Ramzy Baroud
The situation
in Gaza today starkly highlights Israeli exceptionalism. Israel is employing
the starvation of two million Palestinians in the blockaded and devastated Gaza
Strip as a tactic to extract political concessions from Palestinian groups
operating there.
On April 23,
the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
described the current humanitarian situation in Gaza as “the worst ever seen
throughout the war”. Despite the severity of these pronouncements, they often
appear to be treated as routine news, eliciting little concrete action or
substantive discussion.
Israeli
violations of international and humanitarian laws regarding its occupation of
Palestine are well-established facts. A new dimension of exceptionalism is
emerging, reflected in Israel’s ability to deliberately starve an entire
population for an extended period, with some even defending this approach.
The Gaza
population continues to endure immense suffering, having experienced the loss
of approximately 10 percent of its overall numbers due to deaths,
disappearances and injuries. They are confined to a small, largely destroyed
area of about 365 square kilometers, facing deaths from treatable diseases and
lacking access to essential services, and even clean water.
Despite these
conditions, Israel continues to operate with impunity in what seems to be a
brutal and protracted experiment, while much of the world observes with varying
degrees of anger, helplessness, or total disregard.
The question of
the international community’s role remains central. While enforcing
international law is one aspect, exerting the necessary pressure to allow a
population facing starvation access to basic necessities like food and water,
is another. For the people of Gaza, even these fundamental needs now seem
unattainable after decades of diminished expectations.
During public
hearings in The Hague starting on April 28, representatives from many nations
appealed to the International Court of Justice to utilize its authority as the
highest court to mandate that Israel cease the starvation of Palestinians.
Israel “may not
collectively punish the protected Palestinian people,” stated the South African
representative, Jaymion Hendricks. The Saudi envoy, Mohammed Saud Alnasser,
added that Israel had transformed the Gaza Strip into an “unlivable pile of
rubble, while killing thousands of innocent and vulnerable people.”
Representatives
from China, Egypt, Algeria, South Africa, and other nations echoed these
sentiments, aligning with the assessment of Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA,
who stated, last March, that Israel is employing a strategy of “weaponization
of humanitarian aid”.
However, the
assertion that the weaponization of food is a deliberate Israeli tactic
requires no external proof; Israel itself declared it. The then Israeli Defense
Minister, Yoav Gallant, publicly announced a “complete siege” on Gaza on
October 9, 2023, just two days after the start of the genocidal war.
Gallant’s
statement – “We are imposing a complete siege on (Gaza). No electricity, no
food, no water, no fuel – everything is closed. We are fighting human animals
and we act accordingly” – was not an impulsive outburst but a policy rooted in
dehumanizing rhetoric and implemented with extreme violence.
This “acting
accordingly” extended beyond closing border crossings and obstructing aid
deliveries. Even when aid was permitted, Israeli forces targeted desperate
civilians, including children, who gathered to receive supplies, bombing them
along with the aid trucks. A particularly devastating incident occurred on
February 29, 2024, in Gaza City, where reports indicated that Israeli fire
killed 112 Palestinians and injured 750 more.
This event was
the first of what became known as the “Flour Massacres”. Subsequent similar
incidents took place, and, in between these events, Israel continued to bomb
bakeries, aid storage facilities, and aid distribution volunteers. The
intention was to starve Palestinians to a degree that would allow for coercive
bargaining and potentially lead to the ethnic cleansing of the population.
On April 1, an
incident occurred where an Israeli military drone struck a convoy of the World
Central Kitchen, resulting in the deaths of six international aid workers and
their Palestinian driver. This event led to a significant departure of the
remaining international aid workers from Gaza.
A few months
later, starting in October 2024, northern Gaza was placed under a strict siege,
with the aim of forcing the population south, potentially towards the Sinai
desert. Despite these efforts and the resulting famine, the will of the Gazan
population did not break. Instead, hundreds of thousands reportedly began
returning to their destroyed homes and towns in the north.
When, on March
18, Israel reneged on a ceasefire agreement that followed extensive
negotiations, it once again resorted to starvation as a weapon. There was
little consequence or strong condemnation from Western governments regarding
Israel’s return to the war and to the starvation policies.
“Using
starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” is classified as a war crime
under international law, explicitly stated in the Rome Statute. However, the
relevance of such legal frameworks is questioned when those who advocate for
and consider themselves guardians of these laws fail to uphold or enforce them.
The inaction of
the international community during this period of immense human suffering has
significantly undermined the relevance of international law. The potential
consequences of this failure to act are grave, extending beyond the Palestinian
people to impact humanity as a whole.
Despite this,
hope persists that fundamental human compassion, separate from legal
frameworks, will compel the provision of essential supplies like flour, sugar,
and water to Gaza. The inability to ensure this basic aid will profoundly
question our shared humanity for years to come.
Tareq S. Hajjaj
For many in
Gaza, the psychological toll of seeing their children go hungry is far worse
than the physical exhaustion they feel from malnutrition and scavenging for
food.
