In the besieged enclave of Gaza, hope is a fragile ember amidst the ashes of despair as the toll of Israel’s military operations increases.
Thousands of innocent civilians, including children, have paid the ultimate price for a conflict not of their making.
In its war effort, Israel has not only employed the use of deadly weapons but also a silent yet lethal weapon- starvation.
With the closure of border crossings and limited flow of meagre humanitarian aid, Gazans are left to starve.
A legal think tank focused on the global prevention of genocide has reiterated its condemnation of Israel’s use of “starvation as a weapon war.”
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention pointed out that man-made famine is known as “genocide by attrition.”
It added that engineering a famine to “weaken or destroy a group” is a genocidal act.
“We are devastated that innocent civilians, including thousands of children, have already lost their lives in a situation that has been – and continues to be – predictable and preventable,” the institute said on social media.
“We call on the international community to end the blockade of humanitarian aid entering into Gaza and to initiate a permanent ceasefire throughout Israel and Palestine,” it said.
This statement by the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention of Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war is not merely a denouncement; it is a clarion call to conscience, a resounding declaration that the world cannot afford to remain silent in the face of Israel’s flagrant violation of international law.
According to the latest situation report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip has plummeted by almost 70 percent since May 7, 2024.
It said that what was entering the Palestinian territory prior to that date was “already insufficient to meet the soaring needs.”
The OCHA stated that since mid-January, more than 93,000 Palestinian children aged between six months and under five years have been screened for malnutrition, with 7,280 diagnosed with acute malnutrition, including 1,676 with severe acute malnutrition.
It added that many women and children were reported among the 121 Palestinians killed and 394 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza between Monday, May 27, 2024, and Wednesday, May 29, 2024, afternoon.
Samantha Power, administrator at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has said that the group’s partners have called conditions in Gaza “worse now than ever before”, adding that Israeli military operations are “making it extremely difficult to distribute aid”.
Egypt Calls On Int’l Community To Ensure Palestinians Not ‘Forcibly Displaced’
Meanwhile, Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called on the international community to ensure that Palestinians are not displaced from war-torn Gaza.
“[I] call on the international community to immediately provide for long-term humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip and to end the Israeli siege, and to stop any attempt at forcing Palestinians to forcibly flee their land,” el-Sisi said at the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in Beijing.
President Xi Jinping signalled China’s desire for closer ties with the Arab world in a speech to the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in Beijing.
Xi addressed Bahrain, Egypt, the UAE and Tunisia’s heads of state, as well as foreign ministers from other Arab League nations.
Among other proposals were several pledges to the Palestinian cause, including a donation of $3m to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and a promise of Chinese support in the reconstruction of Gaza.
Xi also reiterated Chinese backing for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and full membership of the United Nations.
He added that Israel’s war on Gaza cannot continue indefinitely and the “two-state solution” cannot be wavered.
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