Three years ago I became a grandfather for the first time. A joyous moment, and then panic, as little J. had a medical problem and then open-heart surgery. Happily he had a complete recovery and is now thriving, exploding with new capabilities and language abilities every day. He loves being alive, and he is surrounded by love and care from his parents and grandparents.
Of course this should be the right of every newborn: love, care, thriving. Thus the contrast between what grandson J. has and the images and video of the devastation wrought by the genocide in Gaza, especially on children, is deeply troubling. And so this is my bias in thinking and reporting about the Gaza war, an exaggerated sensitivity to the tsunami of news about the suffering of the children of Gaza. It’s all live-streamed on-line.
Last week the UN agency tasked with monitoring famine and starvation issued a new report about the situation in Gaza. (The agency is called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, a wonkish project that classifies the scale of famine, and thus the need for urgent action.) As summarized by the Washington Post:
According to the data published by the IPC, a panel developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, at least 244,000 people — or 12 percent of the population — were classified as living in IPC Phase 5, the most severe level of food insecurity before famine, otherwise known as “catastrophe,” based on its latest snapshot assessment from April 1 to Saturday. By September, it projects that 470,000 people will be in that category: the entire population facing acute food insecurity if conditions persist.
The IPC made a previous report in October 2024. The new report shows that the number of people at risk for the serious categories of famine (acute, catastrophe, etc.) had increased by about 50 percent.
The statistics are terrifying; what does this mean in more human terms? Yesterday Democracy Now! broadcast a segment with Oxfam’s food security coordinator in Gaza [Link]; here is a summary of what he had to say:
“People are starving to death, and this is a fact that we are witnessing and experiencing nowadays,” says Oxfam’s food security coordinator in Gaza, Mahmoud Alsaqqa. More than 10 weeks after Israel instituted a total siege on Gaza, blocking all food and other aid from entering, hunger has reached catastrophic levels in the Palestinian territory. This comes as a new United Nations report warns one in every five people in Gaza is facing starvation, while Save the Children says every child is now at risk of famine. The World Food Programme and charities working in Gaza say they have completely run out of supplies and can no longer feed people.
Last Friday Democracy Now! Interviewed a Gaza mother of two whom they had interviewed a year ago. She now lives in a tent in Khan Younis and struggles to find food for her children. “We are not living. We are enduring,” says the women. Her children, 8-year-old Amir and 3-year-old Karim, are suffering the effects of hunger and malnutrition. “The loss they are living is more than just the absence of food — it’s the absence of life as they knew it.”
There is no sign that food and other humanitarian aid will be allowed into Gaza soon. The suffering in Gaza will only increase as a new Israeli military offensive in Gaza is about to begin. As described in yesterday’s edition of Juan Cole’s Informed Comment:
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared on May 5 that his government intends to intensify military operations and indefinitely reoccupy Gaza. The announcement has dashed hopes for a permanent ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. … Israel’s proposed plan would forcibly move Gazans, nearly all of whom have already been displaced multiple times, into militarised “sterile zones” in the south. Humanitarian aid would be managed there by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and private US companies. UN agencies and international NGOs operating in Gaza have rejected this plan as contravening humanitarian principles. They have likened it to “de facto internment conditions”.
Last week 94 House Democrats sent a letter to Israel’s ambassador to the United States urging that “Israel resume shipments of humanitarian aid to Gaza immediately.” (Sadly, our congressional representative George Latimer was not among the signers.) The letter warned Israel that the blockade is “strategically counterproductive and will only hurt Israel's international standing and long-term security."
While the Democrats’ pleas are not likely to move Israel to end the blockade, some action by Israeli military commanders, as reported by the New York Times, indicates concerns that starving people at the gun point is not an easy lift for everyone. While Israeli spokespeople have denied that there is starvation or even a food shortage in Gaza, the Times article is headed “In Private, Some Israeli Officers Admit That Gaza Is on the Brink of Starvation.”
From the article: “Some Israeli military officials have privately concluded that Palestinians in Gaza face widespread starvation unless aid deliveries are restored within weeks, according to three Israeli defense officials familiar with conditions in the enclave. For months, Israel has maintained that its blockade on food and fuel to Gaza did not pose a major threat to civilian life in the territory, even as the United Nations and other aid agencies have said a famine was looming. But Israeli military officers who monitor humanitarian conditions in Gaza have warned their commanders in recent days that unless the blockade is lifted quickly, many areas of the enclave will likely run out of enough food to meet minimum daily nutritional needs, according to the defense officials. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive details.” [Read More]
As of now, I see little hope that Trump will act to end Israel’s food blockade or that Israel will change course on its own. The likelihood of a horrible humanitarian disaster remains very high. The exclusion of the Gaza genocide and pro-Palestinian efforts from the upsurge of “Hands Off” and similar anti-Trump mobilizations is very troubling. In the end, of course, “One day, everyone will have always been against this.” But between now and then, many people will die.
