Famine in Gaza Is A Political Act of Violence and Genocide

Netanyahu has called on the Israeli military to develop a plan to attack Rafah, the gate for the entry of food into Gaza, which would surely make the famine worse. He said they would evacuate the more than one million Gazans from Rafah. To where-Egypt? That would be a second Naqba ((the first being the removal by the Israelis of a majority of Palestinians [more than 700,000] from Israeli during 1947-48 thereby changing the region now called Israel from a majority Palestinian to a majority Jewish state, resulting in 70% of Gazans being the survivors or desendants of Naqba) and an act of genocide. It would also mean that the trickle of food that enters Gaza to feed the starving Gazans would end, further worsening the famine. as the aid trucks could not enter while the fighting is going on in Rafah.

• The Israeli prime minister says he has ordered the military to develop a plan to both evacuate civilians from Rafah and defeat the remaining Hamas battalions.
• UN chief Antonio Guterres says half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population “is now crammed into Rafah with nowhere to go”, warning the displaced “have no homes” and “no hope”. (and no food to survive)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/9/israels-war-on-gaza-liv....

Here is the technical definition for starvation to be declared a famine. Of course, many Gazans will have starved to death before a famine is declared as all the conditions must be met. For example, just one of the conditions is that a minimum of 2 persons per 10,000 must be dying every day. This does not sound like a lot, but in Gaza's population of 2.3 million this means that 460 people a day would need to be dying to declare an official famine to be declared. And this is only one of four conditions that would need to be met to declare a "famine" in Gaza. 

The Definition of Famine

A famine is defined as the most severe kind of hunger crisis. It is very rare, but when it does occur, it means that there is an extreme shortage of food and several children and adults within a certain area are dying of hunger on a daily basis.

Some deadly emergencies happen suddenly, like earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters. This is not the case with famine. A famine happens slowly, caused by long-term conflict, climate shocks, extreme poverty, and other drivers. Famines are never inevitable – they are always predictable, preventable, and man-made.

01.02.03.04.

FAMINE CONDITIONS

Famine is a technical term – it is only officially declared when a series of specific food insecurity, mortality, and malnutrition criteria are met.

20%

1 in 5 Households Face Extreme Food Shortages

30%

More than 3 in 10 People Are Malnourished 

2

In Every 10,000 People Die Every Day of Hunger

4 

In Every 10,000 Children Under Five Die Every Day of Hunger

How is famine declared?

To declare a famine, the world turns to the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) system, a framework involving governments, UN agencies, organizations like Action Against Hunger, civil society, and other relevant partners. Together, using the IPC’s scientific standards and analytical approach, partners classify the severity and magnitude of food crises in a country.

The IPC has five phases for hunger crises, ranging from Phase 1 (Minimal/None) to Phase 5 (Catastrophic/Famine), and each has its own set of technical criteria.

https://actionagainsthunger.ca/the-hunger-crisis/world-hunger-facts/what...

More bad news for Biden over his support for Israeli aggression in the Gaza war and the resulting famine. In a Harvard Youth poll, 49% of all 18-29 year old voters in the US think Israel is committing genocide.

 national poll released today by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School indicates that among 18-to-29-year-olds, President Biden's approval rating stands at 35%. Still, the President maintains a solid lead in a head-to-head matchup against former President Trump. When the field expands, potential independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Joe Manchin, and Cornel West take more support from potential Biden voters than Trump voters.

The poll also finds:

• Young Americans appear less likely to vote in 2024 than they did in 2020, which was a record-setting year for youth turnout;
• A disconnect between young Americans' personal financial situation and their views of the American economy;
• Widespread support for labor unions;
• Access to reproductive health care, including abortion, is an essential factor for most young Americans in choosing where to live; and 
• Most young people do not feel their high school experience adequately prepared them to vote.

Since 2000, the Harvard Public Opinion Project has provided the most comprehensive look at young Americans' political opinions and voting trends. The Fall 2023 Harvard Youth Poll surveyed 2,098 young Americans between 18- and 29-years-old and was conducted between October 23 and November 6, 2023.  

"From a lack of trust in leaders on a variety of critical issues such as climate change, gun violence, and the war in the Middle East, to worries about the economy and AI, young people's concerns come through loud and clear in our new poll," said IOP Director Setti Warren. "As the 2024 campaign season kicks into high gear, candidates up and down the ballot would be wise to embrace the opportunity to listen to — and re-engage — this generation."

"The bad news is that fewer young people intend to vote in this election compared to the Biden-Trump election of 2020. The good news is there's still time, and we know what Gen Z and young millennials want to see and hear. They want evidence that democracy works, that government can address our challenges, and that there's a meaningful difference between the two parties," said IOP Polling Director John Della Volpe.

"One year out from the 2024 election, our poll makes it clear that the youth vote cannot be taken for granted," said Ethan Jasny '25, student chair of the Harvard Public Opinion Project. "Young Americans are deeply passionate about issues ranging from abortion to labor rights, but they often struggle to see that passion represented in Washington. For turnout in 2024 to match the record numbers we saw in 2020, candidates must ensure that the values and energy of young Americans are reflected in their campaigns."

The top ten findings are below.

Key Takeaways

Fewer young Americans plan on voting in 2024; most of the decline comes from young Republican and independent voters. 

• Relative to this point in the 2020 presidential election cycle, the number of young Americans between 18- and- 29 years old who “definitely” plan on voting for president has decreased from 57% to 49%. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2020 turnout for Americans under 30 was 54.1%, with other estimates at 52.5%.
• Overall, 35% of young Americans affiliate with the Democratic party, 26% with the Republican party, and a plurality (38%) say they are independent or unaffiliated with a major party. Compared to Fall 2019, most of the drop-off in voting intention comes from Republican and independent-minded youth.
  • Democrats (Fall 2019: 68% “definitely vote,” Fall 2023: 66%) 
  • Republicans (Fall 2019: 66%, Fall 2023: 56%) 
  • Independent/Unaffiliated (Fall 2019: 41%, Fall 2023: 31%)
• While college graduates still plan to vote in robust numbers (Fall 2019: 72%, Fall 2023: 69%), college students (Fall 2019: 68%, Fall 2023: 55%)  and young people who are not in college and do not have a degree (Fall 2019: 48%, Fall 2023: 40%) are less committed to voting than in the recent past.
• Across demographic groups, the decline in voting intention is most pronounced among younger Black Americans (Fall 2019: 50%, Fall 2023: 38%) and Hispanic Americans (Fall 2019: 56%, Fall 2023: 40%). The decline among young Whites is also notable, falling five percentage points, from 62% to 57%.

• Women (Fall 2019: 56%, Fall 2023: 47%) indicate they are less likely to vote than men (Fall 2019: 59%, Fall 2023: 52%) in 2024, and the younger cohort (18-24; Fall 2019: 56%, Fall 2023: 46%) is less likely than the older (25-29; Fall 2019: 59%, Fall 2023: 55%) cohort of young voters. 

