Despite denials from the Israeli government that hunger is now widespread in Gaza, even US president Donald Trump has now acknowledged Gazans are starving. Food warehouses have emptied, child malnutrition is rising, the few functioning hospitals are running out of medicine, and warnings of starvation and disease are growing louder. Some government supporters openly defend blocking aid. One Knesset member said he was “interested” in starving an entire nation. “Yes, I’ll starve Gazans, yes, this is our obligation.”
International organisations from the UN to the EU have described what they call the “weaponisation” of hunger as a war crime. To date, some 18,000 children are reported to have died in the 19-month onslaught that, according to local health officials, has taken over 52,0000 lives.
Ahead of Trump’s visit to the region next week, instead of reopening border crossings to international aid, Israel has proposed a new supply mechanism for limited amounts of humanitarian assistance under conditions it will strictly control. Under the plan, food supplies, vetted by Israel, would be allowed to travel through designated corridors to Israeli-constructed distribution hubs in southern Gaza. The corridors and the hubs are to be guarded by private US security contractors.
The distribution will serve only the south, where a new Israeli military re-occupation strategy, approved by prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet last weekend, plans to relocate most of Gaza’s more than two million people while it escalates operations against what it says are Hamas militants still operating in the enclave.
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Despite US diplomatic lobbying in support of the plan, the UN and virtually all other organisations have refused to participate. They have described it as against “fundamental humanitarian principles” and violating international law.
The re-escalation of its war and re-occupation of Gaza with massive force represents a dangerous sign that the Netanyahu government, held prisoner by its hard-right members, is implementing Trump’s plan to transfer Palestinians out of Gaza. It is no less than ethnic cleansing. “We are finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip,” far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich warned this week – the suggestion is, for ever. He added that while returning hostages to their families is important, it is “not the most important goal” compared to crushing Hamas. Hostages’ families are outraged at an operation that is likely to condemn the 29 hostages still held by Hamas.
The only real hope for a long-term settlement remains peace talks and the ambition of ending the war with a comprehensive deal to recognise Palestinian autonomy, a two-state solution, and the mutual security of both Israel and Palestine. Israel’s escalation of its military campaign threatens to move any such prospects off the agenda.
