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Famine and the targeting of aid workers, journalists

As a result of Israel’s complete control over Gaza’s entry points and its limitations on the entry of aid, the entire population in the Gaza Strip faces an imminent risk of famine, according to the UN. Some 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza are in urgent need of food assistance each day. UN experts have accused Israel of carrying out a ‘targeted starvation campaign’, adding that the recent death of children ‘leaves no doubt that famine has spread across the entire Gaza Strip’. The situation has intensified since Israel took control of the Rafah Crossing and stopped the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave and the evacuation of patients who need urgent medical attention abroad.

The UN reported a 67% drop in the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza in the three weeks after occupation forces took control of the Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

Israel has blocked the entry of 83% of food aid to the Gaza Strip, according to a press release issued by 16 UN humanitarian relief organisations on 19 September. In 2023, the groups said, 34% of aid was banned from entry by occupation forces.

The lack of available food and Israeli restrictions on the movement and entry of vital aid meant that in September, over 1.4 million Palestinians did not receive their food rations.

Northern Gaza, including Gaza City have been particularly badly hit by the siege.

In addition to its siege on the enclave, Israel has carried out a disinformation campaign against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in an effort to close down the agency. More than 220 UNRWA staff have been killed in Gaza.

Israel has claimed UNRWA staff are Hamas members in efforts to discredit them, providing no proof of the claims, while lobbying hard to have UNRWA closed as it is the only UN agency to have a specific mandate to look after the basic needs of Palestinian refugees. If the agency no longer exists, argues Israel, then the refugee issue must no longer exist, and the legitimate right for Palestinian refugees to return to their land will be unnecessary. Israel has denied that right of return since the late 1940s, even though its own membership of the UN was made conditional upon Palestinian refugees being allowed to return to their homes and land.

Since it began carrying out its attacks on Gaza, Israel has not allowed any foreign press into the enclave, and its forces have targeted Palestinian journalists who are covering events as they unfold on the ground. Israel has killed at least 174 journalists and other media workers in Gaza since 7 October 2023.

Concept, research and text: Sara Khalil

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