Children wasting away due to Israeli policies: Amnesty
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Amnesty International has accused "Israel" of intentionally starving Palestinians in Gaza, describing the policy as part of a broader campaign of destruction.
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The mother of Amjed Al-Qanooa, 3, who suffers from severe malnutrition, shows the pills prescribed for her son in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza on June 9, 2024. (Abood Abusalama/AFP via Getty Images)
Amnesty International accused "Israel" on Monday of implementing a "deliberate policy" of starvation against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, warning that the blockade and aid restrictions are creating catastrophic humanitarian conditions.
In a report citing testimonies from displaced Palestinians and medical personnel treating malnourished children, Amnesty stated that "Israel" is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip.
“As Israeli authorities threaten to launch a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza City, the testimonies we have collected are far more than accounts of suffering, they are a searing indictment of an international system that has granted Israel a license to torment Palestinians with near-total impunity for decades,” Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International, Erika Guevara-Rosas said.
The rights group accused "Israel" of “systematically destroying the health, well-being, and social fabric of Palestinian life.”
“While millions around the world continue to take to the streets in protest and world leaders engage in rhetorical posturing, Israel’s deliberate and systematic campaign of starvation continues to inflict unbearable suffering on an entire population," Guevara-Rosas said. "Palestinian children are being left to waste away, forcing families into an impossible choice: helplessly hearing the cries of their emaciated children pleading for food, or risking death or injury in a desperate search for aid.”
The Amnesty Internaitional report added, “It is the intended outcome of plans and policies that 'Israel' has designed and implemented over the past 22 months, to deliberately inflict on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction, which is part and parcel of 'Israel's' ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”
Read more: Israeli army chief approves plans to occupy Gaza City
Testimonies from Palestinians and medical workers
The findings are based on interviews conducted in recent weeks with 19 displaced Palestinians sheltering in three makeshift camps, along with two medical professionals working at hospitals in Gaza City.
Amnesty highlighted how limited access to food, clean water, and medical supplies is contributing to a deteriorating health crisis, with children among the most affected.
“Most families in Gaza are beyond breaking point." Guevara-Rosas' statement continued. "They have already exhausted whatever scant resources they had and are entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. The restrictions that the Israeli authorities impose on the work of major humanitarian organizations and their threats to ban them effectively cut off these families from their only lifeline.”
Despite mounting evidence and international concern, "Israel" has denied allegations of a deliberate starvation campaign in Gaza. The military and foreign ministry declined to comment when contacted by AFP regarding Amnesty’s findings.
Last week, the Israeli Security Ministry’s COGAT, which oversees civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, rejected reports of widespread malnutrition when questioned by AFP. It also disputed figures provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-governed territory.
Read more: UN warns Gaza faces water crisis, looming famine under Israeli siege
In April, Amnesty International accused "Israel" of conducting a "live-streamed genocide" by forcibly displacing Palestinians and contributing to what it called a “humanitarian catastrophe” in the besieged territory, claims "Israel" dismissed as "blatant lies."
The latest report adds to a growing body of documentation from human rights organizations warning of famine in Gaza as a result of Israeli aggression, prolonged blockade, and restricted humanitarian access.
