and 13 per cent of groundwater wells were destroyed. Agriculture had already lost a third of its capacity since the start of the second intifada and the frequent Israeli incursions, according to NGO estimates used by UNDP-Gaza . . Some 250 agricultural wells were reportedly destroyed or severely damaged.[4][18]

Citations

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  7. ^ Howard-Hassmann 2016, p. 125.
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Works cited

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