Roving Periscope: “Mass death is imminent in Gaza,” says global hunger monitor
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The narrow Gaza Strip, which was densely populated with nearly 2.3 million Palestinians until October 7, 2023, is now staring at “mass deaths” because of the alarming famine affecting over a million internally displaced people in the wake of the ongoing conflict. which has turned the once-thriving region into a trail of ghost towns and villages.
Extreme food shortages in parts of the Gaza Strip have already exceeded famine levels and mass death is now imminent without an immediate ceasefire and surge of food to areas cut off by fighting, the media reported on Monday.
The Integrated Food-Security Phase Classification (IPC), whose assessments are relied on by UN agencies, said 70 percent of people in parts of northern Gaza were suffering the most severe level of food shortage, more than triple the 20 percent threshold to be considered famine.
The IPC said it did not have enough data on death rates, but estimated that the locals would be dying at famine scale imminently, defined as two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or malnutrition and disease.
Gaza’s health ministry has said 27 children and three adults have died so far from malnutrition.
“The actions needed to prevent famine require an immediate political decision for a ceasefire together with a significant and immediate increase in humanitarian and commercial access to the entire population of Gaza,” it said.
Altogether 1.1 million Gazans, around half the population, were experiencing “catastrophic” shortages of food, with around 300,000 now facing the prospect of famine-scale death rates.
The prospect of a manmade famine in Gaza has brought the strongest criticism of Israel from Western allies since it launched its war against Hamas terrorists after they invaded Israeli territory on October 7 last year, killing nearly 1300 people and triggering the large-scale conflict.
“In Gaza, we are no longer on the brink of famine. We are in a state of famine… Starvation is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said at a Brussels conference on aid for Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded that Borrell should “stop attacking Israel and recognize our right to self-defense against Hamas’ crimes.”
Israel allowed “extensive humanitarian aid into Gaza by land, air, and sea for anyone willing to help”, Katz said on X (formerly Twitter), and aid was “violently disturbed” by Hamas militants with “collaboration” by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the IPC report an “appalling indictment” and said Israel must allow complete and unfettered access to all parts of Gaza.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he would carefully review the report: “It’s clear the status quo is unsustainable. We need urgent action now to avoid a famine.”
Israel, which initially allowed aid into Gaza through only two checkpoints on the enclave’s southern edge, says it is opening more routes by land, as well as allowing sea shipments and airdrops. The first boat carrying aid arrived last week.
Aid agencies say they still cannot get enough supplies through or distribute them safely, especially in the north.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that a military operation in Rafah would deepen anarchy in Gaza. They agreed that teams from each side would meet in Washington to discuss it, the White House said.
Netanyahu has pledged to push into Rafah in Gaza’s southern tip, where more than half of the territory’s 2.3 million residents have been sheltering to escape an Israeli assault farther north.
The ongoing war began when Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel, killing 1,300 people and capturing 253 hostages according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel’s assault has killed more than 31,000 Gazans, according to Palestinian health officials.
