Many Gazans being denied food, medicines despite accord

World Food Day was celebrated last Thursday while 733 million people go hungry every day, 2.33 billion people face moderate to severe food insecurity, and 3.1 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. Hunger is driven by conflict, climate change, and economic shocks and deliberate privation.

Israel is punishing living Palestinians in Gaza with the blockade of food, water and medicine because Hamas has been unable to deliver all the bodies of dead Israelis lying in unmarked, unknown graves. Heavy lifting equipment is needed to unearth some of the bodies. Turkey — which has had experience in retrieval due to earthquakes — has offered to help but has not gained entry.

Under the week-old ceasefire agreement, Israel is obliged to allow 600 humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza per day. However, Israel has in theory limited entry to 300 trucks per day. In practice, UN monitors reported that between October 10-16, 216 trucks have reached their intended destinations inside Gaza. Truck drivers blame delays on Israeli inspections causing long lines to trucks queuing on the highway on the Egyptian border crossing to Gaza.

While insufficient food aid has gained entry, medical equipment, therapeutic nutrition items and medicines have not and remain in extremely short supply, depriving poor, malnourished children in particular. Commercial trucks enter Gaza with fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and chicken, but these items are unaffordable for most Palestinians who are without jobs and whose savings have disappeared in two years of warfare and privation.

Even if Israel permits the entry of 600 truckloads a day, this is not only insufficient to meet the daily needs of Gaza’s entire population but cannot make up for weeks of blockade when no aid reached Gaza. A trickle does not do the job of a flood, aid agencies contend.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher declared, “We need more crossings open and a genuine, practical, problem-solving approach to removing remaining obstacles. Throughout this crisis, we have insisted that withholding aid from civilians is not a bargaining chip. Facilitation of aid is a legal obligation,” he stated.

International humanitarian law bans the denial of food to civilians. He said that more than 170,00 million tonnes of food are waiting for delivery. This is ready to move, enough to feed 2 million people. To make it even more difficult for Palestinians to access aid, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has been blocked by Israel although it has the system and means to reach every Palestinian in Gaza. UNRWA is being barred although it has enough food in warehouses in Jordan and Egypt to feed all Gazans for three months.

Over the past two years, at least 463 people, of whom 157 were children, have died from starvation. Twenty-five per cent of children suffer from severe malnutrition which can seriously affect growth and health throughout their lives.

Under Donald Trump's October 9th ceasefire plan which has been accepted by the sides, the flow and distribution of aid is meant to "proceed without interference from both parties through the United Nations and its agencies and the Red Crescent, in addition to other international institutions not associated in any manner with either party."

The Rafah crossing was meant to open in both directions for pedestrians and vehicles. Neither the essential aid deliveries nor the opening of Rafah have been implemented. Israel has said the facilities at the crossing, which was bombed and occupied by Israel during the hostilities, need to be repaired.

Meanwhile, the ceasefire will not prompt South Africa to withdraw the case accusing Israel of genocide submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague. President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country would pursue it to closure to provide “healing” for the Palestinians. A host of countries have lent their support for the South African case, including Ireland, Turkey, Belgium, Nicaragua, Cuba, Libya, Egypt, the Maldives, Chile, and Palestine. Several international organisations have also joined.

Israel’s all-out Gaza offensive has killed 68,000 Palestinians and injured 169,000, 80 per cent of whom are civilians. A UN humanitarian agency study found that 70 per cent of the fatalities slain in houses or residential buildings were women and children. Since the ceasefire has been in force 28 Palestinians have been killed including an entire family of 11.

Israel’s latest Gaza campaign has transformed international attitudes to Israel. It is no longer seen as fighting in self-defence but is regarded as an aggressor.

Israel has lost one of its most important public relations assets: victimhood. It is no longer regarded as a victim but as a victimizer. This transition has taken place under the watch and direction of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who has not — and will not — escape blame. Israeli left and centre-left media have accused him of changing Israel's image. Former friends have been among the most critical as they feel betrayed.