As a result of Israel’s 22-month blockade and relentless attacks, a man-made famine is ravaging Gaza’s homes and tents.
At least 263 people in Gaza were currently starving, including 112 children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry there as of August 17.
Why is Gaza’s food supply insufficient?
Israel completely sealed Gaza’s crossings between March and mid-May, preventing access to food, water, and aid. Extreme shortages were caused by the blockade, which led to severe hunger and dehydration for Gaza’s already fragile population.
More than 100 aid organizations, including well-known organizations like Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Amnesty International, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), condemned Israel’s use of force on August 14 and claimed it was preventing life-saving aid from entering Gaza.
While Palestinians continue to be starving, a large number of relief supplies are stranded in warehouses across Jordan and Egypt.
Amnesty International, a rights organization, charged Israel with “systematically destroying the health, wellbeing, and social fabric of Palestinian life” on Monday.
According to Amnesty, “it is the intended outcome of plans and policies that Israel has designed and implemented over the past 22 months to purposefully cause Palestinians in Gaza to suffer conditions of life that are meant to cause their physical destruction,” according to Amnesty.
Given the Israeli blockade that has been in place since 2007, Gaza has always been dependent on aid.
Before October 7, 2023, about 500 aid trucks entered daily, nearly 15, 000 a month. Delivery levels have fluctuated significantly since then, rarely reaching the pre-war level needed to support the territory’s 2.3 million residents.
When does malnutrition endanger people?
For survival, the human body depends on glucose from food. It initially burns fat to keep the heart beating, but persistent hunger eventually leads to organ failure, which can eventually kill.
Daily functioning is affected by prolonged malnutrition, which also causes brain fog and trouble speaking or thinking.
Because of rapid damage to their developing bodies and organs, children are most vulnerable.
The first 1,000 days of a child’s life, which include pregnancy and up to the age of two, are crucial for their development.
Malnutrition can have devastating long-term effects that prevent cognitive development, physical development, and, in some cases, even fatality, when not treated with nutrition and therapies.
More and more images of children in the “red” zone on MUAC tapes, which measure the upper arm circumference, are emerging in Gaza, where food shortages have been severe for months.
A measurement below 11.5 cm indicates severe acute malnähration. These kids need urgent care, and those who don’t are do so are at a high risk of dying.
Children with severe malnutrition may exhibit physical characteristics like sunken, pale eyes, flaky skin, hair loss, and swollen belly as a result of severe protein deficiency-causing oedema fluid buildup in the body.
How is famine determined?
The worst form of hunger is famine, where there are severe food shortages, widespread malnourishment, and starvation-related death rates.
Because Israel has nearly destroyed all of the health facilities, it is difficult to assess the situation in Gaza. Famine is defined as: a state in which:
- Extreme food shortages are present in at least 20% of households.
- More than 30% of the population is affected by acute malnutrition.
- More than 2 deaths per 10,000 people are killed each day.
Source: Aljazeera
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