Israel has destroyed Gaza, UN expert on Genocide Convention says
Israel has destroyed Gaza by its relentless attacks since October, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, said at the UN Human Rights Council.
“The harrowing number of deaths, the irreparable harm done to those who survive, the systematic destruction of every aspect necessary to sustain life in Gaza – from hospitals to schools, from homes to arable land – and the particular harm to hundreds of thousands of children and to pregnant and young mothers,” Albanese said on Tuesday.
She said in a report to the council that Israel’s actions can only be interpreted as constituting “prima facie evidence of an intention to systematically destroy the Palestinians as a group”.
Starvation: Anatomy of ‘a very cruel, slow death’
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/27/starvation-anatomy-of-a-very-cruel-slow-death
In Gaza, 27 people – 23 of them children – have starved to death as a result of what international bodies say is Israel’s use of hunger as a weapon of war. Starvation is when the human body is deprived of food for so long that it suffers and, in many cases, stops functioning.
“It’s a very cruel, slow death,” said Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan, a British-Egyptian paediatrician and neurologist who has volunteered in Gaza. “You basically just waste away.”
Palestinian boy suffering from malnutrition Ahmed Qannan at a healthcare centre, amid widespread hunger, in Rafah on March 4, 2024
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The damage to the human body is often so extreme that giving a starving person too much food or liquid nutrition in the first four to seven days can lead to a rush of glycogen, fat and protein production in cells that could prove fatal.
“Refeeding syndrome [where food is suddenly available] can also kill patients,” Abdel-Mannan said. “Food needs to be introduced gradually and under medical controls.”
Even if refeeding is successful, starvation survivors can feel the physical and psychological effects for a lifetime.
In infants, “at least those under the age of two, starvation can limit the brain’s development, limiting children from reaching their full potential cognitively and also leaving lasting negative effects on future health,” Abdel-Mannan said.
WFP reiterates famine imminent in the north of Gaza
The UN’s food agency says that in north Gaza, malnutrition among children is increasing at record pace, and one in three children below the age of two are currently acutely malnourished or “wasted”.
Some 70 percent of the population in the north is facing catastrophic hunger, the World Food Programme added.
A recent UN-backed report said famine was “likely to occur by May” in the northern Gaza Strip. Across the whole Gaza Strip, the number of people facing “catastrophic hunger” has risen to 1.1 million, half the population, it said.
Little change in Gaza aid volume: UNRWA
The UNRWA says there has been no significant change in the influx of supplies to Gaza or improvement in access to the north, where famine is the worst. It said over the first 25 days of March, an average of 155 aid trucks reached Gaza daily via land crossings, far below the crossings’ capacity of 500.
The UNRWA added that the number of displaced people in Gaza has now climbed to 1.7 million – 75 percent of the enclave’s population – with the majority of them forcibly displaced multiple times.
Situation in Rafah ‘overwhelmingly catastrophic’
“Overcrowding is the first thing that you can notice, there are people everywhere,” Soraya Ali, global media manager at Save the Children, told Al Jazeera from Rafah. “There are children with rashes as communicable diseases are spreading. We have seen children with one or both limbs missing and many are malnourished as nowhere near enough food is getting through [the Rafah crossing] right now.
“We’ve seen aid coming in at an alarmingly slow rate,” Ali said, adding that trucks were being turned away.
Trauma of war will have long-term impact on Gaza, says NGO
Soraya Ali from Save the Children tells Al Jazeera that the psychological impact of the war she observed on a visit to Gaza was “tragic”.
“Yesterday, I spoke to a woman who said more than food, she needs mental support, and that really shows you the long-term consequences this war will have on children and families,” Ali said.“People have been displaced time and time again. Now in the south they have nowhere left to go and you can visibly see the impact this has on them.”
Clean water a ‘luxury’ in northern Gaza
The situation is growing worse throughout northern Gaza. There is a severe shortage of food and water. There are also insufficient sewage facilities and health supplies, and these is causing disease to spread.
When it comes to food, the stock has been empty since the beginning of the assault on Gaza. People have been pushed to eat animal feed, but now even animal feed is out of stock. Now people are resorting to eating grass or khobiza, a wild plant. Adding to the disaster, the growing season for khobiza is almost over. This will lead to an even more horrific famine, and people are at a loss for what they will do.
In terms of water, people who have access to clean drinking water are considered to be living a life of luxury.
Gaza death toll rises to 32,490
The number of people killed in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7 has risen to 32,490, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Israeli attacks on Gaza have also wounded at least 74,889 people.
The latest figures include 76 people killed and 102 wounded over the last 24 hours.
