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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HAS accused Israel of carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in Gaza, in a new report that documents the widespread hunger, disease and social breakdown afflicting the Palestinian enclave.
The human rights organisation published fresh testimonies from displaced Palestinians who describe watching their children waste away, struggling to find food or clean water, and surviving in tents infested with vermin.
Amnesty says the accounts support its long-standing conclusion that hunger in Gaza is not an unintended consequence of Israel’s military actions, but rather a policy designed to destroy the Palestinian population.
Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns said that the testimonies Amnesty collected “are a searing indictment of an international system that has granted Israel a licence to torment Palestinians with near-total impunity for decades.”
Amnesty called for an immediate and unconditional lifting of the blockade, a sustained ceasefire, and unfettered access for humanitarian organisations.
It warned that increased aid deliveries or limited airdrops would not be sufficient to reverse the impact of what it calls Israel’s “genocidal policies”.
UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in Gaza, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in.
As of yesterday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza recorded the deaths of 110 children from malnutrition-related complications.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), famine thresholds have already been reached in most of the territory.
Nearly 13,000 children were admitted for acute malnutrition treatment in July alone, including almost 2,800 with severe acute malnutrition.
Healthcare workers told Amnesty that many patients are dying not only from hunger but also from treatable conditions that can no longer be managed in Gaza’s collapsing medical system.
Diseases such as meningitis, waterborne infections and Guillain-Barré Syndrome are spreading rapidly in overcrowded camps with little sanitation.
An emergency doctor at al-Shifa Hospital described a “multi-layered intertwined destruction” of hunger, disease, displacement and the near-collapse of Gaza’s health system.
Contacted by AFP, the military and foreign ministry did not immediately comment on Amnesty’s findings.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women are among those worst affected, according to Amnesty.
Save the Children found that nearly half of those it screened in July were malnourished.
One displaced nurse told Amnesty that her breast milk had dried up and her infant daughter, unable to access formula, weighed no more than a four-month-old despite being seven months old.
“I feel like I failed as a mother,” she said.
“Your children’s hunger makes you feel like you are a bad mother.”
The same mother was forced to tear her clothes for makeshift nappies, which are impossible to wash due to lack of clean water – the result of the destruction or severe damage of Gaza’s water and sanitation systems.
The tent in which she lives with her husband and two children is infested with rats, mosquitoes and cockroaches. Her baby daughter developed a bacterial skin infection, which she is unable to treat because antibiotics and ointments are unavailable.
Other mothers described agonising over their inability to feed children or fearing the long-term effects of malnutrition on their unborn babies.
Some women said they had abandoned plans to conceive altogether.
The Amnesty report also detailed how doctors and aid workers say Gaza’s population is facing what they call a “multi-layered intertwined destruction”, where widespread malnutrition is making people more vulnerable to illness and infection.
Children weakened by hunger are falling sick more easily, while diarrhoea and respiratory infections are spreading rapidly in crowded shelters with poor sanitation.
Without enough clean water, even minor wounds can become life-threatening, Amnesty said.
Health experts warn that this cycle of hunger feeding disease, and disease deepening hunger, is accelerating the risk of large-scale fatalities among the most vulnerable groups.
Older people described feeling like a “burden” on their families, particularly when displacement meant they relied on others for mobility or basic care.
Many struggled to access essentials such as adult nappies or vital medication for chronic illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
With long queues for toilets, food and water, the physical strain was often unbearable, leaving some elderly people isolated or excluded from aid distribution altogether.
Testimonies gathered by Amnesty revealed a widespread feeling among the elderly that they are being left to “die slowly”, according to the aid organisation.
Aziza, a 75-year-old Palestinian, told Amnesty: “Young children, they are the ones who deserve to live, my grandchildren. I feel like I’m a burden on them, on my son.”
Amnesty says Israel is legally obligated as an occupying power to provide for civilians and facilitate the entry of life-saving supplies.
Instead, the group argues, it has obstructed humanitarian aid, rejected requests for medical imports, and threatened to ban international NGOs from operating in Gaza altogether.
“The world cannot continue to pat Israel on the shoulder for trickling in aid and viewing these cosmetic measures as a sufficient response to its calculated destruction of the life of Palestinians in Gaza,” Guevara Rosas said.
Stephen Bowen, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, urged the Irish government to act unilaterally.
“Ireland must now act as if Israel’s special privileges under the Association Agreement with the EU were suspended,” Bowen said.
There can be no special privileges for Israel whilst it starves Palestinians to death.
“Ireland knows how to stand up to bullying from Israel and those who continue to back and arm it.
“Ireland must act now with determination and courage. And with courage comes hope.”
Meanwwhile, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered on Sunday evening in Tel Aviv to call for an end to the war in Gaza and the release of hostages, one of the largest demonstrations in Israel since the start of the fighting in October 2023.
The rally was the culmination of a day of nationwide protests and a general strike to pressure the government to halt the military campaign.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, the initiator of the day of protest, estimated that about 500,000 people joined the evening demonstration in Tel Aviv — a figure not confirmed by the police.
Throughout the country, demonstrators blocked traffic arteries, set tyres on fire and clashed with the police. More than 30 protesters were arrested, law enforcement said.
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