As the United Nations and aid organizations issue warnings about famine in the Palestinian enclave, Israel has been accused of engaging in a “deliberate policy of starvation” in Gaza.
Amnesty International stated in a report that quoted displaced Palestinians and medical personnel who had treated malnourished children that “Israel is engaged in a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip.”
Israel was accused of “systematically destroying Palestinian life’s health, well-being, and social fabric” by the group.
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.
Since starting its military offensive on October 7, 2023, Israel has killed nearly 62, 000 Palestinians and destroyed Gaza. It has been referred to as a “war of vengeance” by activists and human rights organizations, and Israeli actions have been labeled a genocide.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant are both facing war crimes arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court.
Based on interviews with 19 displaced Palestinians in Gaza who are residing in three makeshift camps and two doctors in two Gaza City hospitals, the report draws its conclusions from recent interviews.
“I worry about having a baby, but I also worry about having one.” I’m just thinking about the potential effects of my own hunger on the baby’s health, weight, [birth defects] and what life awaits the baby in the midst of displacement, bombs, and tents, as Hadeel, 28, a mother of two who is four months pregnant, was quoted as saying in the report.
A 75-year-old woman expressed her desire to pass away. I feel like my family is burdened by me. My grandchildren are the ones who deserve to live, in my opinion. I feel like my son and I are burdens on them,” Aziza said.
The testimonies we have collected are far more than just accounts of suffering, according to Erika Guevara Rosas, senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns at Amnesty International. They are a searing indictment of an international system that has allowed Israel to torture Palestinians with near-total impunity for decades.
As Israel’s attacks on Gaza City’s main urban center intensify, nearly one million Palestinians are facing forced displacement in the city’s largest city. Many of the residents have been displaced repeatedly in the last two years.
call for a truce
Rosas called for “the immediate, unwavering lifting of the blockade and a sustained ceasefire” in order to reverse “the devastating effects of Israel’s inhumane policies and actions” in Gaza.
Rosas remarked, “The impact of Israel’s blockade and its ongoing genocide on civilians, particularly children, people with disabilities, those with chronic illnesses, older people, pregnant and breastfeeding women, is catastrophic and cannot be undone by simply increasing the number of aid trucks or restoring performative, ineffective, and dangerous airdrops of aid.”
At the time of publication, Amnesty International and the Israeli military made no statements regarding the findings.
Israel has repeatedly refuted claims of deliberate starvation, despite strict restrictions on the amount of aid entering the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli blockade caused the deaths of more than 250 Palestinians, including 110 children, during the conflict. Since 2007 the enclave, which has 2.1 million residents, has been subject to an Israeli land, air, and sea blockade, which has tightened since then, with some preventing all aid entering and now allowing only a small amount of supplies into the Strip.
Despite receiving widespread condemnation from the UN and the international community in general, the Israeli military body that oversees civil affairs in Palestinian territory rejected claims of widespread malnutrition in Gaza in a report released last week.
“Famine is coming to pass right before our eyes.”
Israel has been urged by Britain, Canada, Australia, Japan, Australia, and a number of their European allies to allow unrestricted aid into Gaza, under the condition that it has reached “unimaginable levels.”
“Famine is brewing right before our eyes.” The top diplomat of the European Union and the foreign ministers of about 20 countries made a joint statement last week saying urgent action is required to stop and stop starvation.
Source: Aljazeera
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