How a ceasefire and unrestricted aid access could yet prevent a famine in north Gaza

Analysis How a ceasefire and unrestricted aid access could yet prevent a famine in north Gaza
Displaced Palestinian children gather to receive food at a government school in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 19, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 02 April 2024
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How a ceasefire and unrestricted aid access could yet prevent a famine in north Gaza

How a ceasefire and unrestricted aid access could yet prevent a famine in north Gaza
  • Some 300,000 people trapped in the enclave’s north face extreme food insecurity amid ongoing aid restrictions
  • Even if sufficient aid is permitted to enter Gaza, starving children will require specialist treatment, warn experts

LONDON: Desperate appeals from UN agencies urging Israel to allow aid into Gaza to alleviate hunger and avert an imminent famine in the north of the embattled Palestinian enclave appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

Despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire and accusations of genocide by Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza, Israel has continued to bombard the area and limit the flow of aid.

A long queue of relief trucks remains stranded on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, even though “88 percent of the population faces emergency or worse food insecurity,” according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification scale.




Displaced Palestinians gather to collect food donated by a charity before an iftar meal on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Rafah, on the southern Gaza Strip on March 11, 2024. (AFP)

On March 26, 12 people are reported to have drowned and six others crushed to death in a stampede when desperate Palestinians tried to collect food packages dropped from the air off the coast of northern Gaza. 

The incident has prompted authorities in Gaza to call for an end to airdrops — an aid delivery method introduced by the US in early March as a workaround, but which critics have called “useless” and “flashy propaganda.” 

In an earlier incident, an aid package air-dropped into Gaza is reported to have crashed into a crowd of people waiting below, killing five and wounding several others, when its parachute failed to open.

The US and other aid agencies are now looking to establish a maritime aid corridor. However, with the necessary port infrastructure still under construction, this will take many months. 




Humanitarian aid being dropped on the Gaza Strip, west of Gaza City, on March 25, 2024. (AFP)

Unless a ceasefire takes effect immediately and aid organizations are granted full access, the IPC projects that famine will arrive in northern Gaza by April or May at the latest, impacting the roughly 300,000 people thought to remain in the area.

“The dire situation of people who are starving in the north of Gaza is entirely preventable, and aid agencies are ready to deliver food and other essential goods to those people,” Ruth James, Oxfam’s regional humanitarian coordinator, told Arab News.

“We just need an open border.”

In order to meet the minimum needs of Gaza’s stricken population, UN officials say between 500 and 600 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid and commercial goods must be permitted to enter the Gaza Strip every day. Since the conflict began, barely a fraction of that has arrived.




Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing with Egypt on November 24, 2023. (AFP)

Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, recently told the BBC that Israel bore significant blame for having created what amounts to a man-made famine, and that there was a “plausible” case that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war.

Speaking to Katie Jensen, host of the Arab News current affairs program “Frankly Speaking,” James Elder, a spokesperson for the UN children’s fund, UNICEF, this week said his agency would be able to respond quickly once restrictions are lifted.

“If there was a ceasefire and multiple entry points were opened up and restrictions were lessened in terms of getting aid in, there is no doubt we could turn around much of this humanitarian catastrophe, particularly the nutritional situation for the most vulnerable,” he said.




A Palestinian woman who fled Khan Yunis prepares food for her family at a camp set in the southern Gaza Strip Rafah region on February 15, 2024. (AFP)

Despite reports from aid agencies and news outlets claiming that Israel is deliberately withholding deliveries of humanitarian relief, Israeli officials insist they are allowing unlimited supplies to flow into the enclave via Gate 96 — a new entry point into the north.

“As much as we know, by our analysis, there is no starvation in Gaza. There is a sufficient amount of food entering Gaza every day,” Colonel Moshe Tetro, head of Israel’s Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza, said in a statement on March 22, according to Reuters.

The following day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Rafah border crossing in Egypt’s northern Sinai, where truckloads of international relief for Gaza waited as Israel continued to obstruct their mission.

