Thou Shalt Not Starve Thy Neighbor | Haaretz Editorial |

Currently, Israel is the occupying power in Gaza; according to international law, it must take care of the needs of the population under its control, including women, children, the elderly and the sick. This must not be forgotten | Haaretz Editorial

The Israeli government, from its head to its most junior member, refuses to admit that many of those who live in Gaza are civilian noncombatants and that about half of the Strip's inhabitants are children. The public media debate in Israel also ignores this element of the situation in Gaza. After the death toll in the Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, passed the 32,000 mark, including over 12,000 children, the discourse remained indifferent; even the discussion of humanitarian aid focuses on Israeli interests, without considering the human element.

The amount of food that is currently entering Gaza is insufficient for human survival, Francesco Cecchi, a professor of epidemiology and international health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine told Haaretz (Neta Ahituv, Haaretz Hebrew edition, March 27). According to the United Nations, the entire population of the Gaza Strip, some 2.3 million people, is suffering from high levels of acute food insecurity, and about one in four is on the brink of famine.

There are an estimated 50,000 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip, who are at high risk. About 90 percent of them suffer from catastrophic food insecurity; the rate is similar among nursing mothers, according to a statement by the World Health Organization in November. In recent weeks, the Gaza Health Ministry has reported 27 deaths from malnutrition, 23 of them children. The situation is the worst in the northern Strip, where 15.6 percent of children under the age of 2 who were screened in shelters and health centers – one out of six – were found to be acutely malnourished.

To address the criticism, the government is promoting the establishment of a multinational force to secure the introduction of humanitarian aid to the Strip. Its role will be to temporarily guard the pier that the Biden administration is building off the coast of Gaza and the convoys of trucks transporting the aid within the Strip. The establishment of the multinational force has two goals: to weaken Hamas' control so that its people will not be involved in aid distribution and to help Israel deal with the American pressure to expand the aid and improve the way it is delivered to residents.

🔗SOURCE ➡️ Haaretz [x]

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