[News] 'Targeted starvation campaign' by Israel has led to famine across Gaza

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/targeted-starvation-campaign-israel-has-led-famine-across-gaza-un>
'Targeted starvation campaign' by Israel has led to famine across Gaza: UN
experts
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Israel is engaged in a 'form of genocidal violence' as it starves
Palestinians in Gaza, say 10 rights experts

Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity after an Israeli
assault on Rafah, 8 May 2024 (Reuters)

Published date: 9 July 2024

After nine months of Israel's
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel> near-total blockade on
humanitarian aid, ten top United Nations experts on Tuesday said they had
seen enough, declaring that Israel is engaged in a "targeted starvation
campaign" in Gaza <https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/gaza-under-attack>.

"We declare that Israel's intentional and targeted starvation campaign
against the Palestinian <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine>
people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across
all of Gaza," said
<https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/07/un-experts-declare-famine-has-spread-throughout-gaza-strip>
the experts.

"We call upon the international community to prioritise the delivery of
humanitarian aid by land by any means necessary, end Israel’s siege and
establish a ceasefire,” they added.

Michael Fakhri, the special rapporteur on the right to food, along with
other experts such as Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the
situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, and Paula Gaviria
Betancur, the special rapporteur on the human rights of internally
displaced persons, issued the statement.
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At least 33 children, mostly in northern Gaza,  have died of malnutrition
since the war began in October, according to the Palestinian health
ministry.

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

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

Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva said the statement was
"misinformation".

"Israel has continuously scaled up its coordination and assistance in the
delivery of humanitarian aid across the Gaza Strip, recently connecting its
power line to the Gaza water desalination plant," the mission said.
Famine for months

In June a report issued 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 taking place since April, and is likely to continue
through July “if there is not a fundamental change in how food assistance
is distributed and accessed” after it enters the Strip.

Meanwhile, Israel <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel> continues
to block the Rafah crossing with Egypt
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/egypt>, and restrict aid entry via
the Karem Shalom crossing with southern Gaza.

“The population’s access to and utilization of available food assistance
has been insufficient to meet the level of need to date, and much more must
be done immediately to ensure humanitarian food assistance is distributed
effectively once it enters Gaza,” the report reads.

The US-based Fews Net conducted its analysis on famine in Gaza based on
three conditions that have to be met - namely food consumption, acute
malnutrition, and mortality.

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

Famine thresholds had, however, been reached in northern Gaza in April, it
said.
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