A lot of people have been talking about “famine” in Gaza. The Israelis and their champions, the United States vigorously deny this. Though it is worth noting that Donald Trump talked about people there starving.
The BBC described what Trump said this way:
“There is “real starvation” in Gaza, Donald Trump has said, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted there was no such thing.
Asked if he agreed with Netanyahu that it was a “bold-faced lie” to say Israel was fuelling hunger in Gaza, the US president replied: “I don’t know… those children look very hungry… that’s real starvation stuff.”
Speaking during a meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland, Trump said: “Nobody’s done anything great over there. The whole place is a mess… I told Israel maybe they have to do it a different way.”
I agree with Trump. No one has done anything great there, but Israel controls it. Isreal is therefore responsible for what happens there. And starvation is happening there.
The group of experts called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, had said half a million people in Gaza were known to be experiencing famine and the numbers could be higher because they did not have enough information from some parts of Gaza where Israel was not allowing information out and was not allowing international press in.
David Miliband, President, International Rescue Committee did not share the view of the US and Israel that it was outrageous to say famine was occurring in Gaza. He was asked if the IPC who came up with the clear statement was a trustworthy organization to comment on the issues. Miliband said,
“Well, today is a horrible milestone marking a true moral and political scandal, because the IPC are a technical, technocratic, small-C conservative body that are very careful in determining the question of famine.
They have only declared three other famines in the whole of the 21st century, and they have to pass three very tough tests just to pick up the third test. Two deaths per 10,000 people per day in Gaza means that 400 people a day are dying of starvation in Gaza.
And they do this work on the ground with reputable sources, with their own people, making sure that they are not taken away by rhetoric, but focus on the facts on the ground. The fact that they should have declared this famine, this is what they call a manmade disaster of the famine in Gaza, carries extra significance because of the credibility and seriousness of which they do their work.”
And conditions in Gaza continue to get worse. Miliband said the deterioration in Gaza was the direct result of
“the tourniquet that has been applied to aid flows. The blockage on aid flows that was announced by Prime Minister Netanyahu in the middle of March has had its effect. And in the previous reports of the IPC, they pointed to “some of the dangers. Of course, the war is ongoing, so that adds to the problem.”
That tourniquet was of course the blockade of all aid established by the Israel Defense Forces. That blockade was actually worse than most people realized. As he explained, even those families that had received aid of beans often could not cook those beans because they did not have cooking oil. Displacement of people from their homes also made things worse. In fact, the vast majority of people in Gaza are displaced from their homes. He also said IPC reports are usually a “lagging indicator, not a leading indicator,” so things were likely far worse than we realized.
Israel has claimed that its policies are to stop famine. Miliband did not accept this interpretation. He said when Israel stopped interfering the policies of preventing famine by his organization and others worked. Israel was the problem he made clear. As he said, “And so the policy of the Israeli government is very clear. It’s to restrict aid. And that has its consequence that you’re seeing today.”
Miliband said five tons of food were “stuck on the wrong side of the border.” And that border is controlled by Israel not Hamas. And, of course, Israel is the only authority in the region that is capable of allowing aid in or stopping it from coming in. No one else could be stopping it.
We must also not forget that around 1,200 people from Gaza have been killed in the vicinity of the food distribution points controlled again, by Israel. In other words, they have been killed trying to get food. Often shot by Israeli forces. The humanitarian groups are not allowed by Israel to do their job and the result is the people of Gaza are starving while food rots at the Israel controlled border. Whether you call it “famine” or not, this is a moral catastrophe. And it is fully supported by the United States!
A friend of mine told me today he was actively joining protests in the US because, if his grandchildren asked him someday what he did to stop the famine, he did not want to say “nothing.” Some might say that is doing nothing, but at least we must denounce what is going on.