The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who are experiencing an ongoing Israeli war for the third month in a row, are facing a real crisis as a result of the starvation policy that the Israeli occupation has pursued with them since the beginning of the war that began on the seventh of last October with the Palestinian resistance factions.

The Israeli occupation authorities and its army impose restrictions on the entry of humanitarian and food aid arriving in the Gaza Strip through the Rafah land crossing with Egypt by controlling the number of trucks and inspecting them in advance at the Al-Auja crossing, which connects the occupied territories with Egypt.

In addition to all of this, the occupation deprives the areas of Gaza City and the north of food and water, with the exception of limited trucks that were allowed to pass during the humanitarian truce period, which lasted 7 days, and witnessed a prisoner exchange between Hamas and the occupation, before the occupation reinforced its siege of the Strip.

At the same time, Gaza's markets are devoid of basic goods and commodities, while many of them rely on aid distributed in shelter centers in small and limited quantities that are not sufficient to meet the needs of medium- and large-sized families, while other areas are deprived of this aid.

During the past few days, human rights organizations have monitored complaints that some residents have died as a result of the food and water crisis, while the United Nations and other international institutions have warned of the threat of famine facing approximately 2.4 million people living in the sector, whose area does not exceed 365 square kilometers.

With the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza, the occupation took a decision to cut off electricity and prevent the entry of trucks into the Strip, before allowing it to pass through the Rafah crossing in a limited manner and later taking a decision to open the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing, by opening it to increase the number of incoming trucks, but this did not lead to resolve the crisis.

The food of many displaced Palestinian families was transferred to schools affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) or other shelter centers, relying on “canned food” and very small amounts of bread, while many families cannot find these particular meals in the northern regions.

Real famine

In addition, Jamil Sarhan, Deputy Director General of the Independent Commission for Human Rights in the Gaza Strip, confirms that human rights authorities documented cases of displaced people who did not taste food for days ranging from two to four days, especially in the areas of the northern Strip and Gaza City during the recent period.

Sarhan told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the occupation forces are taking clear measures by shooting the displaced people when they try to reach any place to get food and leaving them to bleed to death, which leads to a clear state of deprivation of these people from eating and drinking.

He stresses that the Independent Commission for Human Rights and the rest of the human rights institutions do not have complete statistics on the number of deaths that occurred as a result of thirst and hunger, but there are documented reports indicating the existence of a state of “famine” that leads to death, which requires rapid international intervention to bring in food, water and medicine.

Scarce materials

Palestinian citizen Abdul Rahman Labad was displaced from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south. He complains about the absence of food commodities and their scarcity in the markets, in addition to the lack of food aid distributed in shelter centers by UNRWA or government agencies in the Gaza Strip, which reflects negatively on his family.

Labad told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that he relies mainly on canned goods distributed through international institutions, which are distributed once every 48 or 72 hours, and they are not sufficient to meet the needs of Palestinian families, in light of the crowding of displaced people inside schools.

He points out that the scarce canned goods and food commodities available in the markets do not match the financial reality of the Palestinians in Gaza, as the prices of some of them have risen by more than 100%, while everyone is almost unemployed as a result of the war, and they do not have any source of income that enables them to provide for their needs.

Dangerous stage

Meanwhile, the Director General of the Government Information Office, Ismail Al-Thawabta, says that the Gaza Strip is going through a dangerous stage at all levels, especially the food and water levels, which threatens the occurrence of a real disaster that will lead to a complete and unprecedented deterioration of the situation, in a way that cannot be saved.

Al-Thawabta added to Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed that some of the few trucks carrying aid include convoys such as cloth, coronavirus tests, and some water bottles. This is a method that aims to put pressure on the Palestinian people and deprives women and children of food, medicine, and important and basic life necessities.

The world after the Gaza war... pariah Israel

According to the Director General of the Government Information Office in Gaza, “UNRWA is deliberately slowing down as if it does not want to end the flour distribution crisis. Despite the large scope of work it has in terms of bringing flour into the Gaza Strip, its management of the crisis is confused and slow.” It is as if she is deliberately insulting and humiliating people by distributing flour rations to Palestinian families and families.”

He points out that the “aid” entering the Gaza Strip does not meet 1% of the Palestinians’ needs, which requires opening the Rafah crossing completely and around the clock, and allowing the entry of 1,000 trucks per day of real aid and supplies, in addition to the entry of one million liters of fuel per day.

Source: Alaraby Aljadeed