   

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President Biden has a solid lead against former President Trump in a hypothetical 2024 matchup; independent candidates pose a more significant threat to Biden.

• In a hypothetical head-to-head match-up, young adults under 30 favor President Biden over former President Trump by 11 points, 41% to 30%; 13% indicate they are undecided, and an additional 15% say they would not vote.
  • Most young adults (69%) who favor President Biden over former President Trump say their vote is more in “opposition to Donald Trump becoming president again” than “support for President Biden and his policies.” In contrast, the inverse holds among Trump supporters, with 65% saying their vote is driven by loyalty to the former president and his policies and 35% in opposition to President Biden’s re-election.
• Among young people who report being registered to vote, President Biden’s lead extends to 15 points (Biden 48%, Trump 33%, Don’t know 9%, Would not vote 10%).
• Among the most likely voters at this point in the 2024 cycle (the 49% who say they will definitely vote), President Biden leads by 24 points, 57% to 33%. In 2020, exit pollsreported President Biden winning the youth vote, 60% to 36%.

• Biden’s advantage over Trump narrows substantially when potential independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Joe Manchin, and Cornel West are introduced.

  • Among all young Americans, Biden leads by four points in a hypothetical matchup with three independent candidates: Biden 29%, Trump 25%, Kennedy 10%, West 3%, Manchin 2%, Don’t know 31%
  • Among registered voters under 30, Biden leads by eight points: Biden 34%, Trump 26%, Kennedy 11%, West 3%, Manchin 2%, Don’t know 24%.
  • Among likely voters, Biden’s lead is 16 points: Biden 43%, Trump 27%, Kennedy 10%, West 3%, Manchin 2%, Don’t know 15%.

   

• As seen in these tables (all young adults, registered voters, and likely voters), the independent candidates take more from Biden’s share of the two-way vote than Trump’s. 

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A plurality trusts neither Biden nor Trump on important issues like the Israel-Hamas war, Ukraine, climate change, gun violence, health care, crime and public safety.

• Asked which candidate, Joe Biden or Donald Trump, they trusted more to handle 13 critical issues, young Americans trusted Joe Biden three times and Donald Trump four times – and on six occasions, more young people said they trusted neither of them.
• Issues where Joe Biden enjoys a head-to-head advantage over Donald Trump (i.e., neither option not included) are:
  • Climate change (+19), abortion (+16), education (+14), protecting democracy (+12), health care (+10), gun violence (+9), and Ukraine (+4).
• Donald Trump’s advantages over Joe Biden are on:
  • Economy (+15), national security and defense (+9), Israel-Hamas war (+5), strengthening the working class (+4), crime and public safety (+3), and immigration (+2).
• On the Israel-Hamas war, 46% of Democrats trust Biden, 9% Trump -- and 45% say neither. More than half (56%) of independent voters also say neither candidate is trusted in this area. Two-thirds (66%) of Republicans trust Trump, 8% Biden, with 25% saying neither candidate.

• President Biden’s job approval is 35% overall (-1 from Spring 2023). Vice President Harris’s job approval is a similar 36%. Approval of Democrats in Congress is 40%, while 27% approve of the way Republicans in Congress are doing their job.  
   

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Young Americans have a favorable view of their personal financial situation. At the same time, a substantial majority hold a negative perception of America's economy.

• Nearly two-thirds (65%) of young Americans say their finances are either very (13%) or fairly (52%) good these days, with 9% responding they are very bad, and another 24% saying they are fairly bad.
  • Fall 2021: 17% very good, 54% good, 22% fairly bad, 6% very bad
  • Fall 2019: 13% very good, 56% good, 23% fairly bad, 7% very bad
• When young Americans assess their personal financial situation, there is no partisan divide between Democrats (70% good, 29% bad) and Republicans (70% good, 29% bad). However, when the subject changes to the national economy, opinions diverge: Democrats: 41% good, 58% bad (-17); Republicans 21% good, 79% bad (-68).

• Proving there is a disconnect between personal and public views on this issue, a substantial majority (70%) also say that America’s economy is very (22%) or fairly bad (48%). Most young people, across the subgroups analyzed hold unfavorable views about America’s economy. 

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Young Americans view most labor unions favorably; views of police unions are mixed.

• A majority of all young Americans report favorable views of unions for health care (59% favorable) and manufacturing workers (55% favorable), as well as for teachers (58% favorable). About half of all young Americans hold favorable views of automotive (49% favorable) and Starbucks (45% favorable) unions. Only 34% of young Americans have favorable views of police unions, while 27% hold unfavorable views; a plurality (37%) answered “don’t know” or did not share an opinion.
• Both Democrats and Republicans hold more favorable than unfavorable views of the unions included in the survey, except for police and Starbucks workers unions.
  • Democrats are divided on police unions (33% favorable, 32% unfavorable, 33% don’t know), while Republicans are supportive (41% favorable, 21% unfavorable, 37% don’t know).

  • Two-thirds of Democrats support Starbucks workers’ unions (66% favorable, 10% unfavorable, 22% don’t know), while less than a quarter of Republicans feel the same (23% favorable, 36% unfavorable, 40% don’t know).

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Young Americans are wary about the effects Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation could have on their career prospects.

• A plurality (34%) of young Americans believe that advances in AI and automation will be harmful to their career prospects. Nearly a quarter (24%) believe these advances will be helpful; 15% think they will have no effect, and 26% are unsure.
• Youth with a college degree narrowly believe AI will be more helpful than harmful (net helpful +2) to their future career prospects, but most other groups are pessimistic.
  • College students (-6); those not in school and without a degree (-17);
  • Urban residents (+4); suburban (-12); rural (-25); small town (-17);

  • Democrats (-7); Republicans (-14); independents (-11).
     

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Support for abortion has increased over the last decade; pro-choice supporters are more likely than pro-life advocates to vote on abortion ballot measures.

• Compared to 2016, the last time we asked this question of young Americans, we found an eight percentage point increase (36% to 44%) in the number of young Americans who believe “abortion should be permitted in all cases.” Most of this change came from young women; in 2016, 35% supported this policy, while today, 48% say the same.
  • Additionally, 13% believe abortion “should be permitted but subject to greater restrictions than it is now,” 23% think it should be “permitted only in cases such as rape, incest, or to save the woman's life,” 8% “only to save the woman's life,” and 11% believe it “should not be permitted at all.”
• When asked whether they consider themselves to be “pro-choice” or “pro-life,” we found that 53% chose pro-choice and 26% pro-life. Ten percent (10%) cited neither, and 10% chose the don’t know option. Eighty-one percent (81%) of female Democrats, 58% of female independents, and a quarter (25%) of female Republicans chose the pro-choice label.
• Nearly half (45%) of all young Americans – including 56% of registered voters – say they will “definitely” vote if there was a referendum or ballot initiative related to the legality of abortion in their state. Sixty-four percent (64%) of young people who consider themselves pro-choice, but only 34% who consider themselves pro-life say they would definitely vote in this hypothetical.

