How a ceasefire and unrestricted aid access could yet prevent a famine in north Gaza

Analysis How a ceasefire and unrestricted aid access could yet prevent a famine in north Gaza
Displaced Palestinian children gather to receive food at a government school in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 19, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 02 April 2024
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How a ceasefire and unrestricted aid access could yet prevent a famine in north Gaza

How a ceasefire and unrestricted aid access could yet prevent a famine in north Gaza
  • Some 300,000 people trapped in the enclave’s north face extreme food insecurity amid ongoing aid restrictions
  • Even if sufficient aid is permitted to enter Gaza, starving children will require specialist treatment, warn experts

LONDON: Desperate appeals from UN agencies urging Israel to allow aid into Gaza to alleviate hunger and avert an imminent famine in the north of the embattled Palestinian enclave appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

Despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire and accusations of genocide by Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza, Israel has continued to bombard the area and limit the flow of aid.

A long queue of relief trucks remains stranded on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, even though “88 percent of the population faces emergency or worse food insecurity,” according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification scale.




Displaced Palestinians gather to collect food donated by a charity before an iftar meal on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Rafah, on the southern Gaza Strip on March 11, 2024. (AFP)

On March 26, 12 people are reported to have drowned and six others crushed to death in a stampede when desperate Palestinians tried to collect food packages dropped from the air off the coast of northern Gaza. 

The incident has prompted authorities in Gaza to call for an end to airdrops — an aid delivery method introduced by the US in early March as a workaround, but which critics have called “useless” and “flashy propaganda.” 

In an earlier incident, an aid package air-dropped into Gaza is reported to have crashed into a crowd of people waiting below, killing five and wounding several others, when its parachute failed to open.

The US and other aid agencies are now looking to establish a maritime aid corridor. However, with the necessary port infrastructure still under construction, this will take many months. 




Humanitarian aid being dropped on the Gaza Strip, west of Gaza City, on March 25, 2024. (AFP)

Unless a ceasefire takes effect immediately and aid organizations are granted full access, the IPC projects that famine will arrive in northern Gaza by April or May at the latest, impacting the roughly 300,000 people thought to remain in the area.

“The dire situation of people who are starving in the north of Gaza is entirely preventable, and aid agencies are ready to deliver food and other essential goods to those people,” Ruth James, Oxfam’s regional humanitarian coordinator, told Arab News.

“We just need an open border.”

In order to meet the minimum needs of Gaza’s stricken population, UN officials say between 500 and 600 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid and commercial goods must be permitted to enter the Gaza Strip every day. Since the conflict began, barely a fraction of that has arrived.




Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing with Egypt on November 24, 2023. (AFP)

Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, recently told the BBC that Israel bore significant blame for having created what amounts to a man-made famine, and that there was a “plausible” case that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war.

Speaking to Katie Jensen, host of the Arab News current affairs program “Frankly Speaking,” James Elder, a spokesperson for the UN children’s fund, UNICEF, this week said his agency would be able to respond quickly once restrictions are lifted.

“If there was a ceasefire and multiple entry points were opened up and restrictions were lessened in terms of getting aid in, there is no doubt we could turn around much of this humanitarian catastrophe, particularly the nutritional situation for the most vulnerable,” he said.




A Palestinian woman who fled Khan Yunis prepares food for her family at a camp set in the southern Gaza Strip Rafah region on February 15, 2024. (AFP)

Despite reports from aid agencies and news outlets claiming that Israel is deliberately withholding deliveries of humanitarian relief, Israeli officials insist they are allowing unlimited supplies to flow into the enclave via Gate 96 — a new entry point into the north.

“As much as we know, by our analysis, there is no starvation in Gaza. There is a sufficient amount of food entering Gaza every day,” Colonel Moshe Tetro, head of Israel’s Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza, said in a statement on March 22, according to Reuters.

The following day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Rafah border crossing in Egypt’s northern Sinai, where truckloads of international relief for Gaza waited as Israel continued to obstruct their mission.

Describing the situation as a “moral outrage,” the UN chief said: “Here, from this crossing, we see the heartbreak and heartlessness of it all. A long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other.”

