The US pressured a leading food security monitoring organisation to withdraw its warning of imminent famine in northern Gaza, according to officials in Washington who spoke to the Associated Press (AP).
The Famine Early Warning System (FEWS), a USAID-funded group, had warned in its now-retracted report that northern Gaza faced imminent famine under Israel’s “near-total blockade.” The report projected starvation-related deaths would reach the internationally recognised famine threshold – two or more deaths per day per 10,000 people – between January and March.
FEWS estimated between 2-15 daily deaths from starvation during this period. The organisation maintained this assessment would remain accurate even with a population as low as 10,000 people, disputing US claims about population uncertainty in the region.
US Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew publicly challenged the warning as “inaccurate” and “irresponsible”, claiming it failed to account for rapidly changing circumstances. USAID confirmed it requested the report’s retraction, stating the organisation had published despite technical concerns and a request for “substantive engagement.”
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The intervention has drawn sharp criticism from aid experts and human rights figures. Scott Paul, a senior manager at Oxfam America, accused the US ambassador of leveraging “political power to undermine the work of this expert agency.” Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), suggested USAID was allowing political considerations about “funding Israel’s starvation strategy” to interfere with independent assessment.
The UN and other agencies maintain that Israel has blocked almost all aid to the region, despite Israeli claims of placing no restrictions on aid entry. Last month the independent Famine Review Committee said that there is a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas” of the northern Gaza Strip.
FEWS, created by USAID in the 1980s, is meant to provide independent, neutral and data-driven assessments of hunger crises. The organisation confirmed the report’s withdrawal and plans to re-release it in January with updated data.
The Biden administration faces mounting criticism over its role in enabling the Gaza genocide, with several staff members resigning in protest over US policy. In a significant development, a federal lawsuit has been filed against Secretary of State Antony Blinken, accusing him of systematically failing to implement US law that prohibits military assistance to foreign security forces involved in gross human rights violations.
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