Translated by Angela Tagliafierro
December 2023. Human Rights Watch begins to accuse Israel about the possibility to be deliberately provoking a famine in the Gaza Strip.
March 2024. The charges against Israel are still there, and the data confirming that what it has been going on for months in the Gaza Strip is a man-provoked famine keeps increasing.
The Israel Defence Forces, of course, do not stand idly by in the face of criticism levelled at them. They have already hired dozens of lawyers to defend in the court against the charges of an intentionally provoked famine. A war crime.
This is not the first accusation to have been done against Israel during this war. South Africa reported Israel for genocide at the International Court of Justice. Furthermore, some Israeli high officials have been charged for encouraging genocide. Therefore, Israel is used to being reported and, in these situations, it is better being defended by the best lawyers rather than safeguarding the human rights of the civilians who keep starving or dying under the bombs.
It is not difficult to identify the famine provoked by the human beings the world is watching, this is clear. The Rome Statute states that intentionally using starvation of civilians must be conceived as “depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies” (art. 8). Other definitions are not needed, there is anything controversial.
As a superpower occupying Gaza, Israel has the responsibility to provide food and medical supplies to the population (art. 55, Fourth Convention of Geneva). Therefore, it is a duty Israel is not allowed to avoid.
Obviously, Israel denies all the charges. The Israeli Ministry of the Foreign Affairs Katz stated that Israel is allowing to a wide range of humanitarian aids to enter the country. Katz also stated that the international community should stop attacking Israel and acknowledge its right to defence against Hamas.
So, while thousands of civilians starve because the trucks bringing humanitarian aids are not allowed to get into Gaza, Israel is asking the international community to acknowledge its right to defence. The right to defence.
What are the main elements of this charge?
Clearly, the accusations against Israel are obviously based on data and statements which concretely support this increasingly tragic picture.
Data are the first element to consider.
The last report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), whose members include two UN’s agencies (FAO and WHO), established that most of the Palestinian people are facing levels of malnutrition at the phases 4 and 5, it means respectively emergency and catastrophe. This report deals with a famine provoked by the human beings, and Israel is explicitly blamed for it.
The report, covering the period from February 15th to March 15th, 2024, highlights that 677,000 Palestinians are in the phase 5 and 876,000 are in the phase 4. Nobody is in the phase 1, which is the food security phase. Between March 16th and July 15th, 2024, the IPC expects a drastic increase in the number of Palestinians at the phase 5: they will be 1,107,000.
Worldly, alerts about potential famines provoked by the war are often raised. However, the IPC did it only in two cases: in Somalia in 2011 and in the South Sudan in 2017. It has never been registered such a high level of food insecurity.
Furthermore, the commission of the IPC examined the access of the trucks bringing the food into the Gaza Strip. It has been highlighted that a limited number of trucks can get into the Strip, and, since February 05th, no trucks have been able to unload in Gaza. It seems clear that the Israeli authorities are impeding the missions of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
Furthermore, it is necessary to analyse the public affirmations of the main Israeli representatives.
In the first months of the war, the Ministry of the Defence Yoav Gallant affirmed that it was necessary to impose a “complete siege” in the Gaza Strip, which meant “no electricity, no food, no water”.
Finally, each week some pictures showing that dozens of tons of humanitarian aid are being blocked by the Israeli authorities are sent by the Egyptian border with Gaza. This is happening while the Israeli Ministry of the Foreign Affairs states that Israel is allowing the access to a high number of humanitarian aids. The pictures clearly do not confirm what it has been declared.
One can no longer hide behind a finger. The facts are clear: what is going on in the Gaza Strip has a name, it is to all intents and purposes a man-made famine, and it has a culprit, Israel.
What is the next step? To keep staring at the civilians (especially children) starving, or to act and condemn definitively Israel for its actions? How long will it be allowed for Israel to keep acting in this way and not be punished?
It is important to act now. “Face to such a tragic situation, it cannot get worse”, someone may say. It can. It can, indeed.
Mondo Internazionale APS - Reproduction Reserved ® 2024
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L'Autore
Giorgia Milan
Giorgia Milan, classe 1998, ha conseguito una laurea triennale in “scienze politiche, relazioni internazionali e governo delle amministrazioni”, con una tesi riguardo la condizione femminile in Afghanistan, e successivamente una laurea magistrale in “Human rights and multi-level governance”, con una tesi riguardo la condizione delle donne rifugiate nel contesto dell’attuale guerra Russo-Ucraina, il tutto presso l’Università degli studi di Padova.
I suoi interessi principali sono i diritti umani, in particolare i diritti delle donne. È proprio il forte interesse per questi temi che l’ha spinta a intraprendere un tirocinio universitario presso il Centro Donna di Padova, durante il quale ha avuto la possibilità di approcciarsi al mondo della scrittura e della creazione di contenuti riguardanti la violenza di genere e le discriminazioni.
In Mondo Internazionale Post Giorgia Milan è un'autrice per l'area tematica di Diritti Umani.
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Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Israele Gaza Palestina Famine war crime