21 July 2025 | 11:00 CAT
3-minute read

Gaza’s starvation crisis deepens; protest targets UAE’s role in genocide

The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has reached a horrifying new phase, with starvation now claiming lives directly, not as a secondary consequence of war, but as the primary cause of death.

Over the weekend, images emerging from Gaza revealed the harrowing reality on the ground—children and elderly people reduced to “skin and bone,” collapsing on camera as they waited for food that never came.

On this week’s Palestine Report, Moulana Ebrahim Moosa, painted a dire picture of the unfolding famine.

“People are totally dependent on the crossings for aid. There’s nothing available locally, there’s no agricultural capacity in the Gaza Strip,” he explained. “So the way the Israelis have engineered it… means that it is total dependency on items coming from the outside.”

This engineered dependency is now proving deadly. The Gaza Health Ministry issued an urgent bulletin over the weekend, warning of “unprecedented numbers of starving people of all ages” arriving at hospitals in “a state of extreme exhaustion and fatigue.” Many are at imminent risk of death.

According to UNICEF, Gaza’s population of over two million is facing “catastrophic levels” of food insecurity. More than half of Gaza’s residents are now at risk of famine, with severe shortages of clean water, electricity, and medical supplies compounding the crisis.

Moulana Moosa emphasised that unlike previous crises, where malnutrition contributed indirectly to infant and elderly deaths, people are now “dying from direct hunger.” He said, “This is not alarmism. This is coming from credible accounts.”

Despite well-meaning appeals for donations, Moulana Moosa warned that monetary aid alone is no longer effective.

“This is a crisis that cannot be resolved with donations… $100 000 doesn’t buy a single kilogramme of meat in Gaza,” he said.

Without open borders and meaningful political intervention, the crisis will deepen.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was diagnosed over the weekend with intestinal inflammation due to eating spoiled food. While his office claimed he was recovering at home, the incident led to the postponement of Netanyahu’s testimony in his criminal trial until at least September.

“People can make their own conclusions,” Moulana Moosa commented, suggesting scepticism over the timing of the illness and its political ramifications.

As global outrage grows, activists in South Africa are taking to the streets again. On Friday, a protest will be held outside the United Arab Emirates embassy in Pretoria. Organised by the Gaza Action Coalition, the protest is a call to expose the UAE’s complicity in the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

While most international criticism has been aimed at the United States and Israel, activists argue that other regional powers—particularly the UAE—have played a key role in sustaining the war through trade and logistics.

“Gaza is the moral litmus test of our generation,” said Moosa. He explained that while several governments are gradually moving towards holding Israel accountable, “the UAE is standing out—in actual fact, deepening ties with the Israeli regime.”

Among the UAE’s most controversial moves is the use of a land corridor to bypass Red Sea disruptions, allegedly allowing weapons and supplies to reach Israel unimpeded. Furthermore, Israeli arms have been showcased at defence expos in the UAE, and reports have surfaced of Israeli settlers and soldiers being welcomed there.

The protest aims to challenge the UAE’s policy of prioritising economic interests over political justice—especially in Africa and Palestine. Activists argue this approach is morally bankrupt and historically indefensible.

“History will judge people who make such arguments very harshly,” Moosa warned. “This is a moment to be able to change course because of the critical nature of the situation.”

South Africa has been among the few countries to take a strong legal stance against Israel’s actions. In January, it brought a case before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. The court ruled that there was plausible evidence to proceed and ordered Israel to take steps to prevent genocide and allow humanitarian aid.

Yet as children starve to death in Gaza and the international legal process drags on, pressure is building for more immediate, people-driven responses.

“One Palestinian said that as long as all the anger is being vented on social media and not on the streets, they don’t see any hope to this particular situation,” Moulana Moosa reported.

Listen to the Palestine Report on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat.