One hundred and twenty-seven people, including 85 children, died of hunger or malnutrition following the headquarters of Israel in Gaza, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blocked all aid in Gaza in March, saying that it was to put Hamas to accept a cease-fire that Israel was unilaterally broken later this month.
This week, the Israeli government blamed the United Nations for the situation, even accusing its help agency to work with Hamas to prevent food from going to people.
It was not the first time that Israel prevented the aid from entering Gaza. In March 2024, Israel prevented convoys of the United Nations from reaching northern Gaza when he was hungry for the fleeing population.
In September, 15 international aid organizations said ISRAEL were blocking 83% of Gaza’s aid.
In both cases, Israel has denied blocking aid, blaming either the ineffectiveness of the UN or Hamas for help not reaching people in the areas which he claimed to control for a large part of the war.
So, what does Israel say, and accepts that an artificial famine is underway in Gaza?
Here’s what we know.
So there is no Gaza aid system now?
After receiving many criticisms about the increased threat to the famine that his seat had inflicted on Gaza, Israel, as well as its American ally, supported the creation of the GHF in May.
The GHF was intended to replace the UN and the international aid agencies, which operated some 400 aid distribution points in Gaza, with four operational distribution points in an irregular manner in the center of Gaza and the South.
Since May, Israeli military and private entrepreneurs, understood as Americans, have killed more than 1,000 people trying to access food at GHF distribution points.
There are still limited operations for distributing the United Nations, but they are so seriously limited that their effect cannot be felt.
Does Israel accept that there is famine in Gaza?
This is not the case.
Friday, the coordinator of government activities of Israel in the territories (COGAT), which is responsible for coordinating Gaza aid, contradicts the allegations of many aid agencies, affirming that “there is no famine in the Gaza Strip”.
However, he said, there were “pockets” through Gaza where people had “problems of access to food”.
Israel therefore claims that there is enough help to be distributed?
Not so much.
Israel says that the gaps occur because a large part of the aid lies “rot in the sun” because the UN has not distributed it.
Israel’s military radio, Kan, recently reported that the Israeli army had burned or buried some 1,000 aid trucks that it deemed spoiled or expired.
David Mencer, spokesperson for the Netanyahu office, told the BBC on Friday that the UN in Gaza was a “billion dollars racket” and accused the UN of working with Hamas to “restrict … aid to its own people”.
Mercer has not provided any reason why the UN could do it, nor any evidence to support its allegations.
Does the UN work with Hamas?
Not according to the UN itself.
On Wednesday, addressing the United Nations Security Council, Israel’s ambassador Danny Danon accused the UN help head, Tom Fletcher, as well as the Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office, of being a sort of affiliated to Hamas.
Danon has provided no evidence.
Responding in writing the next day, Fletcher said: “I expect the Israeli authorities immediately sharing all proof which led them to make such complaints.”
In January 2024, Israel accused another United Nations Help, the United Nations Rescue and Work Agency, of working with Hamas.
An independent examination on the allegations of Israel concluded in April 2024 that he had provided no evidence in support of his complaint.
Does Hamas steal help?
Not according to the Israeli army and its main ally, the United States.
Citing without named Israeli military officials, the New York Times reported on Saturday that the United Nations help operation was relatively reliable and less vulnerable to interference than others, adding that there was no evidence that Hamas regularly stole the UN.
An internal report by the United States Development Agency, USAID in late June also concluded that there was no evidence of the systematic looting of the aid provided by the United States by Hamas.
Until now, the only proof of help has been systematically looted to criminal gangs in partnership with Israel and GHF.
So why can’t help manage people in Gaza?
Months of siege of Israel led to the effective rupture of the Gaza Society, with food convoys in danger of being overwhelmed by hungry and desperate crowds, says the UN.
To provide help where it is necessary, the UN would need the support of the Israeli army.
On Wednesday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that half of the 16 food distribution requests subject to the Israeli army had been refused.
“Bureaucratic … and other operational obstacles imposed by the Israeli authorities; undergoing hostilities and access constraints within Gaza; And criminal looting incidents, and more shooting incidents that have killed and injured people who gathered to unload assistance supplies along the Clandesx routes “have limited efforts to deliver Dujarric aid.
What is the result of this?
Famine. As we have noted above, 127 people, most of whom are children, are already died of famine in Gaza.
Death by hunger occurs on three steps.
The first begins from a sautéed meal; The second comes with a period of prolonged fast when the body is based on fat stored for energy.
The third stage and often fatal, it is when all stored fats have been exhausted and the body turns into bone and muscle as sources of energy.
It is, according to Dr. Omar Abdel-Mannan, a British-Egyptian pediatrician and neurologist who volunteered in Gaza, “a very cruel and slow death”.
Why are more children who died than adults?
Because their bodies use less to do more.
Children, especially infants and toddlers, have much less muscle and fat on which to rely during famine, while their basic metabolism works harder as they grow.
The result is that they have a very reduced stamp when food consumption stops.
What are the chances that the siege of Israel can end?
No one knows.
Netanyahu’s right -wing coalition has so far seemed to be sheltered from international indignation and the internal dissent of his war against Gaza.
He rejects the accusations of engaging in crimes against humanity and ignoring international law as “anti -Semitic” and “blood defamation”.
In the minds of most analysts, the only power having the influence capable of retaining Israel in Gaza and in the region is American president Donald Trump.
However, predicting how the notoriously mercury American president can behave is generally considered to be work beyond the capacities of most analysts.