Israel needs to take a clear set of steps immediately, without shortcuts or compromise. Otherwise, masses will die of starvation
On Tuesday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global initiative that monitors food insecurity, issued an alert: "The worst–case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip […] and access to food and other essential items and services has plummeted to unprecedented levels."
"We have many children now in our child protection services saying that they wish to die. In heaven, in paradise, there is food, there is water," Rachael Cummings, humanitarian director for Save the Children International in Gaza, said during a briefing held that same day by the NGO.
"Yesterday, in the clinic, one of the things that struck me, not only was the sort of visual impact of seeing so many people extremely thin, it was nearly silent … because children cry, but they're so exhausted, they're so sick, they're no longer able to cry," Cummings continued. "And that, I think for me, was really one of the most significant things I've ever seen in my career."
Almost all cases of mass starvation in the past hundred years have resulted from political decisions, not acts of fate. Humanity has made great strides in producing, preserving, and transporting food. Therefore, when a population faces a food shortage severe enough to cause starvation, it is because someone has decided to block access to food.
