Food and medicines are rapidly running out and prices are skyrocketing in Gaza, ActionAid’s staff and partners are reporting, as the total ban on aid entering the territory continues into its eighth week, deliberately depriving people of the essentials needed to sustain life.
More than 50 days after the Israeli authorities shut all border crossings into Gaza and denied food, medicines and other aid from entering, malnutrition is rising and sick and injured people are dying otherwise avoidable deaths because of the lack of supplies needed to treat them. Those who survive the near constant bombardment by the Israeli military, which is killing and injuring dozens of Palestinians every day, are increasingly at risk of dying from starvation, infection or disease.
Karol Balfe, ActionAid Ireland CEO said: “We are running out of ways to sound the alarm as the consequences of the Israeli authorities’ appalling and outrageously illegal aid blockade become more and more apparent. People are already struggling to find anything at all to eat; mass starvation is on the horizon. This is a completely avoidable and entirely man-made crisis that is deepening by the day.“
Food products such as meat, fruits, eggs and dairy have all but run out and are no longer available to purchase at markets, and the few items that are left to buy have soared to unprecedentedly high prices. Today in Deir Al Balah a bag of flour cost $300, ActionAid staff said, while in the north the price is reportedly as high as $500. Food production inside Gaza is all but impossible, with agricultural land and infrastructure largely destroyed by bombing or under the control of the Israeli military.
Most people are now surviving on a single meal per day, predominantly consisting of pasta, rice or canned food.
The scarcity of food and lack of diversity in people’s diets is having a detrimental impact: more than 3,700 children were newly admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition in March, an 80% rise on the previous month, according to UNOCHA. Staff at Al-Awda Hospital, run by ActionAid’s partner Al-Awda, say they are seeing more and more pregnant and breastfeeding women experiencing moderate or severe malnutrition and that most babies are being born underweight.
Tasneem, who works with Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO), an umbrella organisation of 30 Palestinian NGOs and a partner of ActionAid Palestine, said the situation in Gaza was the worst it had ever been in more than 18 months of war.
She said: “For over 50 days, not a single truck carrying food, medicine, or humanitarian aid has been allowed to enter. This has pushed Gaza into one of the most catastrophic humanitarian crises in recent history. According to the UNOCHA, this is the harshest situation Gaza has faced in more than 18 months, and for us living through it, it’s even worse than words can describe.
“The food situation is unbearable. Families have resorted to milling dried pasta just to create flour, just enough to make a piece of dough or a loaf of bread to feed their children. All bakeries in Gaza have shut down because there is no flour left, no vegetables, no meat, no milk, no eggs…we haven’t seen fresh food in months.
“Prices of whatever little is left have skyrocketed beyond what anyone can afford. And the truth is most people haven’t had an income in almost two years. The threat of real famine is no longer just a warning—it’s actually here.
“We are witnessing the slow death of a population under siege. People are dying from malnutrition. Diabetics, cancer patients, and others with chronic illnesses are losing their lives simply because they can’t access essential medication. Thousands of injured people are left without the urgent medical care they need.
“The siege is crushing everyone—but especially the most vulnerable: women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. They are the ones paying the highest price for this inhumanity. We are calling on the international community—on every government, every humanitarian actor, and every person who still believes in human rights—to act. We demand an immediate ceasefire. We demand that the [Israeli] occupation open all crossings and allow the entry of life-saving humanitarian aid—now.”
By continuing to refuse any aid into Gaza, the Israeli authorities are acting in flagrant breach of international humanitarian law, as well as in breach of a world court order to allow life-saving assistance in. Let us be clear: this is a starvation campaign and amounts to collective punishment of the population in Gaza. Food must never be used as a weapon of war.
Ms Balfe said: “What is the world waiting for? By the time a full-blown famine is officially declared in Gaza it will already be far, far too late. It’s time to act now. Words are not enough: world leaders must take tangible action to put pressure on the Israeli authorities to resume the flow of aid into Gaza and secure a permanent end to the war, immediately.”
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