Israel trying to deflect blame for widespread starvation in Gaza

Israel has tried to deflect blame for what has been described by the head of the World Health Organization as 'man-made mass starvation'

One-and-a-half-year-old Muhammed Zakariya Ayyub al-Matouk, one of thousands of children suffering from hunger and malnutrition in Gaza. Picture: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images

Israel is pursuing an extensive PR effort to remove itself from blame for the starvation and killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza in the face of overwhelming evidence that it is responsible.

As dozens of governments, UN organisations and other international figures have detailed Israel’s culpability, officials and ministers in Israel have attempted to suggest that there is no hunger in Gaza, that if hunger exists it is not Israel’s fault, or to blame Hamas or the UN and aid organisations for problems with distribution of aid.