Normality has
been redefined in Gaza. Calling home a makeshift tent is now normal, and so is
shuttling between displacement centers and queuing for hours to receive food
and basic necessities. It is normal for a child to spend three hours a day in a
long line to fill up a small gallon of water, and it’s abnormal to see that
same child stand in line for school. It’s also normal for an entire family to
go two days without food.
Few in Gaza
think things will ever go back to how they were before. The daily habits
they’ve acquired tell as much.
Muhammad Abdul
Aziz, 43, lives in Gaza City in a tent on a plot of land hosting 20 other
tents. They house families who returned to northern Gaza from the south and
found their homes leveled.
Abdul Aziz
lives a daily routine that is more psychologically exhausting than physically.
While he endures the daily struggle to find water and food for his children,
and the pain of carrying gallons of water for long distances, the sight that
truly drains him is watching how his children react when they’re thirsty and
water isn’t available. “The first thing I think about every day when I wake up
is how I will provide food and water for my children today,” Abdul Aziz says.
“And it’s the last thing I think about before I close my eyes.”
Abdul Aziz
describes a typical day as a displaced person in Gaza City.
He begins his
mornings by walking long distances to fetch water for the tent. “I try to get
priority in the water queues,” he explains. “I go to the only water point in
the area early in the day, because if I don’t get it, my family and I will
spend the day without water.” He notes that waiting in line can take hours to
fill a single gallon.
Over recent
weeks, water has been distributed in Gaza through charities that deliver it to
designated collection points. A few places sell water, but most displaced
families cannot afford the prohibitive costs associated with buying it on the
black market.
“By the time we
secure the water, it’s 10 or 11 a.m., so we start looking for something to
eat,” Abdul Aziz continues.
Abdul Aziz’s
family has been out of flour for over a week now. He is waiting to receive his
aid from UN programs, which have announced that they have run out of food. “I’m
trying to get flour from somewhere else as I wait for the UN program, but I
can’t find anything in the markets,” he says. “I was forced to buy spoiled
flour a few days ago because my children hadn’t eaten anything for three days.
They couldn’t eat the bread we made from it. The smell of the bread was so bad
that no one could.”
“When we do
eat, I pretend I’m full and leave food for my children. My children notice and
try to share some of their food with me, but I leave it for them and keep my
hunger in silence,” he says.
Whenever he’s
able to secure at least one meal for his family on any given day, Abdul Aziz
feels a little more relaxed. He can start thinking about finding a power source
to charge his mobile phone and recharge his small car battery, which he would
be able to use for a few hours to light his tent.
He also needs
to keep his phone charged so he can stay informed about when food parcels are
scheduled to be delivered. Organizations will usually send text messages when
aid is due for drop-off, but charging his phone and battery costs him 6 shekels
a day ($1.80).
Abdul Aziz says
that the psychological toll of securing food is more exhausting for him than
the physical difficulties entailed in actually getting it.
“I tried to
find work,” he said. “I could spend days searching for a job. But when I found
that my children were suffering from severe back pain from carrying water for
long distances, I decided to stay home and care for my children, because if
they got sick, I would not be able to find treatment for them. There aren’t any
hospitals.”
‘We are all
martyrs in advance’
The situation
is not much different for people who live in the remains of their old homes.
That cohort is surprisingly large, but many of them prefer to stay in the
destroyed husk of what was once their home rather than live in a tent. Even
those whose homes have been completely leveled often prefer to set up camp
beside the rubble. But regardless of their housing situation, they face the
same struggles in obtaining food and water.
Amir Aliwa, 34,
lives in the Zeitoun neighborhood east of Gaza City in the remains of his old
home. He says that even simple things like finding candy for his children
regularly end in failure. He and his family of five live in a home with his
extended family, including his parents, married siblings, and their own
families.
“The conditions
we live in have made our homes uninhabitable,” Aliwa says. “The children cough
from the smoke emitted during cooking over firewood. And we struggle daily to
obtain the most basic of life necessities.”
Amir describes
how the chores the children of the household have been given are to roam the
streets searching for wood, plastic, or cardboard that can be used to light or
stoke fires. “The children have started complaining of suffocation,” Aliwa
says. “But there is no other way to feed them when food is available.”
Aside from the
suffering that comes along with deprivation, Aliwa also says that scarcity has
driven people to desperation, making venturing outside on your own a dangerous
affair. “It’s scary outside,” he explains. “If you drop a can of beans, several
people will attack you and claim it as theirs.”
Aliwa explains
that all these behaviors, considered foreign to Gaza, were imposed on them by
Israel’s policy of deliberate starvation. They had never experienced life like
this before, but hunger will change people dramatically, Aliwa says.
“Our lives were
full of family visits and celebrations before the war. No one went hungry or
died of hunger,” he adds. “Now, we have no life. We are all martyrs in advance.
Our sentences have just been postponed for the moment.”
Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan, Dr James Smith,
Professor Nick Maynard, Dr Ang Swee Chai and Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Despite
Israel's brutal war on Gaza, which has injured tens of thousands of children,
the British government has admitted only two girls for medical treatment of
congenital conditions
“I am proud
that the UK is offering lifesaving medical care to these Ukrainian children,
who have been forced out of their home country by the Russian invasion while
undergoing medical treatment,” Sajid Javid, then the UK health secretary, said
in March 2022.