Describing the situation as a “moral outrage,” the UN chief said: “Here, from this crossing, we see the heartbreak and heartlessness of it all. A long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other.”

INNUMBERS

16.5% Children under the age of five in north Gaza deemed to be acutely malnourished. (IPC)

27 Gazans in the north who have already died of starvation. (CARE)

500 Trucks per day required to meet minimum needs of Gazans. (UN)

Aid organizations believe the only way to save lives in Gaza is to immediately halt the violence and open all border crossings, including Rafah and Kerem Shalom, to facilitate the unrestricted delivery of aid.

“Israel needs to open all entry points to us and our humanitarian partners so that we could get a consistent flow of food supplies across border entries and also crossing points within Gaza in order to reach the north, where famine is imminent,” Shaza Moghraby, spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme, told Arab News.

“As far as the WFP is concerned, we need at least 300 trucks every single day, throughout the Gaza Strip, to meet basic food needs, especially in the north. WFP has only managed to bring 11 convoys to the north since the start of the year. 

“Daily deliveries are needed to avert famine. For many families, it is already (too) late. Right now, we are seeing people dying — children dying — from hunger-related causes or a combination of malnutrition and disease. 

“Those tens of people can easily become hundreds and thousands if we do not act right now and have the access that we need.”




A general view shows the damage in the area surrounding Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital after the Israeli military withdrew from the complex housing the hospital on April 1, 2024. (AFP)

At least 27 Palestinians in northern Gaza, 23 of them children, have already died from acute malnutrition and dehydration, according to a March 14 report by CARE, an international NGO fighting world hunger.

According to the IPC, around 16.5 percent of children under five years of age in the north of Gaza were severely malnourished as of February. That figure is now likely far higher.

UNICEF’s Elder said that although aid agencies “have contingency plans always” and are prepared for worst-case scenarios, it is unlikely that “anyone planned for the scenarios that we see now for the fastest decline into catastrophic food (shortages) since the nutrition body (IPC) announced its findings a week or so ago.”




Aid organizations believe the only way to save lives in Gaza is to immediately halt the violence and open all border crossings. (AFP)

However, even if an unrestricted flow of aid is permitted to enter the embattled enclave, the starving population, especially children, will require special medical and dietary attention in order to recover, said Nourhan Attallah, a nutritionist and pharmacist based in southern Gaza.

“The impact of famine on children extends beyond just vitamin deficiencies and weight loss; it affects all the body’s systems, including the brain,” Attallah told Arab News. 

Starvation takes a toll on “the kidneys and liver due to insufficient protein consumption. Heart problems then develop as a result of kidney function defects, stomach and digestive system problems, dehydration, and diarrhea. Without timely treatment, these complications ultimately lead to death.”

She added: “The brain can also shrink in size as a result of malnutrition. Reduced reward response, emotional changes and inflexibility may also develop.” However, with medical help, death from malnutrition can be prevented.

“We can certainly save children, infants and even adults from the specter of malnutrition if we implement rapid and correct therapeutic intervention,” said Attallah. “The recovery rate in cases of malnutrition is high, reaching 90 percent, provided immediate intervention is provided and the appropriate conditions for treatment are ensured.”




Palestinian children suffering from malnutrition receive treatment at a healthcare center in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 5, 2024. (AFP)

Elaborating on the intervention needed, she said: “Severely malnourished children need to be fed and rehydrated with great care. They cannot be given a normal diet immediately. They’ll usually need special care in hospitals.

“Once they’re well enough, they can gradually eat normally. They need pre-prepared meals with a high density of nutrients and calories, and they must eat every two hours, and take supplements and vitamins as well.”

Humanitarian organizations are well-aware of these special needs in the case of catastrophic hunger and starvation.

Moghraby, of the WFP, said that while humanitarian organizations “need to flood the Gaza Strip with basic food supplies, we need our people — WFP and other UN agencies — to go in there, to monitor and administer the distributions with guarantees for the safety of people and staff.”

