Karol Balfe: A new level of devastation and horror is unfolding in Gaza
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City. Picture: Jehad Alshrafi/AP
Palestinians have lived and died through horror over the last two years.
There are no words left to describe the devastating and systematic genocide of an entire population. We have used them all up.
It’s almost impossible to imagine how things could get worse, but they are.
The horror for Gaza’s 2.2m people is sliding even further into unrelenting slaughter, starvation, and horror.
The confirmation on Friday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) of famine in Gaza City, amidst plans by Israel to take the city over, has plunged this desperate crisis to a new low. Things are, unbelievably, getting worse.
After months of deliberate starvation, imposed through the Israeli government’s blockade of lifesaving aid, famine was inevitable and predicted.
The most catastrophic level, Phase 5, was confirmed in Gaza Governorate — the area around Gaza City — and is projected to spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September.
This is the most severe deterioration since the IPC began analysing acute food insecurity and acute malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, and it marks the first time a famine has been officially confirmed in the Middle East region.
More than 500,000 people are already enduring catastrophic conditions marked by starvation, destitution, and death, while more than half the population,1.07m people, are in the emergency phase of starvation and a further 396,000 in the crisis phase.
Given the hellish conditions in Gaza right now, these numbers are likely under-estimated.
This is deliberate. The repeated closure of border crossings, the obstruction of humanitarian convoys, and the weaponisation of food and medical supplies by Israel constitute collective punishment and egregious breaches of international law.
Under international humanitarian law, the deliberate starvation of civilians as a method of warfare constitutes a war crime.
“Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths.” the IPC said in a statement.
“Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City.”
People, and children, are dying. Thousands of frail and hungry children are slowly wasting away, with the IPC saying what we have already known for weeks — access to food and other essential items and services has plummeted to unprecedented levels.
ActionAid and partners have warned that famine was inevitable if the siege continued.
Now, the consequences are undeniable and catastrophic.
Mothers are forced to feed their babies with unsafe substitutes for milk; children are dying from preventable causes; and entire families, including ActionAid staff and humanitarian workers, are starving.
ActionAid continues to work with partners across Gaza to deliver whatever aid is possible under the current restrictions and stands ready to scale up operations if access is granted.
More than 20,000 children in Gaza have been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July, with more than 3,000 severely malnourished.
Hospitals have reported a rapid increase in hunger-related deaths of children under five years of age, with over 100 kids dead now from man-made starvation.
All the while the brutal bombardments and mass killings continue apace, bringing with them terror, grief and trauma.
On Thursday, Israel bombed a camp for internally displaced people.
Amidst this man-made starvation, the military operation to seize Gaza City, will bring further death, displacement, and devastation.
This is a brutal offensive with neighbourhoods once filled with families and hopes already being decimated with artillery, airstrikes, and an utter disregard for the sanctity of civilian life.
The pattern is clear.
Just like with Rafah, the city will be encircled, the population starved and bombed, buildings destroyed.
While Gaza city has been badly destroyed with almost 70% of its buildings razed to the ground, it will now be totally flattened and made entirely inhabitable.
The world failed to stop it for Rafah, and signs are that nothing will stop this.
The displacement that will ensue will be mass death on the move. Where will the almost 1m residents go? To the over-crowded and inhumane camps in the south? What are starving people to do when displaced under shelling? The elderly and the very young die first. With health facilities shattered, even treatable illnesses become fatal.
What the world is witnessing in real time is not warfare. This is engineered starvation, deliberate displacement, and a merciless assault on a trapped and terrorised population.
Israel's inhuman strategy weaponises hunger and fear and punishes the innocent including mothers, children and the elderly.
This is a moral collapse of epic proportions. This famine is man-made. It flows from political choices. Global inaction has led to time running out for Palestinians in Gaza.
Words have failed. Famine must be stopped at all costs. Ending it is a race against time. An immediate ceasefire and end to the conflict is critical to enabling an unimpeded, large-scale humanitarian response that can save lives.
World leaders must use every diplomatic tool to press for an immediate, durable ceasefire that protects civilians, enables the release of all hostages, and opens space for a political resolution rooted in international law.
Famine is a horror known well in Irish history.
It is a devastating reality with hunger, malnutrition, and disease converging in a catastrophic tide of death. We must stand with Palestinians; they do not need our pity. They need action.
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