The Starving of Gaza:
The Zionist occupation has been committing crimes of genocide against the Palestinian people since October 7, 2023 in the Gaza Strip, through several methods and means, most notably: aerial bombardment, ground operations, and the destruction of hospitals, and other means used by the Zionist occupation as weapons aimed at genocide against the Palestinians of the besieged Strip. Perhaps the weapon of "starvation" is one of the most prominent weapons used by the occupation in this crime and is one of the most prominent war crimes committed in its ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip for more than half a year. Although it is not a new policy for the occupation against the Gaza Strip, it is the most ferocious and deadly against the residents of the Strip since 1967, that is, since the beginning of the Zionist occupation in Gaza. Since that date, the occupation authority has controlled the Palestinian food basket in the Gaza Strip, and engineered the food consumption of its residents in order to use food as a weapon to control them. Over the decades, the occupation has systematically harmed the Strip's ability to produce its own food, and has reduced the possibility of its residents obtaining potable water and healthy foods. Therefore, knowing this extended policy is essential to understanding the famine currently spreading in Gaza. The occupation followed a policy of "starvation" in the Gaza Strip, where it destroyed farms, stole more than 10% of the agricultural lands in Gaza, and uprooted more than 226,000 trees. The occupation also tightened the air and sea blockade on Gaza. In addition to closing all crossings after invading Rafah.
Escalating Aggression: Senior Israeli Officials Announce Total Blockade
With the start of the current aggression on the Strip, a number of senior officials within the Zionist entity announced their intention to deprive the people of the Gaza Strip of their most basic needs. On October 9 of the previous year, the Zionist Minister of Energy "Israel Katz" announced that he had ordered the cutting off of electricity, water and fuel to the Strip, saying: "What was, will not be." On the same day, the Minister of the Occupation Army "Yoav Galant" called for imposing a "complete blockade" on the Strip, declaring: "There will be no food, there will be no fuel." Since then, his provocative statements have spread: “We are fighting human animals,” as the extremist Israeli Minister of Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, stated on October 17, 2023, saying: “As long as the resistance does not release the hostages in its hands, the only thing that should be brought to Gaza is hundreds of tons of explosives via the air force, not a single gram of humanitarian aid,” which was confirmed the next day by the Prime Minister of the Israeli occupation, Benjamin Netanyahu, in his statement in which he said: “We will not allow humanitarian aid in the form of food and medicine to enter the Gaza Strip from our territory.”
Systematic Aggression: Blockade and Destruction of Gaza as a War Crime
All of these previous statements indicate an intention to deprive Palestinians inside the besieged Strip of basic materials that help them survive, including the deliberate prevention of the delivery of aid - the legal definition of “using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare,” which constitutes a war crime according to the Rome Statute.
At the same time, newspapers, television stations and social media networks inside the Zionist entity were filled with calls to destroy the residents of Gaza, either completely or partially, with phrases such as: “wiping Gaza out” and “leveling it to the ground,” in addition to the statements of the President of the Zionist entity “Isaac Herzog” on October 13, 2023 - the day on which the occupation authorities ordered 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes within 24 hours - in which he said publicly: “There are no innocent civilians” in the Strip. All these incitement claims against the residents of the Gaza Strip, whether from Zionist officials or claims spread through social media, resulted in an escalation of aggression in a manner that is considered the most violent on Gaza since the occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1948 AD, which resulted in this level of destruction and death that has never happened before inside the Gaza Strip, whether in terms of the number of martyrs and wounded, or in terms of the destruction of buildings, institutions and hospitals, as more than 40 thousand Palestinians were martyred - at the time of writing the report - including more than 15,000 children (except for those missing under the rubble), and more than 75 thousand Palestinians were injured, in addition to the destruction or damage of more than 70% of the civilian infrastructure, as many neighborhoods and areas became uninhabitable, and more than 75% of the residents of Gaza - about 1.7 million Palestinians - were displaced from their homes more than once during the past six months, in addition to the systematic Zionist aggression against hospitals and health centers, most of which went out of service. Restrictions and prevention of humanitarian aid to Gaza during the current genocide.
Humanitarian Crisis: Gaza Aid Restrictions and Calls to Dismantle UNRWA
UN agencies have warned of the occupation’s restrictions on humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, describing the amount of aid reaching the residents of the Strip as “just a drop in the ocean of needs.”
Perhaps one of the most prominent scenes of this restriction on the entry of aid to the Strip is the fierce campaign carried out by the occupation government to eliminate the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), as an activist working for the Hebrew website “Siha Mekomit” reported that the Knesset’s Foreign Policy and Public Diplomacy Subcommittee discussed how to deal with UNRWA, which quoted a researcher at the “Kohelet” Forum named “Noga Arbel,” who said: “It will be impossible to win the war if we do not destroy UNRWA, and this destruction must begin immediately.”
Since the invasion of Rafah, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to a systematic starvation campaign by closing all crossings, even the sea outlet that was built to bring in humanitarian aid has stopped.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-people-are-dying-out-hunger-despite-famine-not-declared
Deceptive Devastation: Israeli Jets Drop Explosives Disguised as Food Cans in Gaza
The intentional starvation of people in Gaza was already awful, but Israel never fails in exceeding expectations in committing vile crimes against humanity.
Israeli jets dropped fake food cans to the starving people in Gaza, and when the people opened them, hoping to ease their hunger and eating some food their hopes were turned to agony. Instead of food, what Israel dropped were explosives disguised as cans of food, causing the merciless death and injuries of innocent civilians, including children, who were only hoping to obtain Some food.
Under the watchful eyes of a powerless world, this is how the children of Gaza suffer on all levels—through bombing, displacement, siege, and starvation.
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