This is “to make sure those children who have been starving — whose bodies have been denied food for such a long time — get the special nutritional products they need, because it can be very dangerous to consume just any diet.




Palestinian children react as they gather to collect aid food in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on February 26, 2024. (AFP)

“We’ve seen this in Yemen and other places. This is what we’re appealing for. It’s not just any food — we need to be very, very careful about the kinds of food delivered to the areas that have been experiencing starvation.”

Oxfam’s James echoed Moghraby’s warning. “Specialized services can be scaled up to provide therapeutic food and in-patient care for extremely malnourished people,” she said.

However, “in order to scale up these services, a ceasefire and increase in access across the border are required.”

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Hamas negotiators ‘not in Doha’ but political office not closed: Qatar

Hamas negotiators ‘not in Doha’ but political office not closed: Qatar
Updated 8 sec ago
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Hamas negotiators ‘not in Doha’ but political office not closed: Qatar

Hamas negotiators ‘not in Doha’ but political office not closed: Qatar
  • Qatar hosted the Palestinian militant group since 2012 announced earlier this month it was pausing its mediation efforts
Doha: Hamas negotiators are not in Doha but the Palestinian militant group’s office there has not been permanently closed, Qatar said on Tuesday.
“The leaders of Hamas that are within the negotiating team are now not in Doha,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said, adding: “The decision to... close down the office permanently, is a decision that you will hear about from us directly.”
Qatar, along with the United States and Egypt, had been engaged in months of fruitless negotiations for a truce in the Gaza war, which would include a hostage and prisoner release deal.
But the Gulf state, which has hosted the Palestinian militant group since 2012, with Washington’s blessing, announced earlier this month it was pausing its mediation efforts.
“The mediation process right now... is suspended unless we take a decision to reverse that which is based on the positions of both sides,” Ansari said on Tuesday.
“The office of Hamas in Doha was created for the sake of the mediation process. Obviously, when there is no mediation process, the office itself doesn’t have any function,” he added, declining to confirm whether Qatar had asked Hamas officials to leave.

Syrian top diplomat arrives in Tehran for talks

Syrian top diplomat arrives in Tehran for talks
Updated 4 min 33 sec ago
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Syrian top diplomat arrives in Tehran for talks

Syrian top diplomat arrives in Tehran for talks
  • Sabbagh is in Tehran for his first visit since taking up his post in September to meet Iranian officials, local media reported

Tehran: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi welcomed his new Syrian counterpart Bassam Al-Sabbagh in Tehran on Tuesday, the latest in a series of meetings between top officials from the close allies.
Sabbagh is in Tehran for his first visit since taking up his post in September to meet Iranian officials, local media reported.
Details of his meetings have not yet been disclosed.
Al-Sabbagh’s visit comes less than a week after Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, visited Syria and met with Syrian President Bashar Assad, a close ally of Iran.
Over the weekend, Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasrizadeh was in Damascus to hold talks with Syrian officials.
Earlier in October, Araghchi himself traveled to Damascus as part of a regional tour just days before Israel’s first confirmed attack on Iranian military sites.
This attack was a response to a large Iranian missile strike on Israel at the start of the month that was prompted by the killing of commanders of militant groups affiliated with Iran, including Hezbollah, and a commander of the Revolutionary Guards.
It followed an Iranian missile and drone attack against Israel in April that was triggered by a strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus blamed on Israel.
Iran does not recognize Israel and has made support for the Palestinian cause a cornerstone of its foreign policy since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
As a staunch ally of Damascus, Tehran has supported Bashar Assad during more than a decade of civil war in Syria.


Norway to ask ICJ to step in after Israel bans UNRWA

Norway to ask ICJ to step in after Israel bans UNRWA
Updated 33 min 12 sec ago
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Norway to ask ICJ to step in after Israel bans UNRWA

Norway to ask ICJ to step in after Israel bans UNRWA
  • Bills passed by Israel’s parliament will stop UN agency from sending vital aid to Gaza
  • Norwegian FM: Bills will ‘undermine the stability of the entire Middle East’

London: Norway will ask the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion condemning Israel for ceasing cooperation with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.

