After over five months of Zionist violence against Palestinians and the suspension of food supplies to the beleaguered enclave, the World Food Program has declared the situation to be "extremely critical," with famine-like conditions looming large in parts of Gaza and Rafah.

With the entire population in crisis mode and all 2.3 million people in Gaza falling into one of the three categories of extreme hunger, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned last month that 550,000 people were now probably experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity. The management and relief workers have issued a warning about an impending famine, as hospital reports from the Gaza Strip's isolated northern sector suggest that children are starving to death.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Gaza told Al Mayadeen that medication shortages have prevented hospitals from providing health cover to people, which has resulted in the deaths of dozens thus far due to malnutrition and dehydration.

In an interview published by the Rome-based agency, Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO), stated that before the conflict, the Gaza population "maintained a self-sufficient fruit and vegetable production sector stocked with greenhouses, as well as a robust backyard small-scale livestock sector."

"We have now observed from our damage assessments that most of these animal inventories and infrastructure needed for that kind of specialty crop production are virtually destroyed," she said.

What the Gazans say

Residents in Gaza's remote north have informed Al Mayadeen English that children are going days without food while relief convoys are being turned away more often. To live, some locals have taken to turning animal feed into flour, but even those grains' supplies are running low, they claim. Additionally, stories have been told of excavating the ground to reach the water level for washing and drinking. 

A local merchant in Beit Hanoun, Ali al-Fadl, informed Al Mayadeen English that individuals had been converting grains intended for animal feed into flour; however, even this resource was currently depleted.

"It is not readily available in the marketplace. At this time, it is not available in the northern region of Gaza or Gaza City; even canned food is out of stock in the markets," he insisted.

"Any food that was accumulated throughout the seven days of truce in November, in addition to a small amount of aid that was permitted to enter the northern region of Gaza, has been depleted as of this moment." Presently, individuals are consuming rice, which is also essentially reaching its depletion, he said.

Families in the north, according to al-Fadl, were having difficulty locating dependable water sources. The water supply that was provided twice per month was contaminated and salted. "A considerable number of individuals are currently consuming non-potable water [...] Because there is no adequate water supply system, we are forced to excavate for water," he expanded.

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He stated that children are becoming ill as a result of the contaminated water, which is also causing damage to their dentition. He bemoaned the fact that people residing in northern regions were largely isolated from aid and were confronted with an escalating peril of starvation.

Yusra al-Khalidi, a mother of three in Beit Lahia, told Al Mayadeen English that she had to hit the road on foot to reach Gaza City in a last-ditch effort to find food from her relatives because her children had been running on empty for three days.

"I'm broke as a joke, and even if I had some dough, there's not a dime a dozen in the town's main market," she said. My relatives and their families are also feeling the pinch of a food shortage.

"My relatives in Gaza feel like death is knocking on their door after the top floor of their house came crashing down in the bombing, leaving them to make do with the run-down ground floor," she said, painting a vivid picture of the situation her family is facing. "We're in a real pickle, and if we do manage to find some food, it costs an arm and a leg," she went on to add.

"Israel" presenting a rosy picture

In contrast with the suffering and tribulation of Gazans, the occupation forces regularly paint a rosy picture by publishing what they claim is the tip of the iceberg, showing busy markets and restaurants in Gaza's southern centers. A lion's share of the 114 aid missions to southern areas of Gaza hit the mark last month, but residents and aid agencies say many people are still going hungry, and a public health crisis is looming with a lack of shelter, sanitation, and medical care. In Gaza, bullets rained down on a food convoy making its way north last month.

By hitting hard at "Israel’s" financial restrictions on aid, the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) accused it of pulling the strings to deprive over a million Gazans of food for a month through the use of financial restrictions. UNRWA claimed that more than 1,000 shipping containers from Turkey were being detained in ports at Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom and Nitzana crossings, and customs authorities have ordered a local contractor not to process any UNRWA products. UNRWA's customs and other tax exemptions were revoked at the behest of far-right "Israeli" finance minister Belazel Smotrich, who stated that "Israel" would not provide tax advantages to terrorist associates.

"Israel" violates international humanitarian law

Refugees International, a refugee relief organization, released a report last week that provides insight into the excessive actions of the Zionist state towards the population of Gaza. It asserts that a humanitarian crisis is being artificially induced due to Israeli actions and policies. The report identified several concerning practices, including regular and capricious obstruction of legitimate humanitarian supplies entering Gaza, an intricate inspection and approval process lacking consistent and clear directives, failure to establish functional humanitarian deconfliction, and persistent assaults on Gaza's critical infrastructure, including health, food, power, and humanitarian facilities, which have all been detrimental at the same time.

How "Israel" executed its assaults in Gaza raises concerns regarding its compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL), in addition to the legitimacy and prudence of the US' ongoing arms supply to "Israel". Currently, two novel mechanisms are compelling a more scrutinized examination of the behavior of the Israeli government. Legally binding provisional measures were issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered "Israel" to facilitate the flow of aid and alleviate humanitarian distress in Gaza. Additionally, in February, the Biden administration released a National Security Memorandum (NSM-20), which demanded guarantees from recipient nations of US security aid that they would actively promote the distribution of humanitarian aid; failure to do so would result in the cessation of US security aid. Although "Israel" was not explicitly referenced in the NSM-20, it is nonetheless obligated to adhere to its stipulations.

According to the analysis by Refugees International, "Israel" is manifestly not adhering to the ICJ provisional measures and the NSM-20 terms concerning the transport of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The subsequent immediate suggestions pertain to the measures that critical member states, aid organizations, and conflicting factions ought to undertake to restore order to the situation.

Aid agencies predict a human tragedy

Several United Nations agencies estimated in a famine risk assessment that nearly one-third of northern residents may now be confronted with a "catastrophic" lack of food; however, access restrictions to the region make real-time measurements extremely difficult.

Last month, access was denied to over 50% of humanitarian missions attempting to reach the northern region of Gaza, as reported by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Furthermore, according to OCHA, Israeli authorities are progressively impeding the distribution and transportation of humanitarian assistance.

Following October 7, "Israel's" ongoing aggression against Gaza has resulted in an excess of 30,534 fatalities and 71,920 injuries. As of January 2024, over 85 percent of Gaza's population, or approximately 1.9 million individuals, had been internally displaced. Almost half of this comprises minors.

Damage has been inflicted upon more than 250,000 housing units, with an additional 50,000 units being obliterated in Israeli bombardment. Nearly 1.7 million displaced individuals are residing in informal sites, emergency collective shelters, and with host families as of January 24, 2024. Over a million individuals in Gaza do not have a secure and protected place to return to.