INNUMBERS

16.5% Children under the age of five in north Gaza deemed to be acutely malnourished. (IPC)

27 Gazans in the north who have already died of starvation. (CARE)

500 Trucks per day required to meet minimum needs of Gazans. (UN)

Aid organizations believe the only way to save lives in Gaza is to immediately halt the violence and open all border crossings, including Rafah and Kerem Shalom, to facilitate the unrestricted delivery of aid.

“Israel needs to open all entry points to us and our humanitarian partners so that we could get a consistent flow of food supplies across border entries and also crossing points within Gaza in order to reach the north, where famine is imminent,” Shaza Moghraby, spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme, told Arab News.

“As far as the WFP is concerned, we need at least 300 trucks every single day, throughout the Gaza Strip, to meet basic food needs, especially in the north. WFP has only managed to bring 11 convoys to the north since the start of the year. 

“Daily deliveries are needed to avert famine. For many families, it is already (too) late. Right now, we are seeing people dying — children dying — from hunger-related causes or a combination of malnutrition and disease. 

“Those tens of people can easily become hundreds and thousands if we do not act right now and have the access that we need.”




A general view shows the damage in the area surrounding Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital after the Israeli military withdrew from the complex housing the hospital on April 1, 2024. (AFP)

At least 27 Palestinians in northern Gaza, 23 of them children, have already died from acute malnutrition and dehydration, according to a March 14 report by CARE, an international NGO fighting world hunger.

According to the IPC, around 16.5 percent of children under five years of age in the north of Gaza were severely malnourished as of February. That figure is now likely far higher.

UNICEF’s Elder said that although aid agencies “have contingency plans always” and are prepared for worst-case scenarios, it is unlikely that “anyone planned for the scenarios that we see now for the fastest decline into catastrophic food (shortages) since the nutrition body (IPC) announced its findings a week or so ago.”




Aid organizations believe the only way to save lives in Gaza is to immediately halt the violence and open all border crossings. (AFP)

However, even if an unrestricted flow of aid is permitted to enter the embattled enclave, the starving population, especially children, will require special medical and dietary attention in order to recover, said Nourhan Attallah, a nutritionist and pharmacist based in southern Gaza.

“The impact of famine on children extends beyond just vitamin deficiencies and weight loss; it affects all the body’s systems, including the brain,” Attallah told Arab News. 

Starvation takes a toll on “the kidneys and liver due to insufficient protein consumption. Heart problems then develop as a result of kidney function defects, stomach and digestive system problems, dehydration, and diarrhea. Without timely treatment, these complications ultimately lead to death.”

She added: “The brain can also shrink in size as a result of malnutrition. Reduced reward response, emotional changes and inflexibility may also develop.” However, with medical help, death from malnutrition can be prevented.

“We can certainly save children, infants and even adults from the specter of malnutrition if we implement rapid and correct therapeutic intervention,” said Attallah. “The recovery rate in cases of malnutrition is high, reaching 90 percent, provided immediate intervention is provided and the appropriate conditions for treatment are ensured.”




Palestinian children suffering from malnutrition receive treatment at a healthcare center in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 5, 2024. (AFP)

Elaborating on the intervention needed, she said: “Severely malnourished children need to be fed and rehydrated with great care. They cannot be given a normal diet immediately. They’ll usually need special care in hospitals.

“Once they’re well enough, they can gradually eat normally. They need pre-prepared meals with a high density of nutrients and calories, and they must eat every two hours, and take supplements and vitamins as well.”

Humanitarian organizations are well-aware of these special needs in the case of catastrophic hunger and starvation.

Moghraby, of the WFP, said that while humanitarian organizations “need to flood the Gaza Strip with basic food supplies, we need our people — WFP and other UN agencies — to go in there, to monitor and administer the distributions with guarantees for the safety of people and staff.”

This is “to make sure those children who have been starving — whose bodies have been denied food for such a long time — get the special nutritional products they need, because it can be very dangerous to consume just any diet.




Palestinian children react as they gather to collect aid food in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on February 26, 2024. (AFP)

“We’ve seen this in Yemen and other places. This is what we’re appealing for. It’s not just any food — we need to be very, very careful about the kinds of food delivered to the areas that have been experiencing starvation.”

Oxfam’s James echoed Moghraby’s warning. “Specialized services can be scaled up to provide therapeutic food and in-patient care for extremely malnourished people,” she said.