  • Nearly a quarter (22%) of young Americans who are not committed to voting for president in 2024 say they will definitely vote in a state abortion referendum; 10% who say they will definitely not vote in the presidential contest say the same.  
     

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Nearly two-thirds of young Americans report that legal access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion, is important when choosing where to live. 

• Sixty-nine percent (69%) of young women under 30 and 55% of young men say that access to reproductive health care is important when choosing in which state to live. Most (53%) women say such access is “very important.”
• A majority of young women across most subgroups believe this is important, except for Republicans.
  • 68% of 18-24 and 72% of 25-29 year-old women say this is important;
  • 69% of female college students, 80% of female college graduates, and 65% of females not in college and without a college degree say this is important;
  • 69% of white, 65% of Black, and 71% of Hispanic women say this is important;
  • 90% of Democrats, 41% of Republicans, and 67% of independent and unaffiliated women say it is important.  

• Overall, nearly half (46%) of young Americans have a friend or family member who has had an abortion (31%) or seriously considered one (15%). Thirty-five percent (35%) of young women under 30 have a friend or family member who has had an abortion, with no significant difference based on level of education, race, or ethnicity. 
   

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Active high school civic education is linked to a higher propensity for voting.

• Two-thirds (67%) of young Americans who plan to “definitely vote” in the 2024 general election say that their high school education taught and prepared them to understand the “importance of my vote,” compared to 47% of less committed voters who say the same.
• We found a similar pattern with voter registration: 63% of those who are registered say they were taught the importance of their vote, compared to 42% of those not currently registered who say the same.
• Overall, most young Americans do not believe that their high school education taught and prepared them to understand practical aspects of voting and civic education, such as:
  • The importance of my vote (56% yes, prepared)
  • How to register to vote (45% yes, prepared)
  • When the voting deadlines are (38% yes, prepared)
  • How to research candidates and ballot issues (35% yes, prepared)

  • How to request and submit completed ballots (33% yes, prepared)
     

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Deadline reminders, non-partisan voting guides, how-to-vote training, and conversations with friends and family are all helpful turnout tactics for 2024.   

• While 49% of young people under 30 plan on voting for president next year, the other half are divided among those who will probably vote (17%), say there’s a 50-50 chance (14%), probably won’t vote (9%), or definitely won’t vote (11%). Among those who say there’s a chance they will vote but are not fully committed yet, a majority find the following tactics and strategies helpful:
  • Reminders about voting deadlines (67%)
  • Conversations about voting with friends and family members (64% helpful)
  • A non-partisan voting guide (63% helpful)
  • A non-partisan how-to-vote training (57% helpful)
  • Meeting a candidate or official representative of the campaign in person (53% helpful)

• We found that non-partisan voting guides are slightly more likely to be effective with less committed voters on college campuses (66%) and recent graduates (76%) than young people not in college and without a degree (59%). Solid majorities across party lines also find this tactic helpful, with Democrats the most enthusiastic. More than three-in-four Democrats (78%), 62% of Republicans, and 56% of independent young people not yet committed to voting report these guides would be helpful to them in boosting their participation.  
   

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Tue, 12/05/2023 - 12:00

News Coverage

Harvard Gazette: New IOP poll finds younger voters unenthusiastic on Biden-Trum…

Methodology

The Harvard Youth Poll of 2,098 18-to-29-year-olds was organized with undergraduate students from the Harvard Public Opinion Project (HPOP) and supervised by John Della Volpe, Director of Polling at the Institute of Politics. Data were collected by Ipsos Public Affairs using the KnowledgePanel calibration approach. In this approach, the calibrating sample was provided by the KnowledgePanel probability-based sample source (n=1,089), while the sample to be calibrated was provided by non-probability, opt-in web panel sample sources (n=1,009). Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish between October 23 and November 6, 2023. The target population for this survey is US residents between the ages of 18 and 29. Data are weighted to reflect population estimates based on age-group, race, Hispanic ethnicity, educational attainment, household income, urbanicity, and geographic region of residence.  The margin of error for the total sample is +/- 2.86%.

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Key Takeaways

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• Deadline reminders, non-partisan voting guides, how-to-vote training, and conversations with friends and family are all helpful turnout tactics for 2024.   

• Fewer young Americans plan on voting in 2024; most of the decline comes from young Republican and independent voters. 

• President Biden has a solid lead against former President Trump in a hypothetical 2024 matchup; independent candidates pose a more significant threat to Biden.

• A plurality trusts neither Biden nor Trump on important issues like the Israel-Hamas war, Ukraine, climate change, gun violence, health care, crime and public safety.

• Young Americans have a favorable view of their personal financial situation. At the same time, a substantial majority hold a negative perception of America's economy.

• Young Americans view most labor unions favorably; views of police unions are mixed.

• Young Americans are wary about the effects Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation could have on their career prospects.

• Support for abortion has increased over the last decade; pro-choice supporters are more likely than pro-life advocates to vote on abortion ballot measures.

• Nearly two-thirds of young Americans report that legal access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion, is important when choosing where to live. 

• Active high school civic education is linked to a higher propensity for voting.

• Deadline reminders, non-partisan voting guides, how-to-vote training, and conversations with friends and family are all helpful turnout tactics for 2024.   

• Fewer young Americans plan on voting in 2024; most of the decline comes from young Republican and independent voters. 

• President Biden has a solid lead against former President Trump in a hypothetical 2024 matchup; independent candidates pose a more significant threat to Biden.

• A plurality trusts neither Biden nor Trump on important issues like the Israel-Hamas war, Ukraine, climate change, gun violence, health care, crime and public safety.

• Young Americans have a favorable view of their personal financial situation. At the same time, a substantial majority hold a negative perception of America's economy.

• Young Americans view most labor unions favorably; views of police unions are mixed.

• Young Americans are wary about the effects Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation could have on their career prospects.

• Support for abortion has increased over the last decade; pro-choice supporters are more likely than pro-life advocates to vote on abortion ballot measures.

• Nearly two-thirds of young Americans report that legal access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion, is important when choosing where to live. 

• Active high school civic education is linked to a higher propensity for voting.

