Cut off from the south of Gaza by Israeli infantry, and by the border with Israel on the north and east, the hundreds of thousands (some estimate as many as 700,000) of Palestinians in northern Gaza, including Gaza City, are facing imminent mass starvation, according to a new report by Middle East Eye on Monday.
There have already been at least seven documented cases of death of malnourished infants and children, cut off from food supplies for the past four months, who have died of starvation. Now, the Palestinians who are living in northern Gaza under ongoing Israeli bombardment and tank shelling, say that in another week of these conditions, there will be mass deaths.
A UN Resolution calling for a ceasefire and the release of humanitarian food and medical aid into Gaza was last week vetoed by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US representative on the UN Security Council. This was the fourth such resolution in the past four months, and each one was vetoed by Thomas-Greenfield. Palestinians say that this veto condemns them to genocide and starvation in the Gaza Strip.
Collective punishment of civilian populations is considered illegal under international law.
The Middle East Eye’s Lubna Masarwa interviewed a resident of Gaza City, who did not wish to be named. The Palestinian she interviewed told her about the struggle to survive in a war-torn city:
Things are difficult. Getting anything has become a difficult task, even simple things like sugar, salt and rice.
We go on looking for them everywhere, even in old shops and abandoned homes. If and when we find them in shops, they are sold at crazy prices.
About four days ago, around 800 bags of wheat flour came in. There are up to 700,000 people in northern Gaza. This means one bag for around every 1,000 people or so.
My cousin was among those people who managed to get a bag. It’s 25kg. He distributed it among our extended family and each of us got one kilo.
Just like everyone else in Gaza, my sister and I mixed our share with corn and soy flour.
We do this to increase the quantity.
‘I have completely forgotten what food tastes like’
I spent three hours in the morning starting the fire and cooking it, and in the end, it wasn’t good. It was hard, uncooked and tasted weird. My sister started crying and I tried to calm her by saying we could add thyme to it and eat it that way.
Then I visited my aunt’s house and they were struggling to get the fire started because the remaining wood in Gaza is not good. So I spent the next three hours helping them.
After that, I went to my uncle’s house and they had the same problem, so I helped them.
My uncle didn’t seem right to me during the visit. I asked him what was wrong and he didn’t answer. Later, his son told me he hadn’t eaten. He gave the small thyme pies they made to the children and refused to eat.
At the end of this very long and tiring day, an air strike hit nearby. I was terrified because I was on the upper floor. It was very close.
Dying en masse
We’ve reached our limit. Things are miserable and get worse every day. It’s beyond famine.
I’ve become so frail. I was a healthy guy. I used to ride horses and run. Now I can’t even go up the stairs without feeling very exhausted.
I have completely forgotten what food tastes like. I no longer know what fruit or chicken taste like. We had only rice and even that is scarce now.
If found, one kilo of rice costs 80 shekels ($22), when before the war it cost seven shekels ($1.90). We are running out of things like cooking oil, yeast, corn and barley. Even animal feed that we were forced to eat at some point is running out. Every day something runs out.
‘To die from the bombs is better than to die from this hunger’
I know people who started to eat wild herbs. If we stay like this for another week, I think we will start seeing people die from starvation en masse. There’s nothing left here. Healthy people are getting sick and sick people are dying.
It doesn’t matter whether you have money or not. It doesn’t matter whether you stored food at the start of the war or not. Everything has run out. We’re all the same. There’s no way around it.
To die from the bombs is better than to die from this hunger. At least with air strikes, you die right away.
But now, we keep going round and round each day just to find a bite to keep us standing.
Read the full interview at Middle East Eye.
This child from Gaza is suffering from dehydration due to malnutrition as a result of the Israeli starvation war imposed on the Strip.#GazaStarving pic.twitter.com/6npzsyZ7LA
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 26, 2024
An Israeli soldier shares videos of driving a tank over food in Gaza, gloating about the starvation of Palestinians. Meanwhile, Israeli forces block and attack humanitarian aid convoys attempting to reach northern areas in Gaza, resulting in severe famine. pic.twitter.com/8Aea72FGGy
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 24, 2024
Another Palestinian baby died last night in north Gaza due to starvation who could’ve been saved if the British had air dropped in the right place https://t.co/UhT6eYGh1F
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) February 26, 2024
Heart-wrenching: A Palestinian young man describes the severe famine in the northern Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli occupation’s starvation policy through the suffocating siege. pic.twitter.com/LOUt17lqYL
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) February 20, 2024
