Over 59, 000 Palestinians have been killed and 143, 000 others have been injured in Israel’s unrelenting battle against Gaza, and hundreds of thousands have been forced into starvation as a result of its blockade of the enclave and its militarized distribution system.
In recent weeks, 80 of the people who have been starved to death are children.
Regardless of what its ultimate goal is, according to analysts, Israel has pushed Gaza’s population to a breaking point.
Palestinians in Gaza are uninhabitable because of Israeli policy, according to Derek Summerfield, a psychiatrist from the United Kingdom who has written about the effects of war and atrocity.
From mosques to hospitals, it has “destroyed the concept of a society and every institution that might support it.” He continued, describing a conflict that aimed to destroy a society’s entire structures and sense of identity. People feel as though they can’t continue because they have been left with nothing.
Many Palestinians there are desperate because of the constant threat of death and the total destruction there. Some people are attempting to leave despite the horrors they have witnessed and a potential conflict that will last for months or years.
In contrast to the growing Israeli aggression, some people continue to cling to their homes.
Gaza experiencing famine
Palestinians in Gaza are now living in the same way that aid workers and journalists do in Gaza because they are among the hungry and malnourished.
More than 100 aid organizations wrote an open letter to the Israeli government on Wednesday, urging it to collaborate with the UN and allow aid to enter Gaza.
Al Jazeera has demanded immediate action to protect all journalists who are stranded in Gaza, many of whom are unable to report due to their own deteriorating health and acute hunger. Similar calls were made by the AFP agency.
According to Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University and author of in-depth essays on famine, “famine is not just physical; it’s mental.”
It “dehumanizes and degrades the sufferer,” according to the statement, “After searching through the garbage for food and everything you have done to survive, it dehumanizes and degrades the sufferer.”
He continued, “You need to remember that starvation is an act, and it’s not always one criminal one.”
It also requires some practice. It’s not as though you dropped a bomb; starvation can take anywhere from 60 to 80 days. Longer periods of semi-starvation, like what we’re seeing in Gaza, are possible.
Israel has received numerous and stern warnings that its actions are causing widespread starvation. Nobody should be surprised by this.
This is not just about feeding the poor. De Waal continued, “It’s about dismantling a society and turning its people into desperate, starving victims.” Additionally, it makes the abuser feel inferior, making the abuser feel self-justifiable.
A method of annihilation
Israel’s leaders have repeatedly stated that their occupation of Gaza was to “relieve the captives in the territory” and defeat Hamas during its 21-month conflict.
However, critics around the world have accused it of either blinding its actions to the humanitarian effects of its actions or actively attempting to punish Palestinians and make them starve.
Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, said, “I don’t know if you can call this a strategy.”
I’m unsure of how much is planned, how much is tactical, cynical, opportunistic, or just incompetent. It all depends on the location.
Mekelberg broke down the divides between those who wanted to have the final say on Israeli policy, including ultranationalist ministers like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who wanted the expulsion of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and a security establishment that Mekelberg described as divided on whether to keep the war or end it.
The cynical and opportunistic, “he continued,” which is essentially Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters, is what follows. The prime minister, who is facing multiple corruption charges, said to them, “This is all about politics and surviving for another day.”
The destruction legacy
According to analysts, Israel’s actions in Gaza will have a long-term impact.
People who survive Israel’s current conflict will carry its scars, as will their ancestors, while those who leave are unlikely to be permitted to go back.
According to Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of Jadaliya, “Israel has adopted a formula in the last few weeks where it has made the conditions in Gaza intolerable and unable to support human life.”
People will leave if it can reduce life to such a level and, at the same time, increase the chaos and anarchy [across Gaza].
They won’t be permitted to return to their home once they have been forced out, according to Rabbani, whether through the conditions that Israel has put in place or through the one-way entrance to what many Israeli government ministers refer to as a “humanitarian city” (a concentration camp that many critics call it) that it intends to construct along the Egyptian-Israeli border.
Since Israel’s assault on Gaza began in October 2023, there hasn’t been a day where its war has not been the focus of the media.
The international community’s concern has grown as hunger and the extent of Israel’s nearly total destruction have increased in recent weeks.
Israel’s conflict has shown no signs of easing in the face of the protests and the rumored ongoing ceasefire negotiations.
Source: Aljazeera
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