• Deadline reminders, non-partisan voting guides, how-to-vote training, and conversations with friends and family are all helpful turnout tactics for 2024.   

https://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/46th-edition-fall-2023

Desperate for something to eat, "Gaza residents surviving off animal feed and rice as food dwindles" after the Israelis destroyed Gaza's fishing boats, bombed much of its agricultural land with white phosphorus that will make it unusable for growing food, and reduced trucks delivering food to Gaza to a trickle on the days it did not totally block the entry of food. "New figures from the UN suggest that more than half the agricultural land in the central region of Deir al-Balah has been damaged. ... On Saturday the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees accused Israel of using financial restrictions to block a month's worth of food for more than a million Gazans", coming from Turkey but held in the Israeli port city of Ashrod for six weeks . Despite the UN's warnings of famine, the Israelis play the denial game of lies. "A spokesman for the Israeli military agency tasked with coordinating aid access in Gaza said in a briefing last month that there was 'no starvation in Gaza. Period.' ... The World Food Programme (WFP) told the BBC this week that four out of the last five aid convoys into the north had been stopped by Israeli forces, meaning a gap of two weeks between deliveries to Gaza City. "We know there is a very serious risk of famine in Gaza if we don't provide very significant volumes of food assistance on a regular basis," said the WFP regional chief, Matt Hollingworth. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said there had been a sharp increase in the number of aid missions denied access to northern Gaza: with 56% of deliveries denied access in January, up from 14% in October to December." Meanwhile, the Israelis and their supporters say look at all the tunnels, while people starve. "Many of us are now drinking unpotable water." said one Gazan. "We feel that death has become inevitable" said another Gazan. A famine risk assessment, carried out by several UN agencies, estimated that almost a third of residents in northern areas could now be facing a "catastrophic" lack of food.

People living in the isolated north of Gaza have told the BBC that children are going without food for days, as aid convoys are increasingly denied permits to enter. Some residents have resorted to grinding animal feed into flour to survive, but even stocks of those grains are now dwindling, they say. People have also described digging down into the soil to access water pipes, for drinking and washing.

The UN has warned that acute malnutrition among young children in the north has risen sharply, and is now above the critical threshold of 15%. The UN's humanitarian coordination agency, Ocha, says more than half the aid missions to the north of Gaza were denied access last month, and that there is increasing interference from Israeli forces in how and where aid is delivered. It says 300,000 people estimated to be living in northern areas are largely cut off from assistance, and face a growing risk of famine. ...

Mahmoud Shalabi, a local medical aid worker in Beit Lahia, said people had been grinding grains used for animal feed into flour, but that even that was now running out. "People are not finding it in the market," he said. "It's unavailable nowadays in the north of Gaza, and Gaza City."  He also said stocks of tinned food were disappearing. "What we had was actually from the six or seven days of truce [in November], and whatever aid was allowed into the north of Gaza has actually been consumed by now. What people are eating right now is basically rice, and only rice."

The World Food Programme (WFP) told the BBC this week that four out of the last five aid convoys into the north had been stopped by Israeli forces, meaning a gap of two weeks between deliveries to Gaza City. "We know there is a very serious risk of famine in Gaza if we don't provide very significant volumes of food assistance on a regular basis," said the WFP regional chief, Matt Hollingworth.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said there had been a sharp increase in the number of aid missions denied access to northern Gaza: with 56% of deliveries denied access in January, up from 14% in October to December. ...

Duha al-Khalidi, a mother of four in Beit Lahia, told the BBC two weeks ago that she walked six miles (9.5km) to her sister's house in Gaza City, in a desperate search for food, after her children had not eaten for three days. "I don't have any money, and even if I did, there's nothing in the town's main market," she said. "[My sister] and her family are also suffering. She shared with me the last amount of pasta in her house. We feel that death has become inevitable," her sister, Waad, said. "We lost the top floor of our house, but we are still living here despite the fear of collapse. For two weeks, we can't find anything in the market; and if some products are available, they are 10 times their normal price."

A famine risk assessment, carried out by several UN agencies, estimated that almost a third of residents in northern areas could now be facing a "catastrophic" lack of food, though restrictions on accessing the area make real-time measurements very difficult. Families in northern areas are also struggling to find reliable water supplies. "Many of us are now drinking unpotable water. There are no pipes; we have to dig for water," explained Mahmoud Salah in Beit Lahia. Video filmed in the Jabalia neighbourhood north of Gaza City shows residents sitting among the rubble of bombed out streets, digging down into the earth to tap large underground water pipes. 

"We get water here once every 15 days," Yusuf al-Ayoti said. "The water is dirty. Our children are inflamed and their teeth are eroded from the dirty water. There is sand in it, and it's very salty." After four months of war, the makeshift solutions for bridging the hunger gaps are wearing thin. And there are few ways to restock Gaza's larder. The territory was reliant on food aid before the war; now much of its agricultural industry has been ruined or abandoned.

New figures from the UN suggest that more than half the agricultural land in the central region of Deir al-Balah has been damaged. This includes an olive press and farmland belonging to Bassem Younis Abu Zayed. "It looks like the aftermath of an earthquake," he said. "The destruction is vast, covering neighbouring buildings and farm animals. Even if we manage to restore the mill, 80-90% of the olives have gone. It's not just a loss for this year, it's a loss for the next several years." Further south, in the border town of Rafah, more than a million people displaced by the fighting elsewhere now jostle for space with the town's 300,000 residents. ...

On Saturday the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees accused Israel of using financial restrictions to block a month's worth of food for more than a million Gazans. UNRWA said more than 1,000 shipping containers from Turkey were being held up in a port, telling the AP news agency that a local contractor was ordered by customs authorities not to process any UNRWA goods. Israel has not responded but on Thursday, far-right finance minister Belazel Smotrich ordered the cancellation of customs and other tax relief for UNRWA.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68239320

A new UN report released today warns of " 'Unprecedented' levels of 'near famine-like conditions' in Gaza "550,000 people are now likely facing catastrophic food insecurity levels, while the whole population is in crisis mod".

The population of the Gaza Strip is suffering "unprecedented" levels of "near famine-like conditions" as the Hamas-Israel war drags on, the UN's agriculture agency said Monday.

Some 550,000 people are now likely facing catastrophic food insecurity levels, while the whole population is in crisis mode, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)  Deputy Director General Beth Bechdol said.

"We are seeing more and more people essentially on the brink of and moving into famine-like conditions every day,"  550,000 people are now likely facing catastrophic food insecurity levels, while the whole population is in crisis mod said. All 2.2 million people in Gaza are in the top three hunger categories, from level three, which is considered an emergency, to level five, or catastrophe, she said.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) rates hunger levels from one to five.

https://jordantimes.com/news/world/unprecedented-levels-near-famine-cond...—-un

Israeli supporters do not want to admit that Israeli both morally and legally is responsible for Gaza facing famine, so they keep repeating the same excuses. But the evidence is clear.
"Under a 2007 agreement between Egypt and Israel, Egypt controls the crossing but imports through the Rafah crossing require Israeli approval." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafah_Border_Crossing
So once again it is the Israelis who are blocking the flow of food into Gaza as the famine worsens. Furthermore, as the occupying power, Gaza is required under Section 55 of the Geneva Conventions to make sure the Gazans, as the occupied people, be fed, which says:

Quote:

To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.

