The specter of famine looms over various parts of the Gaza Strip, where about 2.2 million people suffer from severe shortages of food, medicine, and even shelter places, while Al Jazeera monitors the accumulation of aid trucks on the other side of the Rafah crossing.
In the northern Gaza Strip, severe food shortages are increasing in areas besieged by the occupation forces.
Scenes from Al Jazeera showed the displaced crowding in long lines to obtain what they could survive, despite the lack of resources and the severe shortage of basic foodstuffs, which threatens the occurrence of famine, according to what international humanitarian organizations warn of.
Truck pile up
Drone photos of the Rafah crossing on February 22, obtained by Al Jazeera, showed hundreds of trucks accumulating at the Rafah crossing, while about two million and 200 thousand people were suffering from the threat of severe hunger.
The humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate in the Gaza Strip, as the vast majority of its population is now threatened by “mass starvation,” according to the United Nations.
The introduction of aid into Gaza is subject to Israeli approval, and the scarce humanitarian support reaches the Strip mainly through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, but transporting it to the north is fraught with risks due to destruction and fighting.
In Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, video clips showed dozens of people scrambling, carrying empty utensils, to get food. Amidst the chaos, a man who appeared to be responsible for distributing soup shouted, “It’s over,” in a call to stop the stampede.
One of the crowd shouted: “Let the whole world see where we are and what is happening to us.”
In another shot, dozens of protesters gathered against the food shortage, including children, carrying phrases reading: “Our children are dying of hunger,” “Bring aid into northern Gaza,” and “No to the policy of starvation.”
Many residents of the northern Gaza Strip were displaced to its center, and among them was Samir Abd Rabbo, who arrived from Jabalia to Nuseirat on Sunday morning, displaced due to hunger, along with his wife and one-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
He told Agence France-Presse, “I came on foot from northern Gaza.. I cannot describe the amount of famine there. I have a little girl who is a year and a half old, and there is no milk. I try to feed her bread that I make from leftover fodder and corn, but she does not digest it. There is no help. We have great hope only in our Lord.”
International warnings
Save the Children has warned that the risk of famine is expected to increase as long as the Israeli government continues to obstruct the entry of aid into Gaza.
Adriana Zega, media and communications officer at Oxfam, said that the daily rate of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip is insufficient.
“الجزيرة” تنشر صوراً تظهر تكدس الشاحنات على الجانب المصري من معبر رفح في ظل المجاعة التي يعاني منها أهالي قطاع غزة
She added to Al Jazeera: “We are waiting to receive 3,000 boxes of health supplies to bring them into Gaza.”
For his part, the media advisor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that Israel is trying to get rid of the agency with the aim of liquidating the Palestinian refugee issue.
The media advisor added – in statements to Al Jazeera – that UNRWA teams tried to bring aid trucks into northern Gaza several times, but Israel prevented them from doing so.
Two days ago, the United Nations warned that Israeli restrictions imposed on the basic services sector and humanitarian aid in Gaza lead to increased fears of the spread of famine, thirst and disease.
The report said, “The siege imposed on Gaza may mean collective punishment, in addition to the use of starvation as a means of war, which is considered a war crime.”
Since October 7, 2023, Israel – which is on trial before international justice on charges of committing genocide against the Palestinians – has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that, as of Sunday, has left 29,692 martyrs and 69,879 wounded, most of them children and women, in addition to thousands of people missing under the siege. The rubble, according to the Palestinian authorities.
The United Nations classified the first 100 days of the war on Gaza as the bloodiest in the 21st century.
