Gaza Starvation Crisis: Starvation and the Breakdown of Society
In cases where millions of people in an area go without food, something unusual and awful unfolds. That’s not the only way starvation causes the body to break away. A different term for it is the downfall of society. Humans in search for food in a garbage dump is an early warning of famine. A woman is cooking in secret in order to hide food from her siblings.
The family in the image is selling their grandmother’s jewellery for a single meal. Their faces tend to be blank and devoid of life, and their eyes are hazy. This is the outcome when people compete for food like animals: they are made to feel humiliated, dismayed, mocked, and, yes, dehumanized.
Gaza Starvation Crisis: When Food Scarcity Signals a Humanitarian Collapse
In fact, there is no data that would verify this truth. The worst food scenarios are classified as “famines,” and the means used to assess and grade them break down when society breaks down in this way. But similar to the way an experienced doctor can tell whether a patient has a fever without sending blood samples to a lab, aid workers who went through the worst of human suffering in Biafra in 1969 or Ethiopia in 1984 can identify these traits when they see them. They can see it now in Gaza.
These are the words of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an organization backed by the US and Israel that started working in May. They take you to a different world. The GHF advertises itself as a kind, skilled organization fit for the 21st century. The company is happy to say that it recently delivered more than 2 million meals from its four “secure distribution sites.” There are pictures of order and efficiency on the website.
There are also pictures of healthy young guys next to the pictures of children and women who are so hungry that they are passing out. Palestinian media filmed civilians tirelessly attempting to get the little aid that continues to arrive from the UN. The GHF, on the other hand, has shots of its staff holding the hands of Palestinian children and giving out aid in a planned manner. Israeli officials say that the UN has hundreds of trucks full of food inside the Gaza border that it won’t give out.
But that pretty picture doesn’t hold up to even the most basic inspection. There are four reasons to believe that it is, at best, a sham created by amateurs and, at worst, a cover for the crime of mass starvation that is still going on.
The Numbers Behind the Gaza Starvation Crisis
To begin, the numbers do not match up. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization figured out in April how much food was still in Gaza after 18 months of war and pressure and two months of an Israeli blockade. It is thought that between May and July, the amount of food available would drop to about half of what is needed to keep people alive. That means that all of Gaza’s food needs must be met by the aid effort. It’s not enough to feed two million people every day. The GHF meals might have slowed down the process of going hungry a little, but not much.
Second, numbers alone won’t help end hunger. It’s like standing at the edge of a big pond and throwing biscuits into the water to feed the fish. Who gets to eat its food?
People in the vulnerable section go hungry. The United Nations states that widespread food insecurity is at famine levels when 20% of families are facing an extreme lack of food. Not the strongest people die of hunger, but those who are least capable.
GHF’s Distribution Model: Secure for Whom?
Over the years, aid agencies have figured out how to best help the poorest people, like women who are single and have to take charge of several kids or even elderly parents. For aid to really help, it has to get to the very end. Four food stations are run by the GHF. The three are in the far south of Gaza, in the ruins of Rafah.
The one in the middle of Gaza is elsewhere. They are all in no-go zones. They only open for short times and at short notice. In order to get these rations, people have to camp out in the rubble and be ready to run through the Israel Defense Forces‘ armed posts to get to the gates at any time. For IDF troops, firing live ammunition is the only way to keep the crowd in line, even when they’re not trying to kill anyone.
The GHF doesn’t mean how it safely sends packages to people in need when it talks about “secure distribution sites.” It means how it controls its packages until it hands them over. There are dozens of deaths every day of people trying to get to these places to get help.
How will the stressed-out mom with hungry kids or the old or disabled person join this crowd? They had to get past military posts and thieves who wanted to steal the best food for themselves or to sell in the market. How were they going to do it? The GHF doesn’t know who is taking the food. There is no set way to feed the poorest people. It is how things work in the jungle.
Third, the help must be tailored to what people really need. At the top of the list are ready-to-use therapeutic foods like Plumpy’Nut that are made to help malnourished kids who can’t eat normal meals.
Lack of Therapeutic Food and Basic Cooking Needs
A lot of the time, the GHF ration box comes with rice, beans or lentils, tahini, flour, and pasta. Not for babies. Not Plumpy Nut. In addition, are there any trained nurses or nutritionists in the local vicinity to assist with feeding children who are hungry? Imagine the mother who is truly at the bottom of the food chain and is desperate.
How will she cook the food she gets? Where does she get clean water? Israel has wiped out the last few desalination plants, leading to that only a small amount of water is available for people to use. How can she start a fire? She might burn trash to heat food if she cannot access power or cooking gas.
Gaza Starvation Crisis: Is the GHF a Humanitarian Cover for Political Motives?
Finally, and most importantly, a truly humanitarian effort helps the people who are hurt, treats those in need with respect, and works with the communities. In a way, the GHF does the opposite: it puts people down and makes them look bad. That people are being treated badly and society is falling apart is not a result of the harm that Israel is doing. Destruction of Palestinian culture is the main part of the crime. There is no sign at all that Israel’s government cares about the lives or deaths of Palestinians. The GHF is its new cover story because it doesn’t want to be linked to accusations of starvation and genocide. Don’t let them fool us.