Quote:

Desperate for something to eat, "Gaza residents surviving off animal feed and rice as food dwindles" after the Israelis destroyed Gaza's fishing boats, bombed much of its agricultural land with white phosphorus that will make it unusable for growing food, and reduced trucks delivering food to Gaza to a trickle on the days it did not totally block the entry of food. "New figures from the UN suggest that more than half the agricultural land in the central region of Deir al-Balah has been damaged. ... On Saturday the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees accused Israel of using financial restrictions to block a month's worth of food for more than a million Gazans", coming from Turkey but held in the Israeli port city of Ashrod for six weeks . Despite the UN's warnings of famine, the Israelis play the denial game of lies. "A spokesman for the Israeli military agency tasked with coordinating aid access in Gaza said in a briefing last month that there was 'no starvation in Gaza. Period.' ... The World Food Programme (WFP) told the BBC this week that four out of the last five aid convoys into the north had been stopped by Israeli forces, meaning a gap of two weeks between deliveries to Gaza City. "We know there is a very serious risk of famine in Gaza if we don't provide very significant volumes of food assistance on a regular basis," said the WFP regional chief, Matt Hollingworth. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said there had been a sharp increase in the number of aid missions denied access to northern Gaza: with 56% of deliveries denied access in January, up from 14% in October to December." Meanwhile, the Israelis and their supporters say look at all the tunnels, while people starve. "Many of us are now drinking unpotable water." said one Gazan. "We feel that death has become inevitable" said another Gazan. A famine risk assessment, carried out by several UN agencies, estimated that almost a third of residents in northern areas could now be facing a "catastrophic" lack of food.

People living in the isolated north of Gaza have told the BBC that children are going without food for days, as aid convoys are increasingly denied permits to enter. Some residents have resorted to grinding animal feed into flour to survive, but even stocks of those grains are now dwindling, they say. People have also described digging down into the soil to access water pipes, for drinking and washing.

The UN has warned that acute malnutrition among young children in the north has risen sharply, and is now above the critical threshold of 15%. The UN's humanitarian coordination agency, Ocha, says more than half the aid missions to the north of Gaza were denied access last month, and that there is increasing interference from Israeli forces in how and where aid is delivered. It says 300,000 people estimated to be living in northern areas are largely cut off from assistance, and face a growing risk of famine. ...

Mahmoud Shalabi, a local medical aid worker in Beit Lahia, said people had been grinding grains used for animal feed into flour, but that even that was now running out. "People are not finding it in the market," he said. "It's unavailable nowadays in the north of Gaza, and Gaza City." He also said stocks of tinned food were disappearing. "What we had was actually from the six or seven days of truce [in November], and whatever aid was allowed into the north of Gaza has actually been consumed by now. What people are eating right now is basically rice, and only rice."

The World Food Programme (WFP) told the BBC this week that four out of the last five aid convoys into the north had been stopped by Israeli forces, meaning a gap of two weeks between deliveries to Gaza City. "We know there is a very serious risk of famine in Gaza if we don't provide very significant volumes of food assistance on a regular basis," said the WFP regional chief, Matt Hollingworth.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said there had been a sharp increase in the number of aid missions denied access to northern Gaza: with 56% of deliveries denied access in January, up from 14% in October to December. ...

Duha al-Khalidi, a mother of four in Beit Lahia, told the BBC two weeks ago that she walked six miles (9.5km) to her sister's house in Gaza City, in a desperate search for food, after her children had not eaten for three days. "I don't have any money, and even if I did, there's nothing in the town's main market," she said. "[My sister] and her family are also suffering. She shared with me the last amount of pasta in her house. We feel that death has become inevitable," her sister, Waad, said. "We lost the top floor of our house, but we are still living here despite the fear of collapse. For two weeks, we can't find anything in the market; and if some products are available, they are 10 times their normal price."

A famine risk assessment, carried out by several UN agencies, estimated that almost a third of residents in northern areas could now be facing a "catastrophic" lack of food, though restrictions on accessing the area make real-time measurements very difficult. Families in northern areas are also struggling to find reliable water supplies. "Many of us are now drinking unpotable water. There are no pipes; we have to dig for water," explained Mahmoud Salah in Beit Lahia. Video filmed in the Jabalia neighbourhood north of Gaza City shows residents sitting among the rubble of bombed out streets, digging down into the earth to tap large underground water pipes.

"We get water here once every 15 days," Yusuf al-Ayoti said. "The water is dirty. Our children are inflamed and their teeth are eroded from the dirty water. There is sand in it, and it's very salty." After four months of war, the makeshift solutions for bridging the hunger gaps are wearing thin. And there are few ways to restock Gaza's larder. The territory was reliant on food aid before the war; now much of its agricultural industry has been ruined or abandoned.

New figures from the UN suggest that more than half the agricultural land in the central region of Deir al-Balah has been damaged. This includes an olive press and farmland belonging to Bassem Younis Abu Zayed. "It looks like the aftermath of an earthquake," he said. "The destruction is vast, covering neighbouring buildings and farm animals. Even if we manage to restore the mill, 80-90% of the olives have gone. It's not just a loss for this year, it's a loss for the next several years." Further south, in the border town of Rafah, more than a million people displaced by the fighting elsewhere now jostle for space with the town's 300,000 residents. ...

On Saturday the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees accused Israel of using financial restrictions to block a month's worth of food for more than a million Gazans. UNRWA said more than 1,000 shipping containers from Turkey were being held up in a port, telling the AP news agency that a local contractor was ordered by customs authorities not to process any UNRWA goods. Israel has not responded but on Thursday, far-right finance minister Belazel Smotrich ordered the cancellation of customs and other tax relief for UNRWA.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68239320

kropotkin1951 wrote:

Opening Ashdod port in Israel, roughly 40km from the border with northern Gaza, would enable significantly larger quantities of assistance to be shipped in and trucked directly into the north, which few convoys have managed to reach. But there is no sign of that happening any time soon."
https://www.wfp.org/stories/hungers-border-why-aid-trucks-taking-humanit...

Jerry wrote
It's worse than the Israeli Ashrod port not being open. The report you are quoting from the World Food Program is dated January 25th. Four days ago, " UNRWA's director, Philippe Lazzarini, said Friday that that a convoy of food donated by Turkey has been sitting for weeks in the Israeli port". So the food meant to feed 1.1 million people for a month is already there in Ashrod, at no cost to the Israelis; they simply are not delivering it, thereby creating famine conditions. Since, as occupying nation, Israel is by Geneva Convention #55 required to feed the occupied people of Gaza, this is genocide.