Last month, Israel’s parliament passed two bills banning the agency from the country and forbidding state cooperation with it.

There are fears that the bills, due to come into effect within three months, will prevent UNRWA from delivering vital aid into Gaza.

The agency says two-thirds of its buildings have been destroyed in Israel’s invasion of the Palestinian enclave, and 243 staff have been killed.

Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik has held talks at the UN on a draft resolution to urge an advisory opinion from the ICJ to protect the existence of UNRWA.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said: “The international community cannot accept that the UN, international humanitarian organizations, and states continue to face systematic obstacles when working in Palestine and delivering humanitarian assistance to Palestinians under occupation.

“We are therefore requesting the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations to facilitate humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population, delivered by international organizations, including the UN, and states.”

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said the Israeli bills would “undermine the stability of the entire Middle East” and have “severe consequences for millions of civilians already living in the most dire of circumstances.”

Norway’s move is being backed by an increasing number of UN figures and member states. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said at the UN on Monday: “The situation (in Gaza) is devastating and beyond comprehension, and frankly it is getting worse. It is totally unacceptable that it is harder than ever to get aid into Gaza.

“In October only 37 aid trucks reached Gaza, the lowest ever. There is no excuse for Israeli restrictions on aid.”

UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said: “I have drawn the attention of the member states that now the clock is ticking … We have to stop or prevent the implementation of this bill.”

According to the UN Charter, UN buildings are meant to be inviolable during conflicts. After the 2008 war in Gaza, Israel paid the UN compensation amounting to $10.4 million for damage caused to its premises after an investigation determined “an egregious breach of the inviolability of the United Nations premises and a failure to accord the property and assets of the organisation immunity from any form of interference.”


UN says over 200 children killed in Lebanon in under 2 months

UN says over 200 children killed in Lebanon in under 2 months
Updated 47 min 35 sec ago
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UN says over 200 children killed in Lebanon in under 2 months

UN says over 200 children killed in Lebanon in under 2 months

Geneva: The UN said Tuesday that over 200 children have been killed in Lebanon in the less than two months since Israel escalated its attacks targeting Hezbollah.
“Despite more than 200 children killed in Lebanon in less than two months, a disconcerting pattern has emerged: their deaths are met with inertia from those able to stop this violence,” James Elder, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, told reporters in Geneva.
“Over the last two months in Lebanon, an average of three children have been killed every single day,” he said.


Israeli army says 40 projectiles fired from Lebanon into central, northern Israel

Israeli army says 40 projectiles fired from Lebanon into central, northern Israel
Updated 19 November 2024
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Israeli army says 40 projectiles fired from Lebanon into central, northern Israel

Israeli army says 40 projectiles fired from Lebanon into central, northern Israel
  • On Monday, one person was killed and several people injured in two separate incidents

Jerusalem: The Israeli military said on Tuesday that some 40 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into central and northern Israel, with first responders reporting that four people were lightly injured by shrapnel.
“Following sirens that sounded between 09:50 and 09:51 in the Upper Galilee, Western Galilee, and Central Galilee areas, approximately 25 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israel. Some of the projectiles were intercepted and fallen projectiles were identified in the area,” the military said in a statement.
That announcement followed earlier reports that some 15 projectiles fired that set of air raid sirens.
A spokesperson for Israeli first responders said that in central Israel it found “four individuals with light injuries from glass shards.... They were injured while in a concrete building where the windows shattered.”
The Israeli police said they were searching the impact sites from projectiles intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems but did not report any serious damage.
On Monday, one person was killed and several people were injured in two separate incidents, one in the northern Israeli town of Shfaram and the other in the suburbs of Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv.
The military said Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, which is backed by Iran, fired around 100 projectiles from Lebanon toward Israel on Monday, while Israel’s air force carried out strikes on Beirut.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel in October last year in support of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. Since September, Israel has conducted extensive bombing campaigns in Lebanon primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds, though some strikes have hit areas outside the Iran-backed group’s control.