Within weeks of
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the UK government had facilitated the
evacuation of 21 Ukrainian children with cancer, and coordinated their
treatment through the National Health Service (NHS).
In contrast,
last week - after 17 months of persistent lobbying - only two children from
Gaza were finally permitted to enter the UK for medical treatment.
They were
chosen not because they are among those most severely injured by Israel’s
onslaught in Gaza; quite the opposite. Their diagnoses appear more politically
neutral, involving congenital conditions not directly related to Israel’s
ongoing violence in Gaza.
Behind what
some might frame as a triumph of British humanitarianism lies a much darker
reality. These are the only two Palestinian children in need of medical care
that the UK government has agreed to receive since Israel accelerated its
assault on Gaza in October 2023.
Their care
hasn’t been coordinated by the Foreign Office, nor will it be provided by the
NHS. Rather, their treatment was arranged privately, funded entirely by
donations and facilitated by a coalition of doctors, lawyers and volunteers
through the NGO Project Pure Hope.
The UK
government hasn’t just failed to help; it has actively blocked efforts to
transfer severely injured children - those with blast wounds, amputations and
burns - to UK hospitals for essential treatment.
Political
obstruction
Officials from
both the Home Office and Foreign Office have consistently denied visas, citing
supposed logistical, medical or security reasons. These excuses collapse under
minimal scrutiny, since we know that the UK government has rightly facilitated
the transfer and treatment of children from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan in
recent years.
These
obstructions remained, despite the readiness of several UK hospitals. Major
paediatric centres in London, Birmingham and Manchester have offered to provide
world-class care in trauma, orthopaedics, plastic surgery and rehabilitation.
Surgeons and other specialists have volunteered, charitable funding has been
secured - and still the UK government has stood in the way.
Even
Conservative peer Baroness Arminka Helic condemned the UK government’s
inaction, calling it a clear case of “double standards”.
This isn’t a
bureaucratic failure; it’s overt political obstruction. Of the tens of
thousands of children wounded by Israeli military violence in Gaza, all have
been excluded, while a couple of children whose medical conditions were less
likely to raise uncomfortable questions about Israel’s indiscriminate attacks
were eventually admitted.
To admit just
two children, while the UK continues to support Israel’s violence in Gaza, is
not an act of compassion. It is tokenism aiming to distract from the UK
government’s complicity in the ongoing genocide, and from its political and
legal responsibilities.
Since the care
of these wounded children would be paid for by charities, the UK’s refusal to
issue visas amounts to a political blockade on access to treatment. By
withholding paperwork, the British government leaves these children with
untreated injuries and wounds - in some cases with fatal consequences.
As far as we
are aware, there was no official response from the government as of yet.
In such
situations, we often assume moral cowardice. But the deeper, more disturbing
truth appears to be a form of depraved agreement; a belief that Palestinian
children are less deserving of care, and that the provision of assistance would
undermine the collusion of many states in the suffering inflicted upon
Palestinians. This is the consequence of decades of dehumanisation and
anti-Palestinian racism.
This is not
humanitarianism. It is the humanitarian alibi in full force; a superficial
performance of care that distracts from political responsibilities and true
accountability.
Health system
collapsed
Meanwhile,
Gaza’s health system collapsed in October 2023 and has never been able to
recover. More than 18,000 children have been killed. Thousands more are living
with catastrophic injuries - without access to antibiotics, anaesthesia,
surgical care, or even food, as Israel’s total blockade and forced starvation
now compound their suffering.
Still, the
barriers remain in place. In February 2024, then-Foreign Secretary David
Cameron told parliament that the UK was ready to help medically vulnerable
children. Encouraged by this, charities submitted visa applications. One was
for a child with a double lower-limb amputation, accepted by a UK hospital and
fully funded.
The government
ignored it. No reply came. Then, on 13 May 2024 - two months after the
submission - a Home Office minister told parliament that no such applications
had been received, but that any future applications would be treated seriously.
The Home Office
told ITV News that applications are only judged as submitted when a child or
their parents travel to a visa application centre for passport and visa checks.
This is impossible for families in genocide-afflicted Gaza.
As a coalition
of doctors with direct experience working alongside our Palestinian colleagues
in Gaza’s hospitals during the genocide - along with colleagues advocating from
the UK - we have seen just how far the government has gone to deflect
responsibility. Every part of the evacuation process - permits, escorts,
transport, surgery - has been managed by civil society groups and volunteers.
The government has not contributed a single pound.
And yet, in
public, British politicians attempt to maintain the facade of compassion. In
February 2024, a UK newspaper asked: why are injured children from Gaza being
denied treatment in British hospitals? The answer is now clear: because their
wounds carry political weight. Because allowing them into the country would
exposes the UK’s passive inaction and active complicity. Because their
suffering is inconvenient.
Children’s
lives should never be politicised, but this is the reality for all Palestinian
children. Two were permitted into the UK - not because they were the most in
need, but because they posed no threat to the western narrative. In doing so,
the UK government made its humanitarian red lines brutally clear - and showed
us exactly who it deems worthy of care.
Everyone except
Palestinians.
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