Epidemic alarm in Gaza: this is how Netanyahu wants to wipe out a people.

There is nothing left to negotiate. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's office declared yesterday that the Israeli delegation negotiating a ceasefire in Gaza would return to Israel, "in light of Hamas's response this morning." "All of Gaza will be Jewish... the government is pushing for Gaza to be obliterated. Thank God, we are eradicating this evil. We are pushing the population, who have been educated on Mein Kampf," said Israeli ultranationalist and far-right minister Amihai Ben-Eliyahu, quoted in X by Axios journalist Barak Ravid. For Gaza, there is only suffering, destruction, and death.

Haaretz's editorial reads: " Gaza is starving, and Israel is responsible. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, 111 people have died of malnutrition since the beginning of the war, mostly children. It is alarming that 43 of these deaths occurred in the last week alone. The United Nations reports that the percentage of children suffering from severe malnutrition has increased from 2.4 percent in February to 8.8 percent in the first two weeks of July. These figures are confirmed by a growing number of reports from foreign and Palestinian doctors, journalists, and international organizations reporting the deaths of children and adults from starvation. Israel Defense Forces and government spokespeople are trying to obfuscate the reality, but even official Israeli data confirm the starvation situation in Gaza. The IDF stated this week that 71 trucks loaded with food entered Gaza per day last month. This means that each of these trucks should deliver enough food to feed 30,000 people per day." One doesn't need to know the logistics of food distribution or the laws of war to understand that this amounts to a death sentence by starvation. The famine is also evident in data provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which was supposed to address the food shortage in the Strip. The GHF claims to have distributed 85 million meals since it began operations two months ago.

However, a simple calculation shows that, during that period, Gazans would have needed 353 million meals to avoid starvation. This does not include the problems of food distribution and access for the most needy, and the impossibility of extracting the nutritional value of meals, given the lack of cooking gas and the conditions of displacement. The resulting famine is another aspect of Israel's cruel inhumanity toward the people of Gaza. It is a war crime and a crime against humanity, as well as a clear violation of the orders issued a year and a half ago by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The famine in no way contributes to the war effort against Hamas. It will be the armed men who will suffer the last hunger in Gaza. Before them, the children, women, and Israeli hostages still held captive will starve. Responsibility for the famine in Gaza lies with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but it is also shared by Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, who issues and enforces illegal orders. Zamir should demand that the government allow the IDF to immediately open all border crossings into Gaza to allow the unrestricted entry of food, medical supplies, and humanitarian workers to address the rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis. He must also order the IDF to cooperate fully with the United Nations and other international humanitarian organizations to ensure the swift and safe delivery of aid to the people of Gaza. "With every passing day, more children lose their lives," concludes Haaretz, the progressive Tel Aviv daily, the flagship of that part of Israel that continues to oppose the government of permanent war.

More than a third of the 113 hunger-related deaths recorded so far in Gaza occurred in the space of four days this week, according to the Guardian , citing data from hospitals in the Strip. Forty-five people reportedly died of hunger in four days this week, including two yesterday. By comparison, a total of 68 hunger-related deaths had been recorded since October 7, 2023, according to statistics from Gaza's Ministry of Health. Gaza is on the brink of a health catastrophe, while millions of dollars' worth of life-saving aid is sitting in warehouses due to the Israeli blockade, which is preventing its entry and distribution. This is the alarm raised yesterday by Oxfam in the face of a humanitarian situation that is worsening day by day. The data speak for themselves: in the last three months, the spread of easily preventable diseases caused by the use of dirty and contaminated water has increased by an average of almost 150%. Specifically, health data provided by various agencies show that cases of diarrhea have risen by 302%, watery diarrhea by 150%, and jaundice by 101%. These figures, however, are underestimated, given that the majority of the 2 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza have virtually no access to the few remaining health facilities. These diseases could easily spread in the coming weeks, with dramatic consequences among a population already severely weakened by 21 months of deprivation, including food and water shortages, displacement, and appalling sanitation.

