Gaza – Together – In a joint statement, 70 human rights organizations called on all concerned official authorities and competent international and international organizations to officially declare famine in the Gaza Strip in light of the current rapid spread of famine, the rates of acute malnutrition, and the expansion of its area geographically and among all groups, especially among children.
The organizations that signed the statement, including the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory, highlighted that levels of food insecurity are steadily worsening throughout the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel’s insistence on committing the crime of starvation and using it as a weapon of war, as part of its broader crime of genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The organizations documented a serious deterioration in food security levels with the ground attack carried out by the Israeli army in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip since May 7, which was preceded the day before by preventing the entry
of humanitarian aid trucks through the ‘Rafah’ crossing, noting the presence of thousands of trucks on the side of the crossing. Rafah has been at a standstill for weeks and is inaccessible to the residents whose lives depend on it, as a result of Israel’s decision to starve the residents of the Gaza Strip, close the crossings, and prevent the entry of aid.
The human rights organizations stressed that Israel should be immediately obliged to implement the precautionary measures announced by the International Court of Justice regarding the necessity of keeping the Rafah crossing open in order to provide basic services and urgently needed humanitarian aid on a large scale for the benefit of the population within the framework of preventing the crime of genocide against Palestinian civilians.
The joint statement of the organizations said that despite Israel opening the Kerem Shalom crossing, most of what enters through it is goods for merchants, and the residents of the Gaza Strip, most of whom have lost their
source of livelihood, need to pay money for
Their purchase, in addition to very limited amounts of aid, is not sufficient to provide relief to the increasing numbers of displaced people in the south.
The statement stressed that these goods are completely prevented from reaching the areas north of the Gaza Valley, including Gaza City and its north, at a time when the population there is suffering from a scarcity of food supplies and a complete lack of vegetables, meat and other foodstuffs.
The statement recorded another deterioration in the northern Gaza Strip, coinciding with the interruption of humanitarian aid and the return of Israeli forces to launch a severe military operation against Jabalia and its camp on the evening of May 11, with tens of thousands finding themselves either forced to forcibly displace, leaving their belongings and the little food they had, or remaining in shelter centers. It and its surroundings are subjected to bombardment and siege, and no food supplies reach it.
Human rights
organizations indicated that more than 800,000 residents and displaced persons were forcibly displaced from Rafah towards the west of Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah, and most of them were forced to leave with little of their belongings and left behind most of their food supplies, while about 100,000 were displaced from Jabalia and its camp and Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip, to the west of the city. Gaza.
She explained that with the closure of the crossings and the prevention of the entry of humanitarian aid, the specter of famine and acute malnutrition quickly returned and expanded to affect the entire population of the Gaza Strip, which numbers 2.3 million people, half of whom are children, especially in the northern Gaza Valley, where goods have run out of markets.
The organizations stressed that with the collapse of job opportunities, the absence of cash flow, and the collapse of the ability to produce locally, all residents have become dependent on the humanitarian aid provided to them from abroad,
and therefore its cessation means absolutely depriving them of access to food and basic needs that are indispensable for their survival. .
She pointed out that some of the aid provided through the water dock was very limited in quantity and quality, and most of it was meals that did not reach all places in the Strip. It appears that the dock is nothing more than a formal means created by the United States of America in order to alleviate the severity of the situation. Criticism of Israel for continuing to commit the crime of starvation and obstructing humanitarian aid arriving by land.
She stressed that land border crossings remain the most effective way to bring in aid, which was confirmed by various United Nations agencies and international humanitarian institutions working in the sector, as well as the International Court of Justice, especially in its second decision issued on March 28.
It pointed out that the food situation in the Gaza Strip applies to the concept of famine according to the approved in
ternational classification, which is the ‘Integrated Interim Classification for Food Security’ (IPC). The working group for this classification, which is concerned with the issue of the food situation in the Gaza Strip, confirmed in its second report that the entire population in the Gaza Strip (2.23 million people) facing high levels of acute food insecurity, including Deir al-Balah, Khan Yunis and Rafah governorates, IPC Phase 3 or higher, including half of the population in IPC Phase 5 , i.e. the disaster/famine stage.
This report, issued on 18 March, concluded that each of the three thresholds for defining famine have already been crossed, or are likely to be crossed soon, in the North Gaza and Gaza governorates of the Gaza Strip, where the famine threshold for acute food insecurity has been crossed. Already well exceeded, it is very likely that the famine threshold for acute malnutrition has also been crossed, and it is expected that the famine threshold for mortality will accelerate and be exceeded soo
n. For these reasons, the IPC concluded that famine is expected to occur at any time between the date of the report’s release and this May.
The organizations pointed out that the estimates contained in this report, which are based on the technical foundations and equations that are the first and internationally approved basis for classifying cases of malnutrition and famine, were sounding the alarm bell for the necessity of immediate action to limit the spread of famine and reverse its effects in the Gaza Strip, even before the rapid deterioration of the recent food situation. In the Gaza Strip, this occurred because Israel had closed the land crossings for weeks.
