Gazans starve as Israel plans expanded operation
At least 57 Palestinians have starved to death in Gaza as Israel’s blockade of critical humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave stretches into its third month. Within this period, no food, drinking water, medicine, or any other essential supplies have entered the territory. Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Saturday that most of the victims […]
gazans starve as israel plans expanded operation
At least 57 Palestinians have starved to death in Gaza as Israel’s blockade of critical humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave stretches into its third month.
Within this period, no food, drinking water, medicine, or any other essential supplies have entered the territory.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Saturday that most of the victims were children, as well as the sick and elderly, condemning the “continued use of food by the Israeli occupation as a weapon of war” and urging the international community to exert pressure on Israel to reopen the borders and allow in aid.
Israel is planning to expand its military operation in Gaza, but for many of the territory’s residents, the most immediate threat to their lives remains famine amid a months-long Israeli blockade.
The plan to expand military operations, approved by Israel’s security cabinet yesterday, includes holding territories in the besieged Gaza Strip and moving the population south “for their protection”, an Israeli official said.
But Gaza residents told AFP that they did not expect the new offensive would make any significant changes to the already dire humanitarian situation in the small coastal territory.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in late April said it had depleted all its food stocks in Gaza due to Israel’s blockade on all supplies since March 2.
Aya al-Skafy, a resident of Gaza City, told AFP her baby died because of malnutrition and medicine shortages last week.
“She was four months old and weighed 2.8 kilograms (6.2 pounds), which is very little. Medicine was not available,” she said.
“Due to severe malnutrition, she suffered from blood acidity, liver and kidney failure, and many other complications. Her hair and nails also fell out due to malnutrition.”
Umm Hashem al-Saqqa, another Gaza City resident, fears her five-year-old son might face a similar fate, but is powerless to do anything about it.
“Hashem suffers from iron deficiency anaemia. He is constantly pale and lacks balance, and is unable to walk due to malnutrition,” she told AFP.
“There is no food, no medicine, and no nutritional supplements. The markets are empty of food, and the government clinics and pharmacies have nothing.”
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 69 per cent of Gaza has now been either incorporated into one of Israel’s buffer zones or is subject to evacuation orders.
That number rises to 100 per cent in the southern governorate of Rafah, where over 230,000 people lived before the war, but which has now been entirely declared a no-go zone.
“There is no food, no medicine, and the announcement of an aid distribution plan is just to distract the world and mislead global public opinion,” Shawa said, referring to reports of a new Israeli plan for humanitarian aid delivery that has yet to be implemented.
“The reality is that Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza by bombing, shooting, or through starvation and denial of medical treatment,” he said.
Israel says that its renewed bombardments and the blockade of Gaza are aimed at forcing Hamas to release hostages held in the territory.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich praised the new plan for Gaza on Monday and evoked a proposal previously floated by US President Donald Trump to displace the territory’s residents elsewhere.
The far-right firebrand said he would push for the plan’s completion, until “Hamas is defeated, Gaza is fully occupied, and Trump’s historical plan is implemented, with Gaza refugees resettled in other countries”.