The president of Refugees International, Jeremy Konyndyk, termed “absurd on its face” the Israeli government claims that improved malnutrition stats in Gaza today “somehow invalidate the famine declaration a year ago”.
In a series of posts on X, Konyndyk highlighted data to explain that “yes, malnutrition and starvation in Gaza have abated since famine was declared”.
“For a very obvious reason: Israel was blocking aid for 6+ months last year, and loosened obstruction of food aid after the famine declaration. This is not hard to understand,” he wrote.
Konyndyk added: “If you hold someone's head underwater, they start to drown. If you let them up for air, it doesn't somehow mean you hadn't been drowning them! So it has gone with Israel's obstruction of food aid. The famine stopped because Israel stopped doing the thing that was causing it.”
From March 2 - May 19 2025, Israel allowed no aid into Gaza. From then through the Trump-brokered deal in September, aid flows remained negligible.
