Hunger, famine, and starvation in Gaza

UN emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths just declared that famine is “around the corner” as people in Gaza face the “highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded.” Because 40% of the population in Gaza are already experiencing famine, this statement, then, would mean that more Gazans, more than 40% of Gazans that is, will experience hunger and famine, which will make it catastrophic given the number of people killed, injured, displaced, and missing in the strip that has been under siege for decades already. 

The UN’s relief chief on Friday warned that “Gaza has simply become uninhabitable” and demanded Israeli forces and Palestinian militants start meeting their obligations under international law to protect civilian lives.

“Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very existence – while the world watches on”, warned Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths in a statement, adding that “hope has never been more elusive” amidst deteriorating conditions.

“The humanitarian community has been left with the impossible mission of supporting more than two million people, even as its own staff are being killed and displaced, as communication blackouts continue, as roads are damaged and convoys are shot at, and as commercial supplies vital to survival are almost non-existent.”

If Israel is deliberately making life in Gaza impossible, such deliberate act of starvation is a crime against humanity and an act of forceful destruction or killing of a population.