Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

3-minute read
01 Januray 2024 | 14:54 CAT

The recent Human Rights Watch report alleged that the Israeli government is using starvation as a method of warfare in the Gaza Strip, which they deem a war crime.

The entire 2.3 million population of Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger, and the risk of famine is increasing each day, a United Nations-backed report says.

The IPC report finds that all 2.2 million people in Gaza are in what the IPC classifies as Phase 3 food insecurity, or “crisis” level, in which households face acute or higher food shortage issues. This is the highest number of people at this level of food insecurity or worse that the IPC has ever observed, the group said.

Among people in IPC Phase 3 or above, 50 per cent are in Phase 4, or “emergency” food insecurity, while a quarter of the population, or about 570,000 people, are in a Phase 5 food “famine.” Phase 5 is the highest level of food insecurity and is “characterized by households experiencing an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities,” the report says.

Radio Islam International discussed the Humanitarian crisis, its impact on civilians and the urgent need for international intervention with Palestinian Rights Activist and Community Organiser Zeina Ashrawi Hutchinson.

According to Hutchinson, it is important to put into context that before the assault on October 7 2023 and the genocide, Gaza was already in a dire situation.

“We were already dealing with a precarious situation where food and calories were counted to enter into Gaza,” says Hutchinson.

Israel has since bombed water aqua furs and prevented food from entering Gaza.

“Israel has deliberately erased agricultural land where people can sustain themselves through planting food. They have targeted and destroyed the infrastructure for human survival, targeting bakeries, wheat mills, hospitals and everything that could sustain life,” says Hutchinson.

Hutchinson said in terms of depriving Palestinians in Gaza of food, Israel has maintained and ensured that they are not able to receive or have access to any food or water.

Listen to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up with Muallimah Annisa Essack.