She stressed that the reality of the catastrophic humanitarian and food situation that the entire population of the Gaza Strip is suffering from is conclusive evidence that Israel is committing the crime of starvation and using it as a method of war, as it controls all land and sea crossings into the Strip and imposes an illegal blockade on it, an
d through it controls the movement of entry into the Gaza Strip. Basic materials to the Gaza Strip, which destroyed civilian homes, sources of livelihood, and agricultural lands in a systematic and widespread manner, and that the famine that began to spread in the Gaza Strip was of Israel’s making. She added that these catastrophic, clearly visible and undeniable effects are what prompted the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to charge the Israeli Prime Minister and the Israeli Minister of Defense with the crime of starving civilians as a method of war, when he submitted requests to issue arrest warrants. To the Pre-Trial Chamber of the Court last week.
She stressed that the majority of the Gaza Strip’s population is already facing severe levels of hunger, while hundreds of thousands of children and the elderly in particular have begun to suffer from emaciation or being too thin for their height, and the entire population has lost thousands of tons of weight over the past months.
The human righ
ts organizations confirmed that the data available to them from medical authorities indicate that in addition to officially recording 30 deaths as a result of famine, there are estimates that deaths are recorded almost daily as a result of the repercussions of hunger, in addition to deaths resulting from bombing and lack of treatment and health care.
She stressed that the international community bears legal and moral responsibilities to prevent the spread of famine in the Gaza Strip and take immediate decisions, including calling things by their correct names and officially announcing the famine occurring in the Strip, as this is an entry point to ensuring the provision of immediate supplies of life-saving aid, and that the delay in the official announcement Famine means not taking serious new steps to pressure Israel to lift its arbitrary siege on the Gaza Strip and stop its crimes, noting that continued delays in the arrival of life-saving aid means more malnutrition, poverty, hunger and death.
In view of
this, the organizations that signed the statement called for restoring humanitarian access to the entire Gaza Strip, including allowing the entry of life-saving materials and their movement through crossings and land roads in an immediate, rapid and effective manner, restoring health services, water and sanitation, and providing safe, nutritious and sufficient food for the entire population. And infant formula, providing treatment for cases of hunger, malnutrition and associated diseases, and restoring local production systems and the entry of commercial goods.
It renewed its call on the international community to fulfill its international legal obligations to stop the crime of genocide committed by Israel against the people of the Gaza Strip since the seventh of last October, as it is the root of the famine, and without stopping it, it is not possible to talk about an actual appropriate environment for providing humanitarian aid and starting… Restoring the provision of basic services to limit the spread o
f famine and reverse its effects.
It also called for activating real pressure tools to force Israel to stop committing all its crimes immediately, and to pressure it to comply with the rules of international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice to protect Palestinian civilians from the threat of genocide in the Gaza Strip, including stopping all forms of political, financial and military support for Israel in Its military attack on the Gaza Strip, and holding it accountable for all its crimes.
It urged human rights organizations to put immediate international pressure on Israel in order to stop its implementation of the crime of starving the population of the Gaza Strip, lift the siege completely on the Strip, put in place appropriate mechanisms to ensure the safe, effective and rapid arrival of humanitarian supplies, and take serious measures to address the rapidly spreading famine among civilians. Palestinians in the Strip.
Below is the list of organizations that signed the stateme
nt:
– Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
– International Lawyers Organization.
– The International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
– Union of Arab Jurists.
– Arab Organization for Human Rights.
– Maonah Association for Human Rights and Immigration.
– Geneva International Center for Justice.
– Association of Victims of Torture – Geneva.
– Ethiopian Disabled Lawyers Association (ELDA).
– Geneva Bridge Association.
– The Arab Organization for Human Rights in Central Europe.
– Bahraini Society of Jurists.
– Principles Organization for Human Rights.
– Salam Organization for Democracy and Human Rights – London
– Arab Council Foundation – Geneva.
– AFDI International – Paris.
– One Justice Organization – France.
– Taqse Organization for Development and Human Rights – Yemen
– Defense Foundation for Rights and Liberties – Yemen.
– International Association of Bloggers – Geneva.
– Haqqi Center for Supporting Rights and Freedoms.
– Dialogue Forum for De
velopment and Human Rights.
– Brussels Court.
– Solidarity for Human Rights – Geneva.
– Al Karama Organization – Geneva.
– SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties – Geneva.
– Solidarity of Peace Support Organizations (SOAP).?
– Women Journalists Without Chains Organization.
– Local Development Organization.
– The Yemeni Coalition to Monitor Human Rights Violations.
– Free Voice Organization for Defending Human Rights – Paris.
– Rights Radar Organization for Human Rights.
– Communication Organization for Human Rights.
– Group of families of missing persons.
– United Tunisian Network – Washington.
– The American-Libyan Alliance – Washington.
– National Forum for Defending Freedoms – Jordan.
– The Iraqi Center for Human Rights.
– Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.
– Arab Lawyers Organization in the United Kingdom.
– International Association of Syrian Jurists in Trkiye.
– International Alliance for Rights and Development (IAHRD).
– The National Authority for the Defense of Rights and
Freedoms (HUD).
– Local Development Organization (LDO).?
– Justice Organization for Human Rights – Istanbul
– American Center for Justice – Michigan.
– Al-Marsad Organization for Human Rights.
– European Saudi Organization for Human Rights.
– Association of Mothers of Abductees.
– Association of Detainees and Missing Persons in Southern Syria.
– Alternative Press Syndicate – Lebanon.
– Refugees Platform in Egypt – RPE.
Human Rights and Civic Participation.
– Law and democracy support foundation – LDSF.
Source: Maan News Agency