In an interview on 29th February 2024, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, provided a graphic account of how Israel’s war on Gaza is leading to catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation.

This interview follows a briefing on 27th February 2024 to the UN Security Council on food insecurity in Gaza. At this briefing, senior UN humanitarian officials warned that well over half a million Gazans are just a step away from famine. They warned that famine is “almost inevitable” unless aid can be scaled up immediately.

The heads of World Food Program (WFP), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and World Health Organisation (WHO), said in a joint statement that the opening of new entry routes, more trucks being allowed through border checks every day, lifting of restrictions on the movement of humanitarian workers, and guarantees of safety for people accessing and distributing aid are needed for sufficient supplies to reach the Palestinians in Gaza.¹

An RN Breakfast recording of the interview can be accessed here. Below is a transcript of the interview with Michael Fakhri.

‘Famine imminent’: UN says quarter of Gaza’s population starving

Abbreviations used: Patricia Karvelas ( PK ) and Michael Fakhri ( MF )

PK – Palestinians in northern Gaza are grinding animal feed to make bread as reports emerge of children starting to die of malnutrition. A trio of senior officials from key UN aid agencies has told the UN Security Council that a quarter of Gaza’s population is one step away from experiencing famine, a situation they describe as “almost inevitable” unless aid is massively scaled up.

Michael Fakhri is UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and Law Professor at University of Oregan.

MF – Thanks Patrica, it’s a pleasure be on.

PK – Food security in Gaza was precarious before the fighting began in October. Just give us a sense of the level of crisis now.

MF – Well before the war, 50% of people in Gaza were food insecure and 80% depended on humanitarian aid. What we are seeing now is that every single person in Gaza is hungry. One quarter of the population are starving and famine is imminent.

What is more concerning now is that we are seeing children starting to die from malnutrition, starvation and dehydration. All children under the age of 5 – that’s [335,000] kids – are at high risk of severe malnutrition and at risk of famine conditions basically. We are seeing high rates of diarrhoea amongst children, [that’s] 70%, and 90% of the children under the age of 5 are affected by one or more infectious diseases.

PK – Have you ever seen a civilian population go so hungry, so quickly?

MF – Never. This is really quite astounding. This is 2.2 [to] 2.3 million made to go hungry quickly so completely. This is in modern history, ever since WW2. Starvation experts all over the world are flummoxed.

On top of that, we have never seen children encounter malnutrition and being pushed into situations of malnutrition so quickly. And this puts the future of people in Gaza at stake in the sense that there is a high risk of children experiencing what’s called stunting – that’s permanent cognitive and physical impairment in the future.

PK – We’ll get to aid shortly, but what about the food system and infrastructure as a whole. How has that been impacted by Israel’s offensive?

MF – Yes, not only is there an issue of humanitarian aid which I’m happy to talk more about, but a more fundamental concern is that Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system. So Israel is destroying and blocking access to farmland and the sea. Israeli forces have destroyed orchards, greenhouses and farmland and there is a high risk of a complete agricultural collapse in northern Gaza by May [this year] if this situation continues the way it does.

Israel [has] denied fishers access to the sea since October [2023]. Gaza is on the Mediterranean sea and fishing has always been central to the way of life and people’s lives in Gaza . I’ve spoken directly to fishers in Gaza and from these conversation and from UN reports, I can tell you that Israel has destroyed approximately 70% of Gaza’s fishing fleets. I have also received reports that two fishers were killed in Khan Yunisa a couple days ago. And about 20 days ago, 4 fishers were killed in Rafah.

PK – More than 500 aid trucks should be going into Gaza daily to meet basic needs. At the moment I think there’s about 85 per day on average. Can you just talk to me about the volume coming in?

MF – Yes, the numbers range [from] 85 to 100, so that’s nowhere near enough. And there are two entry points for aid trucks to come through. The majority come through what is called Kerem Shalom – this is a point with Israel – and some others come through the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

And the process is incredibly complicated. It takes trucks a long time [to enter Gaza] through a very complicated process. Many trucks are turned away. And in fact, no humanitarian convoys have reached northern Gaza since 23^rd January [2024]. Israeli authorities have denied access to northern Gaza.

Moreover, Israel is also bombarding convoys of aid trucks, even after those routes are co-ordinated with Israeli forces. I’m also reading reports of Israeli forces that are shooting at Palestinian civilians in Gaza while they have been waiting for humanitarian relief – this is most recently in Gaza City.

So the World Food Program, UNWRA – these are the major humanitarian agencies from the UN – also International Red Cross, independent agencies – they have raised the alarm. They have put out a joint statement on 21^st January [2024] basically saying they don’t have enough access and their people are not safe. We have never seen so many humanitarian workers and so many UN staff killed in any conflict anywhere in the world.

PK – You say that Israel is intentionally starving civilians and Israel says there is no limit to aid deliveries and denies it is obstructing them. I suppose the big question is evidence – is there any evidence of intent?

MF – You know, on 9^th October [2023], the Minister of Defence of Israel declared a total siege on Gaza – in fact imposed a total siege on Gaza – depriving 2.3 million Palestinians of water, food, fuel, medicine and medical supplies. Now humanitarian aid is trickling in and it’s being controlled by the Israeli government.

To put it all into context, on 26^th January [2024] the International Court of Justice [ICJ] stated in its provisional measures that “the state of Israel must take immediate effective measures to enable the provision of urgent needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip” – I’m quoting verbatim here.

And the [ICJ] considered that the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip was at serious risk of deteriorating.

Around that same time at the end of January, what happened instead is that Israel’s humanitarian agency denied that there was a humanitarian crisis or starvation. What has happened after the [ICJ’s] provisional measures is that Israel has ignored that decision. It continues to restrict and deny the delivery of humanitarian aid, pushing Palestinians closer to starvation. So after the [ICJ’s ruling], Israel restricts aid by half basically.

So we have high level politicians – I’ve just given you one example – basically saying they want to impose a total siege. We hear also high level politicians using dehumanising language characterising Palestinians as animals, as less than human. And then we see those intentions being played out and predictable results happen.

So this is a rare case where government officials have stated their intent, have executed what they have planned and we have seen the effects of what they have done.

Notes
1. United Nations, ‘Famine Imminent in Gaza, Humanitarian Officials Tell Security Council, Calling for Immediate Ceasefire’, Press Release, Feb 27, 2024 and Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, ‘Update on Food Security Risks in Gaza’, Report to UN Security Council, Feb 27, 2024.