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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israel engineers "deep pockets of starvation" across Gaza</h1>
<p class="gmail-node__submitted">
<span class="gmail-field gmail-field-author"><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/nora-barrows-friedman">Nora Barrows-Friedman</a></span>
<span class="gmail-field gmail-field-blog"><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blog/rights-and-accountability">Rights and Accountability</a></span>
<span class="gmail-field gmail-field-publication-date"><span class="gmail-date-display-single">14 February 2024</span></span> </p>
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<img src="https://electronicintifada.net/sites/default/files/styles/original_800w/public/2024-02/020224_dair_el-balah_osh_0047.jpg?itok=cD1aa3p8×tamp=1707874843" width="391" height="261" alt="A crowd of children holding metal food containers." title="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">
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<p>Palestinian children face extreme hunger across Gaza. Deir El-Balah, 2 February.</p><small>
<span>APA images</span></small>
<p>Israel is starving Gaza.</p>
<p>Children “are going without food for days, as aid convoys are increasingly denied permits to enter,” <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68239320">reported</a> the BBC on 10 February.</p>
<p>The United Nations estimates that nearly one in every 10 Palestinian
children in Gaza under 5 years old is now acutely malnourished.</p>
<p>Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/un-warns-about-increased-risk-of-malnutrition-in-gaza/3130843">told reporters</a>
on 2 February that the agency’s partners have indicated a “sharp rise
in acute malnutrition” across the population in Gaza, “with a 12-fold
increase compared to the rate recorded before the hostilities.”</p>
<p>There are only between 70-100 trucks entering Gaza per day “in the
best case scenario,” with only “two of those trucks going to the
northern governorates,” <a href="https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6140/Policy-paper">according</a> to estimates by the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.</p>
<p>Before Israel’s attacks began in October, approximately 500 trucks entered Gaza each day.</p>
<p>“What enters the Strip does not meet the minimum level of the
population’s needs in light of the severe, continuous and accumulated
deprivation of food, drinking water and medicine supplies [amid its]
growing need due to the ongoing siege and genocide,” stated Lima
Bustami, legal department director at Euro-Med.</p>
<p>“The situation is getting more complicated because the people living
in the Gaza Strip are under siege from all sides, making it impossible
for them to produce the food they need locally or get it from other
sources,” Bustami added.</p>
<p>On 26 January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/world-court-orders-israel-halt-gaza-genocide">ordered</a>
Israel to prevent acts of genocide. The order was among a number of
provisional measures issued by the court in a case which South Africa is
taking against Israel.</p>
<p>Israel is supposed to inform the court within one month what steps it
was taking to comply with the 26 January order. A full examination of
South Africa’s case by the ICJ will take place at a later stage.</p>
<p>Declaring a state of famine “may find its way before the International Court of Justice,” said Bustami.</p>
<p>Such a declaration “could either lead to the request of an amendment
[to the provisional measures issued on 26 January]… or as additional
evidence that the court will weigh during its consideration of the
merits of the case and issuing its final ruling,” Euro-Med stated.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1156749/">report</a>
by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) says that
between 8 December and 7 February, the entire population of the Gaza
Strip, approximately 2.3 million people, has been classified as in
“crisis or worse.”</p>
<p>“This is the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food
insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given
area or country,” the IPC states.</p>
<p>Moreover, the IPC states that about half of the population is in a
food emergency and “at least one in four households (more than half a
million people) is facing catastrophic conditions” – characterized by an
“extreme lack of food, starvation and exhaustion of coping capacities.”</p>
<p>According to the IPC, “even though the levels of acute malnutrition
and non-trauma related mortality might not have yet crossed famine
thresholds, these are typically the outcomes of prolonged and extreme
food consumption gaps.”</p>
<p>The group notes the “increased nutritional vulnerability of children,
pregnant and breastfeeding women and the elderly is a particular source
of concern.”</p>
<h2>Shipping containers left at port</h2>
<p>Citing financial restrictions against UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, the Israeli government is <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-unwra-bank-aid-4ed5e0652dd81b875055679a01a19371">holding up</a> more than 1,000 shipping containers of vital food items at the Ashdod port, just 20 miles north of the Gaza boundary.</p>
<p>The shipments, which contain rice, flour, chickpeas, sugar and
cooking oil, are enough to feed more than 1 million people for one
month.
</p>
Last month, Israel <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/01/20/1225795279/gaza-israel-flour-port-aid">said it would allow</a> flour to enter Gaza through Ashdod, a major commercial port north of the Gaza boundary after international aid agencies <a href="https://www.wfp.org/news/preventing-famine-and-deadly-disease-outbreaks-gaza-requires-faster-safer-aid-access-and-more">warned</a> of starvation in the northern areas and urged Israel to allow the use of Ashdod.
<p>On 19 January, the White House issued a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/19/readout-of-president-joe-bidens-call-with-prime-minister-netanyahu-of-israel-2/">boastful statement</a>
saying that President Joe Biden “welcomed” Israel’s decision to “permit
the shipment of flour for the Palestinian people directly through
Ashdod port while our teams separately work on options for more direct
maritime delivery of assistance into Gaza.”</p>
<p>But that flour has been sitting at the port for weeks.</p>
<p>Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, has <a href="https://twitter.com/bezalelsm/status/1757457717206134790">admitted</a> that he blocked the shipments in coordination with Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister.</p>
<p><em>Axios</em> <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/13/israel-gaza-flour-shipment">reported</a>
on Tuesday that Smotrich “blocked the transfer of the flour after he
was notified that it was destined for UNRWA, the primary aid group in
Gaza.”</p>
<p>“He ordered the Israeli customs service not to release the shipment as long as UNRWA is the recipient,” <em>Axios</em> added.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-02-13/ty-article-live/israeli-delegation-to-attend-cairo-hostage-talks-on-tuesday-with-u-s-qatar-egypt/0000018d-a049-d92c-a9ed-ebf955ed0000?liveBlogItemId=90949040&utm_source=site&utm_medium=button&utm_campaign=live_blog_item#90949040">response</a>, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller referred to discussions with Israel aimed at allowing the aid to be delivered.</p>
<p>“We had a commitment from the government of Israel to let that flour
go through, and we expect them to deliver on that commitment,” Miller
said on Tuesday.
