Ann Arbor (Informed Commentary) – Although the United Nations has not officially declared a famine in Gaza, there is no doubt among the people living there.
The New Humanitarian quotes Diana Harrara, a 33-year-old mother of three in Gaza: “No word describes what we are experiencing better than ‘famine’. First of all, we have nothing to eat except flour and canned goods, which we can only get through aid. This aid is irregular – either in small quantities or irregular. And even when we get it, we leave the food behind as we rush from one shelter to another.”
Last week, Israel again issued expulsion orders against thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The severe food shortages in Gaza are the result of Israeli bombings of farms and gardens and limits on the number of aid trucks allowed in, as well as the chaos and destruction caused to food delivery networks. Last week, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sparked a storm of indignation when he claimed that it was morally and legally justified to let all 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza starve.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported this week that since the beginning of May, the amount of aid entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing and being picked up by aid agencies has fallen by more than 80%.
The report further states that most aid shipments entering Gaza between January and April came through the Kerem Shalom crossing, but that this share has gradually declined. Currently, the aid shipments that humanitarian organizations can collect through this crossing account for only 29 percent of the total aid shipments entering Gaza.
Overall, the volume of humanitarian aid entering Gaza has more than halved since the start of the ground operation in Rafah and the sudden closure of the Rafah border crossing in early May.
and in June and July even less than 80 trucks per day.
During the first week of August, 67 humanitarian aid operations were carried out in the north of the Gaza Strip, organized in coordination with the Israeli authorities:
The situation is similar in the southern Gaza Strip: Of the 99 coordinated humanitarian aid missions
48 were executed with Israeli help
Not only has the number of aid trucks reaching Gaza dropped by 80% since May 1, but aid workers distributing aid in Gaza are facing unprecedented death tolls at the hands of the Israeli military: Humanitarian aid workers working in Gaza continue to face significant dangers while providing vital assistance in a precarious and dangerous environment, with numerous people and their families killed. On August 7 of this month, World Central Kitchen announced that an Israeli airstrike near Deir al Balah had resulted in the death of one of its staff, a father of four. According to information from the UN and collaborating organizations:
have lost their lives since October 2023.
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, said the number of UNRWA staff killed was “by far the largest loss of personnel killed in a single conflict or natural disaster since the founding of the United Nations,” adding: “These are not numbers… (they) are teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, support staff, technicians who have spent their lives supporting the community. Many were killed with their families, others did so in the line of duty.”
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Bonus video:
Hindustan Times video: “Netanyahu embarrassed as Israeli minister faces harsh criticism from Arab and Western allies over call to starve Gazans”
