The occupation state is using starvation in Gaza to deceive everyone

The Austrian psychologist Maslow developed a pyramid that shows the basic motivations for human behaviour. Through this pyramid, he arranged psychological needs on five levels, starting with the most important, which are the biological needs related to the survival instinct: water, food and shelter. These are followed directly by the need for safety away from wars, destruction, disaster areas and all the threats posed by different sources of danger. This was followed by the need for love and belonging, the need for appreciation and respect, and then the need for self-actualisation.

Prioritising the need for water and food over the need for faith in the motives of human behaviour explains the current situation in Gaza, as, given the famine in the enclave, obtaining what quenches thirst and satisfies hunger has become the main concern of its people, even if it requires risking their life to get whatever meagre sustenance is available. This is because there is a chance to escape death by bombing, but not to escape dying of starvation if there is no food and water.

Regarding the circumstances of the “Flour Massacre” in Gaza, in which more than a hundred Palestinian citizens were killed and hundreds of others were injured when occupation forces attacked very hungry people waiting for humanitarian aid trucks, one survivor said, “We all went out and knew the Israelis targeting us was a possibility, and that it was dangerous to gather in large numbers, but we had no other choice.” Another pointed out that, “My mother made us promise we would not go for fear of Israeli bombing, but my brother and I went by car late at night to an area close to Al-Rashid Street and waited.”

READ: Gaza’s hungry await aid despite convoy deaths and dispute over supplies

This is evidence that the need to satisfy one’s hunger takes precedence over anything else, even threats to one’s life. The enemy knows well the strength of the starvation that it is using as a weapon, so it began early on to prevent the entry of aid to the Palestinians in Gaza in light of the shameful Arab and Islamic world’s failure to provide anything. I use the word “failure” regardless of the very limited aid or calls for a ceasefire because they achieve nothing and do not relieve even one per cent of the suffering. The Zionist enemy wanted to pressure the resistance groups into unconditional surrender by weaponising starvation, and create general discontent in people and rebellion against the groups.

Israel has been enabled to deceive the world by creating this famine in the Gaza Strip

Despite the failure of the Israel’s occupation forces to achieve this goal, due to the steadfastness of the people of Gaza, it has been enabled to deceive the world by creating this famine in the Gaza Strip. This deception is represented by the success of the Zionists in forcing everyone to deal with events on the ground mainly — even solely — from a humanitarian perspective. Most Arab, Islamic and international efforts are focused on looking at ways to deliver humanitarian aid and relief to the stricken Strip, especially the north, where nearly 700,000 people who refused to be displaced struggle to survive. This has reduced the pressure for a permanent ceasefire, making a “humanitarian pause” the main objective. The main issue — an end to the genocidal massacres — in no longer top of the priority list. Yes, saving the Palestinians from starving to death is important; of course it is. But if we accept this shift of priorities, then it means that the Zionists have succeeded in their deception by making humanitarian aid the ceiling of current objectives.

This has opened the door for the US — which is openly colluding with the occupation in massacring the people of Gaza, whether through supplying arms, military experts or troops, as well as its veto at the UN Security Council to block calls for a ceasefire — to take on the humanitarian mantle. However, US airdrops of aid to stave off starvation for some Palestinians at least, while simultaneously arming the occupation forces to kill many more Palestinians, are best described as darkly humorous.

Yes, we asked the Arab governments to extend an air bridge for aid, and we are still demanding it, but the requested aid cannot be met with a few planes dropping limited aid that does not even meet a tiny fraction of what is needed for the residents of the Strip. Rather, we are talking about air bridges by Arab and Muslim countries in which aid flows through them, rescuing people from starvation. The Gaza Strip needs 500 trucks of food and medical supplies daily, which is the minimum that could keep the Palestinians from dying of hunger. Without these, the airdrops will be nothing other than a PR exercise that achieve little if anything on the ground. The north is the most badly affected and it receives nothing of this aid. What’s more, some of the parachutes were blown off course and landed in areas where Israeli settlers live.

Humanitarian aid cannot and should not be looked at in isolation. The issue has to be looked at in its totality, with the aim of a ceasefire and an end to the occupation being uppermost in everyone’s mind. Ultimately, the occupation is the root cause of the problem, of which the genocide and humanitarian catastrophe are symptoms. Failure to acknowledge and deal with that means that the issue will continue to be looked at through the lens of humanitarian aid, rather than decisive political action that is required to stop the killing, stop the oppression and fulfil the legitimate rights of the Palestinians to self-determination, justice and peace in their own land.

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