Tehran – Israel’s relentless military attack on Gaza continues to leave a trajectory of death, destruction and hunger as the international community is primarily passive, in the face of what many now describe as a deliberate campaign of exile.
On Monday alone, the Israeli strike killed dozens more Palestinians, according to medical sources. Just a day ago, Israeli forces massacred more than 100 Palestinians across the besieged strip – including 92 unarmed civilians who were desperately searching for food near the Jikim intersection in northern Gaza and were shot dead at the aid distribution point of Rafa and Khan Yonis.
The humanitarian crisis reached catastrophic levels under Israeli siege, pushing Gaza to the edge of hunger. Gaza’s 2.3 million residents face starvation in real time as important intersections are sealed and severely restricted.
The United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) issued an alarm, revealing it was receiving “desperate messages of starvation” from within Gaza. In X’s post, the agency wrote: “Food prices have risen 40 times. Meanwhile, UNRWA, stockpiled in a warehouse just outside Gaza, has enough food for the entire population for over three months.”
Calling the crisis “artificial,” Unrwa called for urgent intervention. “The suffering in Gaza is artificial and must be stopped. Lift the siege and help on a safe and large scale.”
Food programs around the world reflect these warnings. WFP’s Palestinian representative Antoine Leonard told Al Jazeera of the occupied East Jerusalem (AL-QUDS):
Leonard added that many families have gone for days without food and survived every three days with meals. He noted that only a “very limited” number of charity kitchens are still operating, increasing malnutrition and fainting among civilians is becoming more common.
“(a) There’s a surge in the number of people facing malnutrition and you really see that the situation is reaching levels that you’ve never seen before.”
Despite these horrifying circumstances, Israel has been unchecked with its brutal military campaign. Channel 12 reported that Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has proposed a new phase in a ground operation described by Israeli sources as a “plan to take over Gaza.”
Since the start of the war with Gaza in October 2023, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, having been wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Human rights experts and legal scholars accused Israel of using it as a weapon of war to force Palestinians from their homelands.
Earlier this month, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for occupied Palestinian territory, called for immediate international action to halt Israel’s ongoing “genocide” in Gaza.
However, Israel’s military attacks and hunger policies continue with immunity, which is strengthened by unwavering support from several Western countries, particularly from the United States.