Quote:

Israel has imposed financial restrictions on the main UN agency providing aid in the Gaza Strip, a measure which prevented a shipment of food for 1.1 million Palestinians from reaching the war-battered enclave, the agency's director said Friday.
The restrictions deepened a crisis between Israel and UNRWA, whose operations have been threatened following Israeli accusations that some of its workers participated in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered Israel's war in Gaza. Those accusations have led major donor nations, including the U.S., to suspend funding to the UN organization and left its future in question.
UNRWA's director, Philippe Lazzarini, said Friday that that a convoy of food donated by Turkey has been sitting for weeks in the Israeli port city of Ashdod. The agency said that the Israeli contractor they work with received a call from Israeli customs authorities “ordering them not to process any UNRWA goods.”
That stoppage means 1,049 shipping containers of rice, flour, chickpeas, sugar and cooking oil — enough to feed 1.1 million people for one month — are stuck, even as an estimated 25 per cent of families in Gaza face catastrophic hunger.
The World Food Program warned Friday that Gaza could be plunged into famine as early as May. The UN food agency defines a famine as when 30 per cent of children are malnourished, one-fifth of households face acute food shortages and two of every 10,000 people are dying from hunger or malnutrition.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/israel-is-holding-up-food-for-1-1-million-p...

Paladin1 wrote:

jerrym wrote:

"Under a 2007 agreement between Egypt and Israel, Egypt controls the crossing but imports through the Rafah crossing require Israeli approval." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafah_Border_Crossing

Thanks there was alot of interesting information there.

It looks like Egypt is fed up wuth Hamas's bullshit but you can also see where Israel is strangling Gaza. Which of course is terrible, but also seems needed for security.[/quote]

Jerry replied
I am not a supporter of Hamas, but the idea of Israel gaining long-term security out of this is nonsense. Unless the Israelis exterminate all the Palestinians, which is the very definition of genocide, what do you think is going happen even if Hamas is suppressed or wiped out? The greatest recruiting tool for Hamas and guerrilla movements in general has been the orphaning and killing of so many Palestinians in the past. If Hamas is somehow eliminated, which even the Israeli army command thinks is extremely unlikely, there will be a successor organization, quite likely even more radical because of what has been done to the Palestinian people. Every movement for independence has counted on an over-reaction of the dominant power to propel further recruitment. Sadly, this is almost certainly is going to mean this will continue for generations. The only way out of this is for the dominant power to display respect and justice to the occupied to create a long-lasting peace.

Remember that the Irish War of Independence from 1916 to 1921 happened 70 years after the Irish Famine of 1845-1853 killed one quarter of the population and caused another quarter of the population to flee the country. This was at a time when more food was leaving the country to feed England and the British army in colonial India than was needed to feed the Irish, thereby feeding an anger that made them ready to seek revenge even after three generations. The result was the Irish War of Independence. Those who had left Ireland and their offspring played a major role in the fight for independence, so you cannot expect that simply expelling Gazans from Gaza will give Israelis security in the long run.

As Henry Kissinger (a hard core Cold Warrior under Nixon if ever there was one who fought guerrilla movements around the world) said, "guerilla decolonization movements win if they don't lose". Every such movement since Michael Collins took on the British Empire that ruled one quarter of the world in an empire where the sun never set a century ago has won their independence in the long run, including those occupying powers that used famine as part of their strategy: Ireland, India, Kenya, Libya, Ethiopia, Algeria where the French killed a million people before giving up, Vietnam where the American war killed millions, Cambodia, Laos, Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, etc., etc, typically with the independence movement being accepted as the government by the rest of the world after decades of calling them "terrorists". The one cited exception, which was not an exception at all, was Malaysia, where the British defeated the Communist guerillas only by agreeing to give Malaysia independence within a year.

By the way, Israel itself had two terrorist leaders be elected Prime Minister: Menachem Begin, leader of the Irgun, and Yitzak Shamir, leader of the Stern gang who even murdered the UN representative Folke Bernadotte who drew up a peace deal, and who was a leader of "the 1948 Deir Yassin massacre ... [that] killed at least 107 Palestinian Arab villagers". He also "sought an alliance with Fascist Italyand Nazi Germany during WWII (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_Shamir). So Israel is itself quite selective in who it calls a terrorist. The first Israeli government created Gaza by using terror to force Palestinians out of Israel during the Nakba.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba). Even if Hamas is wiped out, which is highly unlikely although it has been degraded, we have seen that decades and decades of resisting the creation of an independent state only end in failure because that idea will live on and the deaths of many thousands and sometimes millions to stop it will be for nothing. In other words, this war and this famine will be a futile effort, with a totally unnecessary death toll, to stop what is inevitable in the long run.
The only alternative is to exterminate all Palestinians, because, as seen in previous independence struggles, the slaughter of the colonized only creates more people willing to fight for independence. And this alternative is called genocide. Hopefully, the rest of the world will prevent that from happening if Israel and the US continue down that path.
The Gaza War may in the short run save Netanyahu, who is highly unpopular because he allowed Hamas to be funded so he could then say we can't allow a two state solution with the Palestinian Authority since Hamas still exists. But he is keeping this war going to save himself, because all the polls show he would be wiped out in an Israeli election.

"Palestinian sources told Al Jazeera that aid supplies stopped entering through the Rafah land crossing about a week ago"
(https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/14/israels-war-on-gaza-li...)
The evidence for genocide that the Internation Court of Justice (ICJ) must consider keeps piling up.
UNRWA is reporting the outbreak of widespread hepatitis A and diarrohea among the 1.5 million Gazans crammed into Rafah (see article below), a sign of imminent death that has often accompanied many famines. In the vast majority of famines, most people do not literally starve to death. If this is allowed to continue the famine/disease deaths will far outnumber the 28,000 Gazans (a number more than 23 times the number of Israelis who were murdered on October 7th - in other words a totally disproportionate death toll) killed by Israeli bombs and bullets. Most people in a famine do not die of starvation, but die due to disease because of their weakened bodies, especially their immune systems. This causes them to die from the resulting diseases that their weakened bodies can no longer fight off, especially when living in conditions of being crowded together which helps spread disease, living in tents or hovels in the ground because their homes have been bombed in the severe cold of a Middle East winter as in Rafah, with more than five times its normal population. Many of these conditions are similar to what killed one quarter of the Irish population during the Irish Famine of 1845 to 1853 and caused another quarter of the population to flee the country in order to survive. The 1841 census in Ireland showed a population of 8.2 million while the 1861 census found a population of 5.8 million with ongoing outmigration due to the severe living conditions reducing the population to 4.2 million under British imperial rule. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_population_of_Ireland) The thing is, that unlike the Irish, so far the Gazans have no opportunity to escape by leaving, nor do most them want to because that would produce a second Naqba similar to that of 1947-48 when 700,000 were forced out of Israel by the Israelis, thereby cutting the Palestinian Moslem and Christian population from a 67.2% majority to a minority (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_Palestine_(region)). 

