Reports and footage of Palestinians ravaged by mass starvation are another obscene page in the Middle East’s saga of war while the US and Israel walk away from ceasefire talks in Doha, blaming Hamas for not acting in good faith.
Five children died before the world’s eyes last weekend as a result of Israel’s Gaza aid blockade, including basic treatments for malnourishment. The children had exhibited no pre-existing conditions but just came to hospital to die. With Gazan authorities claiming at least 48 people have died recently – including 20 children and 28 adults – more than 100 aid organisations and dozens of governments, including Australia, called on Israel to allow more food in. Meanwhile, the UN Relief Works Agency said one in five children in Gaza City were now malnourished.
Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, 1, is facing life-threatening malnutrition.Credit: Getty
Israel has defended its handling of humanitarian aid, denying it had created “a famine in Gaza”, accusing Hamas of stealing aid, and arguing the distribution of food and medicine in a war zone is complex.
But Israel cut off entry of food, medicine, fuel and other supplies completely to Gaza last March before slightly easing its blockade in May. Since then, the vision of Palestinians who died near aid distribution points attempting to obtain food for their families have horrified the world.
Forty years ago, the charity single We Are the World protested more than a million deaths in Ethiopia from war and drought, and brought home the idea of globalisation to many around our planet. Similarly, Nigeria’s 1960s blockade of breakaway Biafra killed some three million but fostered development of humanitarian aid organisations and practices.
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The starving children of Gaza prompted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to condemn Israel’s actions on Friday, saying the United Nations and NGOs should be allowed to work safely without hindrance. “Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored. We call on Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law,” Albanese said.
Albanese’s harsh judgment on the hollowed-out faces of Gaza has raised the spectre of starvation being used as a weapon.
It is a method of warfare specifically prohibited under Article 54 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions and is defined as a war crime under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. These frameworks recognise actions, such as destroying agricultural infrastructure, blocking humanitarian aid and depriving civilians of essential resources, as illegal and morally indefensible.
