Starvation as a criminal weapon of genocide, and the convening of the Central

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has released new reports documenting the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip as a result of the complete blockade imposed since March 2, 2025. This has led to severe shortages of food and medical supplies, with a disastrous impact on children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers. More than one million children in Gaza have been deprived of life-saving assistance for more than a month and a half due to the ongoing blockade, which prevents the entry of food, clean water, and medical supplies. The blockade has completely halted the food supply chain, with bakeries closing due to flour and fuel shortages, threatening widespread famine. Furthermore, more than 60% of essential medicines are out of stock, and only 15 of 36 hospitals are partially functioning, leaving patients without adequate medical care.

Previous reports from international organizations such as the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, and UNICEF indicate that the famine and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip are having a devastating impact on the health and lives of infants, children, and pregnant women, as well as the overall health of the population. These reports confirm that 90% of children under five suffer from acute malnutrition, and that one in three children suffer from malnutrition. In northern Gaza, one in six children under two suffers from acute malnutrition, an unprecedented increase compared to 0.8% before the war. Most families barely receive one meal a day, and it is often nutritionally insufficient. Mothers also suffer from severe malnutrition, seriously affecting their breastfeeding. Infant mortality rates are also increasing due to lack of medical care, not just malnutrition, not to mention the risks of premature births and neonatal deaths. More than 557,000 women in the Gaza Strip suffer from severe food insecurity, with many mothers skipping meals to feed their children, leading to weight loss and dizziness. Seventy-six percent of pregnant women reported suffering from anemia, and 99% of them lack access to necessary nutritional supplements, putting their health and that of their children at risk. Pregnant women also struggle to access hospitals and medical centers, most of which have been destroyed, exacerbating pregnancy and childbirth complications.

The lack of clean water, and sometimes the absence of it, and severe overcrowding in displacement centers have led to the spread of serious diseases such as acute diarrhea, especially among children, respiratory infections, skin diseases, and the spread of hepatitis A caused by water pollution. All this is happening against a backdrop of a collapsing health system.

More than 80% of Gaza's population relies on charity kitchens that provide simple meals lacking essential nutrients. Some of these kitchens have been closed due to the complete closure of crossings amid the renewed brutal aggression on the Strip. This is in light of a declared and officially adopted policy that uses starvation as a criminal weapon in the ongoing war of extermination, and amid rising voices in the occupation government calling for a complete severance of all sources of livelihood for the Strip's residents.

These facts, documented by international organizations, have not yet prompted relevant Arab and international parties to take practical steps to halt pre-planned plans aimed at genocide. The International Criminal Court's ruling on the possibility of deliberate genocide has become a confirmed reality due to the official and declared policy of using starvation as a weapon, coupled with the total destruction of the basic service infrastructure and the unprecedented persistence of the continued closure of crossings.

But what's even more surprising is that at this very moment, when international institutions still operating in the Gaza Strip are warning of the possibility of widespread mass deaths due to the starvation war, the Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council is convening for the first time since the outbreak of genocide a year and a half ago. Sadly, the main topic on its agenda is the last item, the creation of a vice-president of the Executive Committee. This is not due to a national or constitutional necessity in the event that the presidency becomes vacant. After the death of President Abu Ammar, the Fatah movement and subsequently the Executive Committee agreed to elect a new president in a single meeting, even before the arrival of the body of the martyr Arafat from Paris for temporary burial in Ramallah. Meanwhile, the recently issued "Constitutional Declaration," which assigns the President of the National Council to assume the position of President of the Authority for a period of ninety days, renewable once, during which presidential elections will be held, resolved the issue of the vacancy in the presidency of the Authority. This "declaration" was a step that brought everyone back to the fact that the indispensable option is the ballot box—respecting the will of the people and their constitutional right.

The imminent danger to the entire Palestinian cause, not just its political system, is represented, in addition to the destructive state of division, by Israeli plans to dismantle the political system, and at best, engineer it to serve its future plans. Even if there is some Arab concern for our people's cause and to prevent Israel from dismantling the political system, the only response that guarantees this is to encourage it to begin unifying the institutions of the comprehensive national entity capable of continuing the national struggle to end the occupation, achieve independence, and embody the State of Palestine as an unavoidable condition for regional stability. The unification of these institutions can begin immediately by agreeing to form a non-factional national unity government that will handle the Gaza Strip file in all its dimensions, starting with efforts to stop the war of extermination as a top priority agreed upon by our people, followed by relief, shelter, and reconstruction, and strengthening and unifying the institutions of the Palestinian people as an essential component of establishing a fully sovereign, independent Palestinian state, including its security establishment and the doctrine that governs its work.

We must realize that the Palestinian Authority is in an unprecedented existential dilemma. As its popularity is dwindling for deep and multiple reasons, not least of which is its re-tailoring to fit a completely failed option, destroyed by Israel more than once, the Authority has also become a target for dismantling and engineering the canton and protectorate system. Furthermore, Israel's continued, regrettably, monopolization of the Gaza Strip, its people, and its resistance has placed Hamas and the resistance in a dangerous predicament, not so much for the resistance as for our people and their cause. The question is: Doesn't this existential dilemma push everyone toward a phase of reconciliation that breaks with the past and establishes a new phase of action based solely on the will of our people? Isn't adopting the option of national reconciliation, which the powers agreed upon in Beijing and which is supported by the popular will, the only way to safeguard the institutions of the national entity? Why all this stubbornness, and in whose interest? Does this offer a lifeline to our people in the Gaza Strip, or does it lift the knife of annexation from the necks of our people, their land, and their holy sites in Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley, and the rest of the West Bank? The answer is certain to be found on the lips of the victims fighting for their lives in Gaza, and on the tongues of those struggling for survival across the West Bank. Are you able to hear them and prepared to comply with their will?