Starvation in Gaza

New figures published by the Israeli body overseeing food delivery expose a deliberate policy of mass starvation against 2.4 million Gazans

This tactic of genocidal coercion is intended to crush their spirit and force their submission.

Dr. Ismail Al-Thawabta, the Director General of the Government Media Office in Gaza, confirmed the figures published by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), criticising them as morally indefensible.

Upholding a farcical image of itself as a benevolent humanitarian agency, COGAT is restricting and seizing critical food supplies.

A population on the brink

COGAT claims to be delivering 1.4 million meals to the Strip daily. However, compared with Gaza’s population size, only 58.3 percent receive a daily meal — leaving the remainder without. The single meal provided weighs between 300 and 500 grams, with an average of just 400 grams. This means that only 560 tonnes of food enters the Strip each day.

The people of Gaza need between 2,400 and 2,600 tonnes of food per day, while only 560 tonnes has been getting through. That’s less than 25 percent of the required amount. Let that sink in.

COGAT reported that 3.5 million loaves of bread are delivered daily, amounting to 1.46 loaves per person.

Surviving on these rations is laughable especially for families enduring prolonged displacement without access to potable water.

Children bear the additional hardship of needing a diverse, ample diet in support of their developmental needs.

Starvation as a method of warfare

The occupation claims it had delivered 270,000 parcels in November, which it uncritically deemed ‘sufficient’ for one million people. In reality, a single food parcel barely covers the needs of a family of five.

Supplies that are supposed to last a month barely last a week.

This is a deliberate strategy the callous occupation repeatedly resorts to — warfare by alternative means.

For many observers, these latest figures serve as an official acknowledgement that the occupation deliberately imposes restrictions on food aid to achieve its political ambitions in Gaza — ultimately to empty the city of its indigenous population.

Al-Thawabta points to the occupation’s continued failure to comply with the terms of the humanitarian truce. The ceasefire stipulates that sufficient and regular aid must be allowed to enter. Allowing only a quarter of the required amount is a clear violation. It punishes the local population and compounds the humanitarian crisis families endure, particularly southern and northern Gaza.

Starvation is a war crime

He views the latest figures issued by the occupation as explicit evidence of the policy of starvation to force the population into capitulation. It is not the result of emergency circumstances. The risk of famine is manmade, deliberate, morally reprehensible, and intended to break the will of the people of Gaza.

He points out that one million people aren’t receiving a single daily meal. Only one and a half loaves of bread are provided for each person, and families receive one measly food parcel per month. These figures reveal the scale of the crisis and show that the occupation is directly responsible for orchestrating this man-made disaster.

Featured image via Reuters