by Muthanna Abdullah
Personal testimonies continue to show the difficult living conditions due to the ongoing and escalating Zionist aggression against civilians since 7 October. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says that the war in Gaza is different from other wars, because there is usually one force that attacks and occupies territory of the other side, and then takes measures to ensure the security and management of the occupied areas, whereas in Gaza there are attacks and bombings, and then the occupation forces move elsewhere, leaving the areas they left behind in chaos. Civilians are paying the price of this chaos. Humanitarian agencies are suffering from administrative obstacles and restrictions, poor internet access, poor road conditions and severe fuel shortages for the transportation of aid.
Hence, the UN description of Gaza as catastrophic; it is very close to declaring a full-blown famine in the Strip.
According to UN classifications, there are stages to food security, and the penultimate stage before the declaration of famine is known as emergency acute food insecurity. The UN says that 96 per cent of the population has actually reached a state of acute food insecurity.
So, we are facing a situation that is difficult to describe, with repercussions for children, women and the elderly in particular. If we consider the other factors that the UN report refers to — the shortage of manpower; attacks on workers distributing humanitarian aid; the general chaotic conditions; and the lack of coordination and structures to receive aid trucks after the Israeli forces destroyed the offices of humanitarian organisations — it becomes clear that there is deliberate Israeli intent to use famine as a weapon of war against the Palestinians in Gaza. The reasons have become intertwined, and the biggest problem is no longer simply the entry of so little aid, or the difficulty in distributing what does get in to the affected areas in light of the intense fighting.
Under international law, Israel is unequivocally the occupying power in the Gaza Strip, and so has the responsibility for providing basic essentials such as food, water, fuel and medicines to the people under occupation. However, we all heard the far-right Israeli minister of finance claiming that taking aid into Gaza means feeding Hamas, and that he will not allow that. Likewise, the defence minister, who said early on in the Israeli offensive that there will be no food, drink, electricity or fuel allowed into Gaza. It is clear that the occupation regime is thus preventing aid from entering Gaza; what is happening on the ground before the eyes of the world is confirmation of Israel’s strategy to eliminate the Palestinian people. What is this if not genocide?
Another aspect of this awful crime against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is the catastrophe that has befallen childhood in the enclave. Children’s eyes are bulging from extreme hunger, mouths are gaping and bones protrude through skin. The fact that so many casualties — killed and wounded — are children, blown to pieces by Israeli bombs and bullets, has prompted the UN to add Israel to the blacklist of countries and organisations that harm children in conflict areas.
The UN has reported many violations committed by Israel, such as killing, mutilation, sexual violence, rape, denial of access to aid and attacks on schools and hospitals. Although the international organisation said that 7,500 children have been killed in Gaza during the war, officials in Gaza put the figure at more than 15,000.
Such crimes, of course, did not start on 7 October last year. Israel has been killing and brutalising Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank for many years.
The occupation state is the only one in the world that kills 500-700 children every year, according to organisations specialising in children’s welfare. Over the past six years, for example, Israel has killed 12,300 Palestinian children, roughly the same number killed in conflict in the rest of the world combined.
This is why the UN and its organisations, as well as the international courts, are now facing a real challenge to their credibility. Are they institutions for international justice or do they bow down to the political will and policies of the US, which provides Israel with the diplomatic, economic and military cover to act with impunity, treating international laws and conventions with contempt?
The Palestinian people have good reason to feel betrayed by the international community, which has failed to address Israeli crimes and violations of human rights. They have also been betrayed their Arab neighbours, who couldn’t even take the weakest of weak stances on this catastrophe unfolding on their collective doorstep. The Zionist state’s embassies are still open in Arab countries, and their security and military coordination meetings with Israel still take place, the latest of which was in Bahrain a few weeks ago. The most that they have done is airdrop a small amount of aid after first obtaining the approval of the occupation state to do so. The concept of collective Arab security is clearly meaningless.
Famine and the facts of childhood in Gaza are marks of shame in the 21st century. The international community, the UN and the Arab League should acknowledge their shameful role in this, and then act to end the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip. The League’s move to boycott companies that support Israel is a start, but nowhere near enough.
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