UNRWA reports outbreaks of hepatitis A, alarmingly high rates of diarrhoea in Rafah

Thomas White, the Gaza chief of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), has said the agency has seen alarmingly high rates of diarrhoea, which can be deadly if there is not enough clean water, in addition to outbreaks of hepatitis A.

“These are the result of a million people jammed into a pretty small area without access to sanitation,” White said, adding that the conditions in Rafah were grim.

“Hundreds of thousands of people are digging a hole in the sand adjacent to where they’re living, and that’s where they are defecating,” he said.

As an Israeli invasion of Rafah becomes imminent, White warned of “the reality of having a million people move in the Gaza Strip into areas that are not set up to accommodate them”.

“Many of them will have to leave the shelters they have constructed here [in Rafah],” White said. “We will have hundreds of thousands of people living in the open again.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/12/israels-war-on-gaza-li...

The next stage in the famine is already occurring with children dying of starvation due to Israel withholding food, which is a war crime and if it continues will be genocide. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen stated last night “Kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food. In addition to the horror of that news, one other thing is true: That is a war crime. It is a textbook war crime. And that makes those who orchestrate it war criminals. … Every one of them [officials at humanitarian relief organizations] has stated that their organizations have never experienced a humanitarian disaster as dire and terrible as the world is witnessing in Gaza .” 

Jewish American Thomas Friedman wrote yesterday: "If Israel destroys Hamas, and then decides to permanently occupy Gaza and the West Bank, rejecting any form of Palestinian statehood, Israel will become a global pariah for the next generation ".

Late last night, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen gave a remarkable speech on the Senate floor, condemning the government of Benjamin Netanyahu for deliberately blocking aid to civilians in Gaza. Van Hollen said:  “Kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food. In addition to the horror of that news, one other thing is true: That is a war crime. It is a textbook war crime. And that makes those who orchestrate it war criminals. … Every one of them [officials at humanitarian relief organizations] has stated that their organizations have never experienced a humanitarian disaster as dire and terrible as the world is witnessing in Gaza.”

Let’s be clear. To take a clear moral stand against Netanyahu is not to be pro-Hamas or anti-Israeli or anti-Zionist or antisemitic.  It’s to be pro-human rights. 

I’m (Robert Reich) Jewish. I detest Hamas and what it stands for. I know what it’s like to have members of one’s family brazenly murdered because of their beliefs and ethnicity.  Which is one reason why I take social justice and human rights so seriously. And why I, like tens of millions of others in America and around the world, am committed to a ceasefire in — and humanitarian aid to — Gaza.  And why I’m also in favor of a Palestinian state. 

As Thomas Friedman wrote yesterday: If Israel destroys Hamas, and then decides to permanently occupy Gaza and the West Bank, rejecting any form of Palestinian statehood, Israel will become a global pariah for the next generation, and particularly in the Arab world. This will force Israel’s Arab allies to distance themselves from the Jewish state. And if Israel remains in perpetual conflict with the Palestinians, the entire architecture of America’s Middle East strategy — particularly the crosscutting peace treaties that we’ve forged between Israel and Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf nations — will come under pressure, complicating our ability to operate in the region and opening it to much more influence by Russia and China. Given the deaths of so many thousands of Gazan civilians, the U.S. is already having some difficulty using its military bases in Arab countries to counter Iran’s malign network of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Shiites militias in Iraq. ....

Why isn’t Biden speaking out more forcefully against Netanyahu’s government — condemning war crimes and crimes against humanity, and threatening to withhold any further aid if Netanyahu continues his rampage? Why aren’t officials at the State Department enforcing the part of the Foreign Assistance Act that blocks security assistance to countries that hinder the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid?  Why did a majority of senators vote last night to send some $14 billion to Israel — including almost $10 billion in humanitarian aid to Gaza that won’t help anyone there if Netanyahu won’t let the money in?

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/children-in-gaza-why-arent-we-stoppin....

ETA: With Turkey bringing the extreme nature of the Gazan famine to the UN Security Council, no nation blocking UNRWA can claim it didn't not fully understand the extent of famine in Gaza as 15 Western nations continue to refuse to fund the one agency that twenty other relief agencies all say is the only capable of distributing food to the Gazans in sufficient quantities to keep many thousands of Gazans from starving to death, even though these other relief agencies are being offered money to do the relief work instead. On CBC News Network's Power and Politics, Danny Glenwright Executive Director and President of Save the Children Canada, said that "80% of aid in Gaza is provided by UNRWA. Simply put, no other organization, inlcuding ourselves, can do that job." Yesterday, Turkey’s UN envoy, Sedat Önal, warns of rising risk of Gaza famine at the UN Security Council in emphasizing the humanitarian crisis there is worsening day to day: "2.2 million people in Gaza live in a state of crisis under relentless bombardment, without sufficient humanitarian aid. "On top of that, some donors have suspended funding to UNRWA, the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza. The risk of famine in Gaza is alarming." Cutting the funding of UNRWA by Canada, the US Britain and Germany, and 13 other Western nations is playing a major role in increasing the famine.
This also raises the question of whether Turkey will be willing to aid in getting Russia and Ukraine to agree to allow each other's grain shipments through the Black Sea, as it has repeatedly done in the past, for humanitarian reasons to feed the rest of world when it sees the West's failure to deal with the famine in Gaza.

The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is worsening day by day, Türkiye's permanent representative to the U.N. said Tuesday as he warned of a rising risk of famine amid Israeli attacks. Sedat Önal told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the maintenance of international peace and security that "2.2 million people in Gaza live in a state of crisis under relentless bombardment, without sufficient humanitarian aid." "On top of that, some donors have suspended funding to UNRWA, the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza. The risk of famine in Gaza is alarming," he said.

The main United Nations agency providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza is facing growing administrative hurdles from Israel, with a Turkish shipment amounting to a month's supply of food blocked at an Israeli port, the agency's chief said earlier this week.

Several Western countries, including the two largest donors, the United States and Germany, temporarily suspended payments to the UNRWA after Israel has accused a dozen of its employees of being involved in the attack mounted by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7. The UNRWA has dismissed staff accused of involvement in the attack and launched an investigation. I also wonder how much help Turkey will give to the West in dealing with the Ukraine crisis, as it did in the past, in helping to get Ukraine and Russia to allow grain shipments out of the Black Sea to feed people elsewhere, while it watches famine growing in Gaza.

Türkiye too said the suspension of funding primarily harmed Palestinian civilians and urged the nations to reconsider their move. In the fifth month of the conflict, Önal said the council is still unable to stop the manmade catastrophe. "As we speak, a new episode of this tragedy is underway in Rafah in southern Gaza, in spite of the warnings of the international community. The council needs to take heed of the global outcry on Gaza," he added, stressing the expectation from the council is clear to ensure an immediate cease-fire, unhindered humanitarian assistance and to prevent forced displacement of people. "Türkiye will continue to be actively engaged in all international efforts toward achieving peace, combating climate change and alleviating global food insecurity," Önal said.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, killing at least 28,473 people and injuring 68,146 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack. The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.

