Editor's Notes: 'There is no famine in Gaza' - comment

• Published date: 08 March 2024
• Author: ZVIKA KLEIN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Biden administration officials told Minister Benny Gantz in Washington on Monday that the "food shortage crisis" impacting Palestinians in Gaza is "intolerable," and improving the distribution of humanitarian aid in the region will be a primary focus during their discussions

According to Reuters, The United Nations said in February that more than a quarter of Gaza's 2.3 million people were "estimated to be facing catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation." It said that without action, widespread famine could be "almost inevitable."

"The food shortage and use of the word 'hunger' have been exaggerated," a senior Israeli defense official told me on Thursday during a briefing. "There is no hunger in Gaza," he said, explaining that most of the food that Israel has been sending into the Strip has "immediately been taken by Hamas terrorists, who then sell some of the supplies for ten times more than what it's worth."

How severe is the food shortage in Gaza?

He said that "every family has enough food to survive. Are they eating five meals a day? The answer is no. We have been supplying them with aid as well as the US, but unfortunately, it wasn't distributed to the citizens themselves."

A former senior Israeli defense official who I spoke to on condition of anonymity has also said that "there is no food shortage in Gaza; there are those who are hungry since Hamas has taken all of the food and they don't have enough money to pay Hamas on the black market."

According to this former official, the food does not reach those who need it most since Hamas controls approximately 70-80% of the area. What happens is that Israel and foreign countries bring food and aid into Gaza. Then gangs take the supplies at gunpoint, and a significant portion of the population is left unable to afford necessities.

"THE SITUATION in Gaza is akin to hunger in New York, where homeless people suffer not from a lack of food but from a lack of money to purchase it," he explained.

While it's not accurate to say there is a famine in Gaza, there are indeed hungry individuals struggling because they can't afford food. Even if Gaza were to be inundated with food supplies, hunger would persist because the issue at its core is not about availability but access and affordability.

"This condition reinforces their narrative, portraying hunger as a consequence of external forces and legitimizing their control," he explained.

Changing this narrative is challenging, especially now that food...