The Gaza Strip, a Palestinian region that has been under a blockade by the Israeli occupation since they successfully liberated themselves from its clutches in 2007, has long been suffering. This is not merely a war-related issue, and it certainly did not start on October 7.

Repeated Israeli wars and acts of aggression have long put Gaza among the least fortunate regions in the world, and accompanied by a stifling blockade that has crushed the private sector and at times even the entry of humanitarian aid, they completely undermined Gaza's economy.

Looking at Gaza today, it has been under brutal aggression for three months that has thus far killed 1% of its population, and that is not even the worst part - yes, more than 23,000 people dying is not the worst part. According to The Economist, which cited aid agencies in a new report on the horrendous living and humanitarian situation in Gaza, if the situation remains unchanged, more Palestinians will die in 2024 from hunger and disease than Israeli bombardment.

In order to avert famine, the Israeli occupation, the party holding back all aid being sent to Gaza, would have to facilitate the flow of commercial goods into the strip.

"Aid alone will not be enough," says Philippe Lazzarini, head of the un Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). "We need the private sector."

Dire situation

Allowing private businesses to work, The Economist said, whose entire supply chain is awfully hindered by the Israeli occupation, could ease distribution bottlenecks and even allow for the flow of more aid, with the relief agency having a lot of its work become easier, wherein it would simply provide cash assistance to Palestinians for them to buy food rather than handing them food that would barely last.

Some 1.9 million people, 85% of Gaza's population, have been displaced, 1.4 million of whom are seeking shelter in schools and other UNRWA-run facilities.

Due to the severity of the situation and no building being off limits for the Israeli occupation, not even hospitals, schools, and UN facilities, some 30,000 people are seeking refuge in one warehouse in Khan Younis, with tens of thousands of others camping outside it.

Those sleeping outside cannot even put a nylon roof over their heads due to the brutal nature of the wartime economy, with sanitation and hygiene being a struggle to maintain, which would facilitate the spread of disease, especially in light of the severe malnourishment afflicting the people of Gaza.

The World Health Organization says there is only one shower left for every 4,500 people in Gaza and only one toilet for every 220. This dire hygiene situation is accompanied by the fact that nearly two-thirds of Gaza's hospitals are closed, with only 13 still operating.

Those 13 hospitals are overflowing with patients who are being treated on blood-littered floors as dozens arrive daily wounded by Israeli airstrikes that are still targeting civilian areas.

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A toxic cycle

All of the Israeli occupation's crimes are exacerbating each other; the lackluster hygiene capabilities that remain in Gaza are allowing for the exacerbation of epidemic and disease, with that requiring more hospital beds as hospitals are overflowing with patients and turning into hotbeds for disease, which is killing more civilians.

As the hospitals in Gaza are crumbling under the pressure and Israeli missiles, minutes away in occupied Palestine, there is no shortage of food or any issues when it comes to hospitals, which shows that the catastrophe in Gaza is not a product of war or wartime economics: it is the result of the political decisions of the Israeli regime, The Economist said.

The attacks on residential buildings are forcing people to stay together en masse in poorly ventilated areas, which, alongside poor hygiene and malnourishment, is allowing for the further spread of disease.

Another factor exacerbating the spread of diseases is the lack of desalination plants, which once supplied clean water to the population of Gaza, have shut down due to the lack of fuel or spare parts, with displaced children having access to no more than two liters of water a day. 

Water desalination plants are shut down in Gaza due to the Israeli occupation not allowing for the entry of many goods to the blockaded strip under the pretext that they could be used militarily by the Palestinian Resistance, and this includes spare parts for said plants.

The Israeli occupation weaponized its ever-growing list of dual-use items that are prohibited from entering Gaza due to the claim that they could be used for military purposes. This is not exclusive to spare parts, as it includes dozens of generators that Kuwait donated, as well as solar panels and solar-powered lights, not to mention batteries, much-needed heaters, stretchers, and much, much more.

The Israeli occupation allowing for the entry of spare parts to Gaza rather than allowing for bottled water to make it into the strip would be far better for the people and cut so many corners that allow for them to properly benefit from the aid. This would also allow more aid overall to make it into Gaza.

Famine in Gaza

Going back to malnourishment, the United Nations uses the IPC five-level scale to measure the degree of hunger in a country or region. In phase one, the situation is fine. In phase five, the people are regularly skipping meals and often going no less than 24 hours between meals. 

Some 706,000 people around the world are in phase five: 577,000 people of whom are in Gaza: that is four out of five of all famished people worldwide. "The scale, severity, and speed of this crisis are unprecedented," Arif Husain, the chief economist at the World Food Programme, said.

The people of Gaza are today barely receiving any aid from relief agencies, with entire families getting just a tin of beans for the day.

To exacerbate the crisis, even if the people of Gaza want to buy foodstuff, they do not have access to their savings. The Economist said one man spent several days in queues at six ATMs, all of which ran out of cash before he reached the start of the line.

The Israeli occupation let absolutely nothing into Gaza during the first two weeks of the aggression, which depleted all available stocks and made anything that would be made available much more expensive. A sack of flour today costs ten times more than it did before the war.

While the Israeli occupation could allow for the entry of aid to Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right coalition he heavily relies on are reluctant to allow for the entry of aid to Gaza, let alone providing it themselves despite being required by international law to provide Gaza with what it needs to sustain life.

The Israeli occupation is occupying Gaza, at least parts of it, there is no room to debate that, and this, under international law, required the Israeli regime to use all means available to it to ensure that Gaza has enough food, medicine, water, and proper sanitation.

While the best way to aid Gaza is allowing for humanitarian aid to make it in and reach a ceasefire deal that would allow for the sustainability of life there, Israeli officials have made it clear that the fighting will protract for a lot more, which could only hold a grim future for the Palestinian people, with the Israeli occupation killing them not only through bombardment but through famine and disease, too.