THE Government Media Office (GMO) in the Gaza Strip has renewed its warning of an imminent humanitarian disaster in the enclave due to the ongoing Israeli crime of closing the crossings and tightening the suffocating blockade for more than 64 consecutive days.
In a statement on Sunday, the GMO said that Israel continues to prevent the entry of baby formula, nutritional supplements, and all forms of humanitarian aid, leading to over 70,000 children being admitted to hospitals due to severe malnutrition.
It warned that under this systematic blockade, more than 3,500 children under the age of five face the imminent risk of death from starvation, while around 290,000 children are on the brink of disaster.
Meanwhile, 1.1 million children lack the minimum food necessary for survival every day. This is a crime of genocide being carried out by Israel through the weapon of starvation amidst a shameful international silence by the USA and the UK.
The statement emphasised that the systematic starvation policy practised by the Israeli occupation against children in the Gaza Strip, as well as the prevention of food and medicine, constitutes a full-fledged genocide under international law.
It held the international community responsible for complicity with its silence and for failing to pressure Israel to end this criminal and unethical blockade, and to save the lives of 1.1 million children in Gaza before hunger and killing take more innocent lives.
The GMO called on the international community, UN institutions, and various humanitarian and international organisations to take urgent and immediate action to pressure for the opening of crossings and the regular and immediate entry of baby formula and nutritional supplements, and to end this inhumane blockade.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s tribal dignitaries have condemned the Israeli occupation army’s ‘use of food and starvation as a weapon’ against their people in the coastal enclave, appealing to regional leaders and even US president Donald Trump to end the blockade and allow in humanitarian aid.
‘There is no safe drinking water, no food and no humanitarian aid for over 60 days. We are suffering from sweeping starvation,’ a spokesman for The National Gathering of Tribes, Clans and Families in Gaza read in a statement during a news conference held on Saturday.
‘We call upon the entire world’s free people to hold massive rallies and move to open the border crossing to save our people and bring aid into Gaza. We are dying of hunger due to the ongoing blockade and the closure of the crossings,’ the spokesman said.
‘No more silence – act urgently to rescue Gaza. Gaza’s children and people are dying of hunger,’ he added.
The trade union movement internationally must respond to this appeal by calling general strikes to bring down the capitalist governments that are supporting this war against the Palestinian people and to bring in Workers Governments that will support Palestine and give it every assistance to win its historic struggle to establish the Palestinian state.
For its part, the Hamas Movement has applauded the ‘steadfast Palestinians in Gaza’, particularly the families and tribes, for their deep national loyalty, high security awareness and their rejection of any attempt to undermine their unity and internal front.
In a statement, Hamas also commended Gaza’s families and tribes for their refusal to shield individuals engaged in illegal activities and for their call to establish committees to safeguard stability and prevent disorder in Gaza.
Hamas official Abdul-Rahman Shadeed said yesterday that Gaza has entered a phase of ‘total famine’ and ‘acute malnutrition’, accusing Israel of intentionally using starvation as a ‘weapon of war’ to subjugate Palestinians.
In a statement published on the group’s Telegram account, Shadeed said: ‘Children are dying from the lack of milk, not just from bombs.’ The Hamas official strongly denounced the UN and the international community for their repeated condemnation of Israel’s starvation of the Palestinians in Gaza without taking action to end their suffering.
He reiterated Hamas’s readiness to negotiate a comprehensive ceasefire that leads to an end to Israel’s aggression and its withdrawal from Gaza.