</p>
Last week, Israeli naval forces attacked a food aid convoy that was
reportedly heading to northern Gaza.
Along with blocking or attacking aid trucks, Israeli forces are also
shooting at fishers attempting to provide food for their hungry
families.
<p>On 8 February, the bodies of two fishers “were recovered after their
boat was reportedly struck by Israeli forces in western Rafah” the day
before, <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-115">reported</a> the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).</p>
<p>“The port of Gaza has been severely damaged, and most of the fishing boats have been destroyed,” the UN added.</p>
<p>Israel is systematically destroying farms as well.</p>
<p>In December, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization used
satellite imaging to assess and analyze damage to Gaza’s arable land.</p>
<p>The agency <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/cc9398en/cc9398en.pdf">reported</a>
that more than 27 percent of all cropland in Gaza was damaged, as was
more than 20 percent of all greenhouses. Nearly 500 irrigation wells
were damaged as well, the UN noted.</p>
<p>At the end of January, however, the UN Satellite Centre “showed damage to 34 percent of arable land,” UN OCHA reported.</p>
<p>“Most of the infrastructure of the agrifood sector was damaged,
ranging from commercial facilities (livestock farms, stores for products
and inputs, etc.) to household facilities, such as home barns and
animal shelters.”</p>
<h2>“Deep pockets of starvation”</h2>
<p>“Everyone in Gaza is hungry. Many are starving,” stated the World Health Organization on 8 February.</p>
<p>“Infectious diseases are spreading. Hunger is weakening people’s
ability to fight off disease. Without enough food, more people will
become sick and die,” the agency warned.
</p>
Phillippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, stated last week that half of
the agency’s humanitarian aid mission requests to areas in northern Gaza
“were denied” since the beginning of the year.
<p>The UN, he said, “has identified deep pockets of starvation and
hunger in northern Gaza where people are believed to be on the verge of
famine. At least 300,000 people living in the area depend on our
assistance for their survival.”
</p>
<a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/funding-freeze-could-halt-unrwa-operations-end-month">Israel’s accusations</a>
that a handful of UNRWA staff participated in the 7 October attacks led
by Hamas has prompted 16 countries to suspend their funding of the
agency.
<h2>Settlers block aid</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, Israeli forces have allowed – or encouraged – Israeli settlers to <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-protesters-set-tents-block-humanitarian-aid-entering-gaza">block and disrupt</a> humanitarian aid convoys from entering Gaza through the southern Kerem Shalom crossing over recent weeks.</p>
<p>The area has been designated as a closed military zone since last
month. “But there are no checkpoints at night, making it easier to bring
in busloads of protesters,” according to <em>The Washington Post.</em></p>
<p>Israelis have been holding dance parties while celebrating the
military’s destruction in Gaza and the starvation of Palestinians.
</p>
“The army is with us, the police is with us,” a young Israeli taking part in the blocking of humanitarian aid <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/10/gaza-aid-blockade-protest-kerem-shalom/">told</a> <em>The Washington Post</em>.
<p>“They don’t want us to be here, but they get it. They let us. We are
talking with them, we are having fun with them, we are offering them
everything they need,” the Israeli said.
</p>
In October, Israeli lawmaker Tally Gotliv advocated for using starvation
as a weapon against Palestinians in Gaza, which is a war crime.
<p>“Without hunger and thirst among the Gazan population, we will not be
able to recruit collaborators, we will not be able to recruit
intelligence, we will not be able to bribe people, with food, drink,
medicine, in order to obtain intelligence,” Gotliv <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbT33E1mswA">said</a>.<br>
</p>
Palestinian human rights groups say that this kind of genocidal rhetoric
by Israeli leaders is not an aberration. Rather, it is policy.
<p>“The starvation policy pursued by the Israeli authorities is an
example of the collective punishment policies that Israel has been
inflicting on the civilian population of Gaza, which have intensified
since 7 October 2023,” <a href="https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/22547.html">said</a> the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Al-Haq, and Al Mezan in a joint statement earlier this month.</p>
<p>The groups added that “Israel’s use of starvation as a method of war
is prohibited by international humanitarian law and amounts to a war
crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”
</p>
“The most brutal militaries in history have used deliberate starvation
as a tactic; the criminalization of such a tactic is a keystone of
international law,” stated the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions National Committee.
<p>The decision by 16 countries to pause their funding of UNRWA and
thereby collectively punish the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza,
especially after the <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/international-court-justice">International Court of Justice</a> found that <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/world-court-orders-israel-halt-gaza-genocide">Israel is plausibly committing genocide</a>, “represents a shift by several countries from potential complicity in genocide to direct involvement in engineered famine,” <a href="https://www.lemkininstitute.com/statements-new-page/statement-on-recent-threats-to-unrwa-and-the-shift-between-potential-complicity-and-direct-involvement-in-the-crime-of-genocide-against-palestinians-by-several-nations">warned</a> the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention.</p>
<p>The institute – named after Raphael Lemkin, the Polish lawyer who <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml">coined</a>
the term “genocide” in 1944 – added that the decision by the 16
governments “is an attack on what remains of personal security, liberty,
health, and dignity in Palestine.”</p><br>
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