Reports coming out of Gaza that Palestinians are being starved to death are not new. Limiting access to food is what Israel has been doing to Gaza since it started its assault on the enclave almost two years ago. It’s only now reached a breaking point where an entire population will be ethnically cleansed by starvation if something isn’t done to stop the inhumaity — as one in five people is on the brink of death from food deprivation. Israel has been systematically starving the population for well over a year.
This serves the purpose of causing Palestinian children, women, and men to die slow, painful deaths. Also, it gives plausible deniability to Israel against claims that they are committing genocide. In addition to claiming that Hamas is hiding under residential buildings, hospitals, schools, and food distribution sites, the country can claim it’s not committing a genocide since “only” 60,000 people, 80% of them civilians, have been killed.
On July 22, the New York Times published an opinion piece by Bret Stephens, a Zionist who is known for making anti-Arab, racist, and eugenicist comments, entitled No, Israel Is Not Committing Genocide in Gaza.
Bullshit.
This article outlines the manipulativeness and duplicity of an entity with genocidal intent who’s learned to hide behind plausible deniability — as they ethnically cleanse a population by depriving them of food and water, instead of using a gun or a bomb.
It’s inhumane. It’s unconscionable.
It needs to end.
Immediately.
Stephens asks —
if [Israel] is so malevolent that it is committed to the annihilation of Gazans — why hasn’t it been more methodical and vastly more deadly? Why not, say, hundreds of thousands of deaths, as opposed to the nearly 60,000 that Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatant and civilian deaths, has cited so far in nearly two years of war?
Genocide deniers have been saying this, and using these numbers, for the past two years to deny the systematic annihilation of Palestinians.
Images, and news, coming out of Gaza tell a completely different story.
Palestinians are being starved to death.
Food is within reach of Gaza but there’s a blockade imposed by Israel preventing the starving people from having access to it.
Israel is being condemned internationally as images, footage, and reports of mass starvation travel around the world.
Per Mother Jones —
On Wednesday, more than 100 aid groups issued a statement outlining just how dire the situation has become for Palestinians as doctors report record rates of malnutrition as a result of Israel’s aid blockade. “As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families,” the letter states. “[H]umanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.”
The signatories of the letter — which include Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam International, and Save the Children — urged governments to “open all land crossings; restore the full flow of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items, and fuel through a principled, UN-led mechanism; end the siege, and agree to a ceasefire now.”
Some of the letter reads, as reported by The Intercept —
“Illnesses like acute watery diarrhoea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration,” the letter said. It notes that about 28 trucks of aid per day are allowed into Gaza — a drop from the 600 daily that flowed into the Strip earlier this year amid the temporary ceasefire, which Israel later broke by continuing its bombing campaign.
There are “tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel” sitting inside Gaza or at border crossings, the letter argues, but the Israeli government’s restrictions have prevented them from accessing and delivering the aid.
Al Jazeera reports, “Gaza hospitals have recorded nine new deaths due to starvation and malnutrition over 24 hours, raising the total number of starvation deaths to 122, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.”
On March 2, Israel tightened its blockade on Gaza, in addition to ending its ceasefire. That means no food, water, shelter, or medication has been allowed into Gaza for almost five months. An Israeli backed, and U.S. owned aid group, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been in control of food distribution since May. These events have led to the catastrophic turn of events as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is aiding in the systematic starvation of Palestinians as well as the Israeli military shooting at people in line for food — primarily at GHF sites.
Per The Intercept —
When the GHF took over aid distribution in the Strip in late May, Israeli troops began routinely opening fire on starvingPalestinians waiting for food. As of this week, Israeli troops have shot and killed more than 1,000 people trying to get food: 766 near GHF aid sites, and 288 near aid convoys run by the United Nations and other organizations, according to the U.N.
…in the months since GHF took over aid distribution in Gaza, hospitals in the Strip have reported sharp increases in malnutrition cases. Doctors Without Borders said among its patients with severe or moderate malnutrition include 700pregnant and breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children.
Divest from Israel.
How much longer will this be allowed to go on? How many lives will have to be lost before Israel is no longer given weapons from other countries like the United States of America? What will it take for Israel to be sanctioned?
On Wednesday, over sixty members of the European Parliament signed a letter demanding an emergency meeting of the European Union to address sanctioning both Israel and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and individuals within the organization.
Years from now, we will all be asked, as individuals and citizens, where were we, and what did we do, when this genocide occurred. Did we say anything? Did we reach out to our state and national politicians? Did we boycott? Did we protest? Did we help in any way?
The Palestinian BDS (Boycott, Divest, and Sanction) National Committee has been in existence for two decades.
Contact your state and national politicians.
Here are websites where you can donate to feed Gazans.
PCRF
The Palestine Children's Relief Fund was established in 1992 by concerned humanitarians in the USA to bring injured and…
https://donate.unrwa.org/int/en/general
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