Top UN general warns ‘hunger used as weapon of war’ to starve Palestinians
Ten weeks into a ‘fabricated, man-made and politically motivated famine’, Palestinians in Gaza are starving.
With United Nations food distribution centres shut down, bakeries bombed and humanitarian access throttled by Israel, people are resorting to eating animal feed, scraps and even turtles captured in the Mediterranean Sea to delay their death.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA, the UN agency, which supports Palestinian refugees, told Metro that hunger is being used as a weapon of war in the Palestinian territory.
Perched under a tree in an outdoor café in central London, he is struggling to find words to describe the ongoing bombardments, only worsened by the blockade of food and medicine.
Lazzarini said: ‘Children are malnourished. Hunger is deepening, people are exhausted and living in fear.
‘This is not any type of famine – it is fabricated, man-made and politically motivated. Food and hunger are being weaponised in Gaza.
‘We are used to different types of malnutrition, created by climate change, by draught, by conflict.
‘In the context of Gaza, it is none of that, it is man-made from the start to what we see today.
‘Each additional day of siege is another day of suffering. There is no doubt this is a disgrace for our collective moral compass.’
UNRWA’s commissioner-general is not citing random, speculative figures – his warnings are backed by a new report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
It is a venture by UN agencies, aid groups and governments that measures whether a famine is happening.
The group said ‘there is a high risk’ of outright famine if Israel does not lift its blockade.
The IPC says that 470,000 Gazans, about 22% of the population, are in a classification it calls ‘Phase Five’, meaning they are facing catastrophic hunger.
It is defined as ‘at least one in five households experience an extreme lack of food and face starvation resulting in destitution, extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition and death.’
The report also projects an alarming 71,000 children and more than 17,000 mothers will need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition.
Border crossings into Gaza have been closed for more than two months – the longest the population has ever faced – causing food prices in markets to spike to astronomical levels, putting what little food is available out of reach for most families.
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At the same time, more than 116,000 metric tons of food – enough to feed one million people for up to four months – is positioned in aid corridors, ready to be brought in.
Hundreds of pallets of lifesaving nutrition treatments are prepositioned for entry as well.
Chris Newton, an analyst for the International Crisis Group, stressed that the lack of a famine declaration does not mean that people are not already starving, adding that a declaration should not be a precondition for ending the suffering.
He added: ‘The Israeli government is starving Gaza as part of its attempt to destroy Hamas and transform the strip.’
Lazzarini also agreed that there is ‘deliberate pressure’ to get rid of Gazans and to make the territory unlivable.
What is the criteria for declaring famine?
Famine is only officially declared when an area is facing extremely severe food insecurity, and at least three specific criteria are met.
- at least 20% of households experience extreme food shortages
- at least 30% of children suffer acute malnutrition
- and at least two people (or four children) per 10,000 die daily due to starvation or malnutrition-related diseases
The IPC has only declared famine a few times – in Somalia in 2011, and South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and last year in parts of Sudan’s western Darfur region.
He told Metro: ‘There is deliberate pressure to make Gaza no longer livable for Palestinians. There is a political objective behind it and one of them is the displacement of the population.
‘They want the population to capitulate and ask to get out of Gaza.’
The Israeli military argued that enough aid has entered Gaza during a two-month ceasefire that Israel shattered in mid-March when it relaunched its military campaign.
Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the hostages it still holds.
An Israeli-American hostage was finally freed after 19 months of captivity in Gaza during a brief pause in fighting on Monday.
The release of Edan Alexander has given hope of a renewed ceasefire and the end of the blockade.
Hamas said it freed the 21-year-old as a goodwill gesture to Donald Trump, who is visiting the Middle East this week.
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