The Israeli siege put Gazans at risk of starvation – pre-war policies made them defenseless in the first place

The stories of famine in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip are stark: people resort to it grinding barely edible cattle feed make flour; desperate residents eating grass; reports from cats hunted for food.

The numbers in query are equally desperate. The world’s leading authority on food insecurity, the IPC Hunger Review Commission, estimates that 90% of Gaza’s population – roughly 2.08 million people – face severe food insecurity. Indeed, of the individuals who face imminent starvation in today’s world, an estimated 95% are in Gaza.

as expert in Palestinian public health, I’m afraid the situation may not have bottomed out. In January 2024, many major donors to UNRWA, the UN refugee agency that gives most services to Palestinians in Gaza, suspended contributions to the agency in response to allegations, a dozen or so of the agency’s 30,000 employees were likely involved in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. The agency has indicated that it should not have the opportunity to supply services from March and can lose its ability to distribute food and other essential supplies this month.

With at least 28,000 people confirmed dead and an extra 68,000 injured, Israeli bombs have already caused catastrophic loss of life in Gaza – famine may very well be the next tragedy to befall the territory.

Indeed, two weeks after Israel launched an enormous military campaign in the Gaza Strip, Oxfam International reported that only about 2% of the usual amount of food was provided to the territory’s inhabitants. At the time, Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East director, commented that “there is no justification for using hunger as a weapon of war.” But 4 months later, the siege continues limit the distribution of appropriate aid.

Putting Palestinians on a ‘food plan’

Israeli bombs try this destroyed houses, bakeries, food producing factories and grocery stores, making it difficult for Gazans to offset the effects of reduced food imports.

However, food insecurity in Gaza and the mechanisms that make it possible didn’t begin with Israel’s response to the October 7 attack.

AND UN Report 2022 found that in the 12 months before the last war, 65% of Gazans were food insecure, which is defined as lack of regular access to sufficient amounts of secure and nutritious food.

Many aspects contribute to food insecurity, including: blockade of Gaza imposed by Israel and enabled by Egypt since 2007. All products entering the Gaza Strip, including food, are subject to Israeli inspection, delay or denial.

Basic foodstuffs allowed, but attributable to delays at the border, it may possibly break before entering Gaza.

Year 2009 investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. they found that foods as diverse as cherries, kiwi, almonds, pomegranates and chocolate were completely banned.

At some points there may be a blockade, as Israel claims an inevitable security measure, has been loosened to permit more food to be imported; for instance, in 2010 Israel began allowing potato chips, fruit juices, Coca-Cola and cookies.

By imposing restrictions on food imports, Israel appears to be attempting to put pressure on Hamas, making life tougher for Gazans. In words one advisor to the Israeli government in 2006“The idea is to put Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them starve.”

To make this possible, the government of Israel commissioned the 2008 study to calculate exactly what number of calories Palestinians would want to avoid malnutrition. The report was only made public after a legal battle in 2012.

Lockdown too increased food insecurity stopping significant economic development in Gaza.

The UN quotes “excessive production and transaction costs and barriers to trade with the rest of the world” imposed by Israel as the important cause of severe underdevelopment in the occupied territories, including Gaza. As a result, at the end of 2022 the unemployment rate in Gaza was around 50%. This, coupled with continued growth cost of foodhampers the food supply of many households in Gaza, making them depending on aid that changes regularly.

Obstructing self-sufficiency

More generally, the blockade and repeated rounds of destruction of parts of the Gaza Strip have made food sovereignty in the territory almost inconceivable.

Much of Gaza’s farmland lies along so-called “no-go zones” that Israel has made off-limits to Palestinians, who risk being shot if they struggle to enter these areas.

Gaza fishermen do often shelled by Israeli gunboats in the event that they enterprise further into the Mediterranean than Israel allows. Because fish closer to shore are smaller and fewer abundant, the average income of a fisherman in Gaza is greater than half since 2017.

Meanwhile, much of the infrastructure needed for adequate food production – greenhouses, farmlands, orchards, livestock and food production plants – has been destroyed or severely damaged by various rounds of bombing in Gaza. AND international donors were hesitant to unexpectedly rebuild the facilities when they can’t guarantee that their investment will last greater than just a few years before they’re bombed again.

The latest siege has only further weakened Gaza’s ability to turn into self-sufficient in food. At the starting of December 2023, an an estimated 22% of agricultural land were destroyed together with factories, farms and water and sanitary facilities. And the full extent of the damage will not be clear for months or years.

Meanwhile, Israel flooding of tunnels under parts of the Gaza Strip, seawater threatens to destroy remaining crops, leaving the land too salty, making it unstable and susceptible to sinkholes.

Hunger as a weapon of war

In addition to the many health effects of hunger and malnutrition, especially on childrensuch conditions make people more liable to disease, which is already a significant issue for people staying in overcrowded shelters from which they’re forced to flee.

In response to the current hunger crisis in Gaza Alex de WaalAuthor “Mass starvation: the history and future of famine” explained, “While it may be possible to accidentally bomb a hospital, it is not possible to accidentally cause famine.” He argues that the war crime of starvation doesn’t should involve easy starvation – the act of depriving people of food, medicine and clean water is enough.

The use of starvation is strictly prohibited under the Geneva Convention, a set of statutes regulating the laws of war. The United Nations condemned the famine Resolution 2417which condemned the use of deprivation of food and basic needs for civilians and obliged the parties to the conflict to make sure full access for humanitarian aid.

Human Rights Watch has already filed charges Israel’s use of hunger as a weapon of warand subsequently accuses the Israeli government of a war crime. In turn, the Israeli government still blames Hamas for any deaths in Gaza.

But unraveling what Israel’s intentions may be – whether it’s using starvation as a weapon of war to force mass displacement, or whether, because it claims, it is just a byproduct of war – does little for the people on the ground in Gaza.

They require immediate intervention to forestall catastrophic consequences. As reported by one parent in Gaza“We are forced to eat one meal a day – canned food that we get from aid organizations. No one can afford to buy anything for their family. I see children here crying from hunger, including my own children.”