The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory said that Israel has sharply escalated in recent hours the war of starvation it is waging against civilians in the Gaza Strip to exacerbate the living situation, which has reached catastrophic levels, as a tool of subjugation as part of its ongoing war for the fifth week in a row.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory highlighted - in a statement on Sunday - that the Israeli war of starvation has taken extremely dangerous turns, including cutting off all food supplies and bombing and destroying bakeries, factories, food stores, water stations and tanks.
He pointed out that Israel has deliberately, in recent hours, focused its attacks on targeting electrical generators and solar energy units on which commercial establishments, restaurants, and civilian institutions depend to maintain the minimum possible level of operation.
He also warned that Israel's attacks included the destruction of the agricultural area east of Gaza, flour stores, and fishermen's boats, as well as supply centers for relief organizations, especially the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the largest source of humanitarian aid in the Strip.
Euro-Med warned of an imminent explosion in child deaths in Gaza if the world does not act quickly, as Gaza recorded during the past two days a staggering increase in the number of children with acute malnutrition who need to receive medical care.
While it is believed that malnutrition affected 70% of the children in the Gaza Strip with anemia and weak immunity before the ongoing Israeli war, the Or-Med Monitor estimates that the aforementioned number has risen to more than 90% due to the unprecedented Israeli policy.
He highlighted that children, especially newborns, and women in Gaza are disproportionately bearing the repercussions of Israel’s war, as 52,500 infants in Gaza currently face the risk of death, hunger, dehydration, and the dangers of overcrowding, at a time when there are about 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, including 5,500 thousand births expected this month.
He said: Israel's attacks, the disruption of damaged or non-functioning health facilities, the massive levels of displacement, and the collapse of food, water and electricity supplies, severely threaten mothers and newborn babies.
He added that the risks of malnutrition were extremely high among pregnant women, which had a significant impact on children's survival and development, and as access to food and water worsened, mothers struggled to feed and care for their families, increasing the risks of malnutrition, illness and death.
In parallel, Euro-Med highlighted that only about 2% of aid and food supplies have so far been allowed by Israel to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, at a time when it ignores calls from international organizations for the necessity of bringing in food, water, fuel and other necessities without restrictions.
Although a limited amount of food aid was allowed to enter, no commercial food imports were delivered, leaving the Gaza Strip's population of approximately 2.3 million people in dire need of food while imposing a collective punishment approach on them.
He pointed out that the limited food supplies entering from Egypt are being distributed primarily to displaced people and host families in the southern Gaza Strip, with only flour provided for bakeries, while preventing any food supplies from reaching Gaza City and its north.
The World Food Program estimates that current stocks of basic food commodities will be sufficient for a maximum of four days before they run out completely, at a time when trade has been paralyzed by widespread destruction, insecurity, and fuel shortages.
Euro-Med highlighted that obtaining bread in the Gaza Strip has become an existential challenge, as the only mill operating in Gaza is still unable to grind wheat due to the lack of electricity and fuel. 11 bakeries have been bombed and destroyed since October 7, and those still operating face severe challenges due to shortages of necessities such as flour and fuel.
Only one bakery contracted by the World Food Program provided bread intermittently to shelters, depending on the availability of flour and fuel, while residents queued for long hours at bakeries and were exposed to Israeli air strikes to obtain a few loaves of bread.
Euro-Med warned that the distribution of food aid to the displaced in northern Gaza has stopped almost completely over the past few days, following the intensification of ground operations by the Israeli army, threatening widespread famine, the price of which will be paid by children in particular.
Besides, access to basic foodstuffs such as flour, oil and sugar in some of the warehouses that were not destroyed is a huge challenge due to fuel shortages, damaged roads and risks resulting from air strikes.
In addition, the power outage crisis disrupted food supplies by affecting cooling and irrigation of crops, while more than 15,000 farmers lost their crop production, about 10,000 livestock keepers were unable to obtain sufficient feed, and many lost their animals.
In parallel, it is estimated that less than three liters of clean water per person is now available out of a minimum of 15 liters per day necessary for people in the most severe humanitarian emergencies.
Euro-Med said: The stock of bottled water is running out, and the cost of bottled water has already risen to the point where it has become beyond the reach of an average family in Gaza, with prices rising five-fold in some places due to the severe shortage.
He warned that in recent hours, Israel has deliberately bombed water wells and tanks and harmed the services it provides, the most recent of which was the destruction of the water well and Tal al-Zaatar tank in the northern Gaza Strip, which feed more than 70,000 people.
The Palestinian Water Authority says that water production in Gaza is now only 5% of its total normal production, and is expected to decline further, unless water and sanitation facilities are supplied with electricity or fuel to resume their activity.
Hundreds of thousands of residents of Gaza City and its north face a severe water shortage, raising fears of drought and water-borne diseases due to water consumption from unsafe sources, after most water facilities stopped in the aforementioned areas, where residents rely on a minimum of private wells and purification stations and consume... Unsafe water from agricultural wells.
Euro-Med recalled that international humanitarian law strictly prohibits the use of starvation as a means of war, and that as the occupying power in Gaza, Israel is obligated, according to international humanitarian law, to provide for the needs of the people of Gaza and protect them.
In this regard, he called for decisive international action to impose a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and prevent further deterioration of the situation in civilian lives by providing fair and unrestricted access to basic and relief materials to the entire Gaza Strip, and making necessary supplies of food, water, medical supplies and fuel to meet the needs of the population.