Since March 2, Israel has imposed a near-total blockade on Gaza, essentially cutting off the entry of most aid. As a result, essential supplies inside Gaza have run out, while 420,000 pallets of aid remain piled up in warehouses across the region, awaiting distribution to the population. Tents, food, nutritional supplements to combat malnutrition, life-saving medicines, and hygiene items cover an area of 75 hectares, equivalent to 101 football pitches. The same fate has befallen the aid sent by Oxfam: 110,000 packages of jerry cans, water purifiers, materials for installing toilets, diapers, soap, and food. " If we want to prevent further deaths in Gaza from the spread of epidemics, we must act before it's too late, " explains Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam's policy manager in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Gaza. " It's getting hotter in Gaza, there's no clean water or food, and people are living in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. A fertile ground for the spread of diseases that, while preventable, can become lethal. An immediate and large-scale humanitarian response is needed to prevent the worst. A total and permanent ceasefire is needed. All border crossings must be reopened now to allow aid to enter.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) stated that " severe food shortages, a destroyed health system, and immense psychological stress are leading to catastrophic outcomes for pregnant women and newborns" in the Gaza Strip. "From January to June this year, " a UN spokesperson stated, " births have dropped dramatically and 220 mothers have died, more than twenty times the total number of maternal deaths recorded in 2022. " "At least twenty newborns ," it added , "have died within 24 hours of birth, and a third of the babies were born prematurely, with low birth weight, or required admission to neonatal intensive care units, where such facilities were available." Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, denounces this in a post on X: " One in five children in Gaza City is malnourished, with cases continuing to rise," he writes, explaining that " the majority of children our workers see are emaciated, weak, and at high risk of dying without the care they urgently need." "Over a hundred people, mostly children, have died of hunger," adds Lazzarini, explaining that " parents are too hungry to care for their children, families are broken up, unable to survive, their existence is threatened." Finally, Lazzarini emphasizes how UNRWA workers are also suffering from the widespread famine: "They survive on one meal a day, often just lentils, and more and more people are fainting from hunger while working. When aid workers cannot get enough food, " he concludes, " the entire humanitarian system is collapsing."

In Gaza, it's hell on earth. But anyone who tries to report it dies. The NGO Reporters Without Borders declared on May 7 that "the Israeli army has killed nearly 200 journalists, at least 44 of them in the line of duty" in the Gaza Strip. AP and Reuters, together with the BBC, launched a joint appeal yesterday for Israel to " allow journalists to enter and leave Gaza" after 21 months of war . Journalists face many hardships and difficulties in a war zone. "We are deeply concerned that hunger is now threatening their survival," said Agence France-Presse , the American Associated Press, the Canadian-British Reuters , and the British BBC News in a joint statement. " We once again urge the Israeli authorities to allow journalists to enter and leave Gaza. It is essential that sufficient food reaches the population," they insisted in the statement. But those who intend to annihilate the Palestinians and “Judaize” Gaza do not want inconvenient witnesses underfoot.

"It's now clear in words as well as in deeds: the Netanyahu government's goal is to physically eliminate the entire population of Gaza in order to occupy Palestine and fully implement their colonial and criminal plan. Minister Eliyahu's hateful words, as he openly speaks of wiping out Gaza and its population, are blood-curdling," says Democratic Party Secretary Elly Schlein. " Now every day, Palestinians, including children, are dying of hunger, while the slaughter continues with Israeli bombs and gunfire on crowds seeking food. We reiterate it once again: the Italian government must move from words to action. It's not enough to simply repeat like a broken record that what is happening is unacceptable; concrete actions are needed. Such as —he reiterates— recognition of the State of Palestine, a total embargo on arms trade with Israel, and the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and the memorandum of military cooperation with Italy. Italy— he concludes —must not be complicit in these crimes in any way."

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Umberto De Giovannangeli