Image via the Palestinian People's Party
Aid organization Oxfam is saying that the risk of famine is increasing as Israel is making a proper Gaza food aid response virtually impossible.
According to the group, while hundreds of commercial food trucks are entering the territory daily via the Kerem Shalom crossing, "the consignments include items like non-nutritious energy drinks, chocolate and cookies, and food is often sold at inflated prices that people cannot afford. Lack of dietary diversity is one of the key drivers of acute malnutrition and has been assessed as ‘extremely critical’ in Gaza."
In a press release June 3, Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East and North Africa Director said “By the time a famine is declared, it will be too late. When hunger claims many more lives, nobody will be able to deny the horrifying impact of Israel’s deliberate, illegal and cruel obstruction of aid. Obstructing tonnes of food for a malnourished population while waving through caffeine-laced drinks and chocolate is sickening.
Israel claimed weeks ago that it would provide full humanitarian support and medical assistance to civilians it had told to move. Not only is this not happening, but its ongoing impunity, bombardment and deliberate obstruction have created unprecedented and impossibly dangerous conditions for humanitarian agencies to operate.”
Meanwhile the UNRWA says that "Forced displacement has pushed over 1 million people away from Rafah. Thousands of families now shelter in damaged & destroyed facilities in Khan Younis, where @UNRWA keeps providing essential services despite increasing challenges. Conditions are unspeakable."
The United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) reports widespread destruction across the strip noting that it "identified 36,591 destroyed structures, 16,513 severely damaged, 47,368 moderately damaged, and 36,825 possibly damaged structures. A total of 137,297 structures, or about 55% of the total in Gaza, are affected."
Meera, an Oxfam staff member in Al-Mawasi who has been displaced seven times since October said “This area was designated a humanitarian zone, but there is nothing humanitarian about the situation here. The conditions are unbearable, there is no access to clean water, and people are forced to rely on the sea.
These people deserve so much better. Children should be in school, not worrying about how to support their families. Babies should be sleeping in warm beds, not exposed to insects.”
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