The Situation In Gaza Requires Urgent International Attention
On Aug. 1, the United Nations reported that despite the July 27th announcement of daily military pauses in western Gaza “to improve humanitarian responses,” Israeli forces continued attacks along food convoy routes and near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites.
According to the UN, between July 30 and 31 alone, 105 Palestinians were killed and at least 680 more injured along the convoy routes in the Zikim area in North Gaza, southern Khan Younis, and in the vicinity of the GHF sites in Middle Gaza and Rafah. As reported, in total, since May 27, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food; 859 in the vicinity of the GHF sites and 514 along the routes of food convoys.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that most of the killings were committed by the Israeli military: “[OHCHR] has no information that these Palestinians were directly participating in hostilities or posed any threat to Israeli security forces or other individuals. Each person killed or injured had been desperately struggling for survival, not only for themselves, but also for their families and dependents.”
Intentionally directing attacks against civilians not taking direct part in hostilities and intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies, are war crimes.
The update from the United Nations is only one of the plethora of reporting on the situation in Gaza, situation that cannot be ignored, and not without destroying the remnant of humanity of the international community.
On July 29, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) platform identified that two out of three famine thresholds have been reached in Gaza: plummeting food consumption and acute malnutrition. Famine has not been declared yet. This is as the third criteria, deaths from malnutrition, cannot be demonstrated. However, as reported by the UN, there is mounting evidence that “widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease” are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths, which is the third famine indicator.
When clarifying the findings, the IPC stressed that “one in three people is now going without food for days at a time. (…) Hospitals are also overwhelmed and have treated more than 20,000 children for acute malnutrition since April. At least 16 children under five have died from hunger-related causes since mid-July.”
In May, IPC issued an alert projecting catastrophic levels of food insecurity for the entire population by September. According to the platform’s experts, at least half a million people are expected to be in IPC Phase 5 — catastrophe — which is marked by starvation, destitution and death.
Also on July 29, several UN experts published a joint statement expressing alarm at Israel’s deliberate withholding of access to safe drinking water from Palestinians in Gaza: “Cutting off water and food is a silent but lethal bomb that kills mostly children and babies. The sight of infants dying in their mothers’ arms is unbearable. (…) This catastrophe was not only predictable; it was predicted.” The UN experts further stressed that “these intentional, widespread and systematic attacks against Palestinians are a deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of a population — another act of genocide.”
The dire situation is driven by nearly two years of conflict sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel in October 2023 that left some 1,250 dead and around 250 people taken hostage.The ongoing conflict resulted in thousands killed. Some 70% of Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed. Around 90% of Gaza’s population have been displaced. Safe areas have been reduced to less than 12% of the entire territory.
The situation in Gaza requires urgent attention and response from the international community — to prevent further civilian suffering and death. While some steps have been taken to provide humanitarians assistance, as it stands, the steps appear to be too little and too late to address the current and ever-growing needs of the population.
The international community must come together to ensure that the concerning predictions of famine and death do not materialize.
This article has been republished with permission from Forbes.
Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab is a human rights advocate, author and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. She’s authored the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of genocide and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities around the world. She is on X @EwelinaUO.