Gaza's catastrophic food shortage means mass death is imminent, monitor
says
Send a link to a friend
[March 19, 2024]
By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Dan Williams and Aidan Lewis
CAIRO/JERUSALEM/LONDON (Reuters) - 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 global hunger monitor said on Monday.
The Integrated Food-Security Phase Classification (IPC), whose
assessments are relied on by U.N. agencies, said 70% of people in parts
of northern Gaza were suffering the most severe level of food shortage,
more than triple the 20% threshold to be considered famine.
The IPC said it did not have enough data on death rates, but estimated
residents would be dying at famine scale imminently, defined as two
people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or from
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.
In all, 1.1 million Gazans, around half the population, were
experiencing "catastrophic" shortages of food, with around 300,000 in
the areas 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 militants following their deadly attack on Israeli
territory on Oct. 7.
"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, and aid was "violently
disturbed" by Hamas militants with "collaboration" by the U.N.'s aid
agency UNRWA.
U.N. 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 minister 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 air drops. 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.
HOSPITAL ASSAULT
In the ruins of Gaza City, the main settlement in the north of the Gaza
Strip, Israeli forces launched a major assault on Al Shifa hospital
overnight. Once the Gaza Strip's biggest hospital, it is now one of the
only medical facilities still even partially functioning in the north of
the territory.
[to top of second column]
|
Palestinians gather to receive aid outside an UNRWA warehouse as
Gaza residents face crisis levels of hunger, amid the ongoing
conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City March 18, 2024.
REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israel said it had killed more than 20 Hamas fighters, including a
senior Hamas commander, Fayeq al-Mabhouh, in the hospital. Hamas
said he was a Palestinian police official tasked with overseeing the
protection of aid deliveries in Gaza.
Negotiations for a ceasefire in the war, now in its sixth month,
were due to resume on Monday with an Israeli delegation led by the
country's spy chief heading to Qatar. But an Israeli official said
nailing down any deal would probably take at least two more weeks, a
clear disappointment for Washington which had sought a deal by the
start of the Ramadan holy month last week.
President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
in a call on Monday that a military operation in Rafah would deepen
anarchy in Gaza and 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 leader in the U.S. Senate from Biden's Democratic Party called
on Israelis last week to replace Netanyahu, saying he was wrecking
Israel's international standing by allowing too much suffering in
Gaza.
The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel, killing 1,200
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.
SPECIAL FORCES
The Israeli military said special forces, supported by infantry and
tanks, conducted a "precise operation" on the Al Shifa Hospital
compound, based on intelligence that the hospital was being used by
Hamas leaders.
"We apprehended more than 200 terrorist suspects that are now being
questioned," said spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari. One
Israeli soldier was killed in the fighting, he said.
Residents described some of the heaviest fighting in northern Gaza
for months.
Mohammad Ali, 32, a father of two who lives near the hospital, told
Reuters via a chat app that the sound of the assault awoke the
neighborhood at around 1 a.m.
"Soon tanks started to roll, they came from the western road and
headed toward Al Shifa, then sounds of gunfire and explosions
increased," he said.
The Gaza health ministry said displaced people inside the hospital
had been killed in a fire caused by the raid.
(Writing by Peter Graff and Ros Russell; Editing by Nick Macfie,
Alex Richardson and Cynthia Osterman)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|