Türkiye is among the countries delivering relief to besieged Gaza. With the efforts of Ankara and Turkish nonprofit groups, tons of humanitarian aid was delivered to the Palestinian enclave and more is on the way. Türkiye also evacuated injured Palestinians and cancer patients from Gaza for treatment.

https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/turkiyes-un-envoy-warns-of-rising-ri...

Thanks Mobo2000.

Liberal Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Secretary Rob Oliphant in a taped private phone conservation attacked his own Liberal government's policy on the Gazan War saying that aid to UNRWA should not have been cut off because it is the only agency capable of handling the masive food and medicine requirements capable of dealing with the famine in Gaza. He is also deeply concerned about the South Africand genocide case before the International Court of Justice. As a result of his difference with Trudeau he said has considered quitting his job. On the phone, Oliphant said "When I read that we were pausing money to UNRWA — I'm going to be very clear — it was political. And I don't just mean domestic politics. It has to do with our allies. "  He went on to note that even if 12 or 13 of 12,000 UNRWA workers were involved in the October 7th attack on Israel, this was no reason to cut off funding the one organization that can prevent a famine. Oliphant went on to say "I will defend UNRWA forever. Their work in Lebanon, their work in Jordan, I've been there, I've been to the refugee camps."

"The Trudeau government cut off UNRWA on January 26 — the same day the ICJ found there were grounds to proceed with a genocide trial against Israel. In response to South Africa's allegation that Israel was using starvation as a weapon against Gaza's civilian population, the court ordered that "the State of Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. That ruling is binding on all countries that signed the Genocide Convention, including Canada. Israel said it would provide intelligence to back up its allegation against UNRWA but has yet to do so. The funding suspension has continued and hundreds of thousands of Gazans have fallen into severe hunger." To me, it stinks to high heaven that this Israeli accusation and the Western support for this charge, which has yet to be substantiated against the 12 or 13, never mind UNRWA's, occurred the day  the ICJ announced its finding of "plausible genocide", thereby providing Western governments and media a distraction from the ICJ accusation of plausible genocide, which would involve even more deaths through famine than by bombing. Canada and 14 other countries immediately cut off funding in what appeared to be a very coordinated plan rather than each country examining the evidence separately and coming to its own conclusion over time. 

A leaked recording of a phone call between a Liberal MP and a constituent suggests the depth of the divisions in the government caucus over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's handling of the war in Gaza, the genocide case against Israel and the decision to defund a UN relief agency in the middle of a famine. As parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, Rob Oliphant has the job of explaining and defending Canada's foreign policy in Parliament. But in his conversation with the constituent, recorded on Feb. 1 without the MP's knowledge, Oliphant was clearly less than keen to defend the government. Instead, he opened up about his reaction to the genocide allegation brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague and Canada's decision to defund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the main UN agency providing aid to Palestinian refugees.

He also revealed that he's considered quitting his job as Joly's parliamentary secretary. "I've come many times thinking, 'Do I quit that job? Do I just go back to being an MP?'" Oliphant said on the call. ...

When contacted by CBC News, Oliphant said the conversation was with a constituent who was in pain over the crisis in Gaza and he'd hoped it would remain private. He also said he made no statements in that exchange that he would not be willing to defend in public. 

"When I read that we were pausing money to UNRWA — I'm going to be very clear — it was political. And I don't just mean domestic politics. It has to do with our allies," Oliphant told his constituent. "I thought it was the wrong decision."

Canada was the second country in the world to suspend its funding for UNRWA, following the United States. It did so in response to an Israeli claim that 12 or 13 UNRWA staff had participated in various capacities in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. ...

The Trudeau government cut off UNRWA on January 26 — the same day the ICJ found there were grounds to proceed with a genocide trial against Israel. 

In response to South Africa's allegation that Israel was using starvation as a weapon against Gaza's civilian population, the court ordered that "the State of Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip." That ruling is binding on all countries that signed the Genocide Convention, including Canada. Israel said it would provide intelligence to back up its allegation against UNRWA but has yet to do so. The funding suspension has continued and hundreds of thousands of Gazans have fallen into severe hunger."

Oliphant said on the call that, even if the Israeli allegation is true, he doesn't agree with the Trudeau government's response. "You don't stop aid to Gaza because of 12 or 13 employees out of 13,000. It drives me crazy," he said. "It is opportunistic, it is unfair, and it is maligning the operation of a UN organization that is doing, not perfect work — there's no organization that's made of human beings that's perfect, UNRWA has its faults. But it is the best we have for education, for medical care, for food, all of those things." Oliphant, who is both a member of Parliament and a minister of the United Church, added that if the government was determined to cut UNRWA off, it should have found ways to redirect the aid flow immediately. 

"I would have done it completely differently. I would have immediately said exactly the same money will flow to humanitarian assistance, we'll just find other ways to do it temporarily," he said. "Our government bungled that and we should have announced it the same day. All that money and more needs to go to Gaza for instantaneous humanitarian aid. We have half a million people at starvation levels. We're going to have cholera. We're going to have all kinds of things in Gaza. We need an immediate ceasefire."

"I will defend UNRWA forever. Their work in Lebanon, their work in Jordan, I've been there, I've been to the refugee camps," he said. "I've examined the curriculum that people have gone crazy about, saying it's antisemitic. I don't believe it is. I think UNRWA is maligned every day."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rob-oliphant-gaza-israel-joly-hamas-unr...

Bombs, Disease, Starvation: A Canadian Doctor Describes the Desperate Situation Inside Gaza as the Famine gets Worse (the url belows includes a  video of the doctor describing the horror goin on in Gaza)

Quote:

"As Israel continues to threaten to invade Rafah, where over a million Palestinians have sought refuge, we speak to a surgeon who recently returned from a humanitarian mission at the European Hospital in Khan Younis in Gaza. "What I saw in Khan Younis were the most horrific scenes in my entire life," says Canadian ophthalmologist Dr. Yasser Khan. He describes the dire conditions of injured civilians in Gaza, the majority of whom are children. "The genocidal intent of Israeli politicians, the Israeli army, is really clear. What is really bizarre is that they haven't hid it," says Khan. "The killing machine that Israel has unleashed on the healthcare system, I think, is unprecedented. … If the bombings are not going to get you, then disease will surely get you." "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TbSRxVNOpE

The video at the url below examines how starvation and famine is being used as a weapon of war in Gaza.

Quote:

The United Nations is warning that hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are on the brink of starvation.
Acute levels of hunger are facing around 2 million Palestinians, after many of them lost their homes and livelihoods.
Desperate people, unable to feed themselves or their children, are living in famine-like conditions, some resorting to eating animal feed and weeds to survive.
Is the strangling of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies being used as collective punishment by the Israeli government?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-KMSUZsj-k