However, “in order to scale up these services, a ceasefire and increase in access across the border are required.”

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Israeli defense firm Elbit gets $130 million European rocket supply deal

Israeli defense firm Elbit gets $130 million European rocket supply deal
Updated 10 sec ago
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Israeli defense firm Elbit gets $130 million European rocket supply deal

Israeli defense firm Elbit gets $130 million European rocket supply deal
JERUSALEM: Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest defense firm, said on Tuesday it received a $130 million contract to supply advanced rocket munitions to an unnamed European country.
The contract for the Precize and Universal Launching System (PULS), an advanced and versatile artillery rocket system capable of launching a wide range of ammunition types from a single platform, will be performed over three years.
The system, Elbit said, offers precision strike capabilities with a range of up to 300 kilometers.
“As European nations continue to enhance their defense capabilities, the selection of PULS reaffirms its strategic value in modern battlefield scenarios,” said Yehuda Vered, general manager of Elbit Systems Land.
Under the deal, Elbit will supply a variety of advanced rocket systems that are designed to significantly enhance the operational capabilities of the customer’s defense forces.

Netanyahu reverses decision on new Israel security chief

Netanyahu reverses decision on new Israel security chief
Updated 41 min 33 sec ago
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Netanyahu reverses decision on new Israel security chief

Netanyahu reverses decision on new Israel security chief
  • Decision to appoint former navy commander Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit as Shin Bet chief reconsidered following criticism, including from a key US senator

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday he had reversed a decision to appoint former navy commander Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit as security agency chief following criticism, including from a key US senator.
“The prime minister thanked Vice Admiral Sharvit for his willingness to be called to duty but informed him that, after further consideration, he intends to examine other candidates,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Netanyahu had announced Sharvit’s appointment on Monday, pushing back against a supreme court decision to freeze his government’s move to dismiss incumbent director Ronen Bar.
The prime minister had announced Bar’s dismissal on March 21, citing an “ongoing lack of trust.” The supreme court swiftly suspended the decision until April 8.
Bar’s dismissal has sparked daily mass protests in Jerusalem, disrupting the city.
On Monday, hours after Sharvit’s appointment was announced, reports began surfacing that he had been among tens of thousands of Israelis who took to the streets in 2023 to oppose the Netanyahu government’s attempts to reform the judiciary.
Israeli media reports also recalled that Sharvit, who served in the military for 36 years, had supported a 2022 water agreement with Lebanon that Netanyahu had opposed.
It was also revealed that the former naval chief had penned an opinion piece criticizing US President Donald Trump’s policies on climate change, prompting staunch Trump ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, to criticize his appointment in a post on X.
“While it is undeniably true that America has no better friend than Israel, the appointment of Eli Sharvit to be the new leader of the Shin Bet is beyond problematic,” Graham wrote on Monday.
“There has never been a better supporter for the State of Israel than President Trump. The statements made by Eli Sharvit about President Trump and his polices will create unnecessary stress at a critical time. My advice to my Israeli friends is change course and do better vetting.”


Yemen’s Houthis claim they shot down another American drone as US strikes pound country

Yemen’s Houthis claim they shot down another American drone as US strikes pound country
Updated 01 April 2025
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Yemen’s Houthis claim they shot down another American drone as US strikes pound country

Yemen’s Houthis claim they shot down another American drone as US strikes pound country
  • The reported shootdown over Yemen’s contested Marib governorate came as airstrikes hit around Sanaa and Saada
  • The US military acknowledged to The Associated Press being aware of reports of the downing of a Reaper

DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi militia claimed Tuesday that they shot down another American MQ-9 Reaper drone, even as the US kept up its campaign of intense airstrikes targeting the group.
The reported shootdown over Yemen’s contested Marib governorate came as airstrikes hit around Sanaa, the country’s militia-held capital, and Saada, a stronghold for the Houthis.
US President Donald Trump issued a new warning to both the Houthis and their main benefactor, Iran, describing the group as having “been decimated” by the campaign of strikes that began March 15.
“Many of their Fighters and Leaders are no longer with us,” Trump wrote on his social media website Truth Social. “We hit them every day and night — Harder and harder. Their capabilities that threaten Shipping and the Region are rapidly being destroyed. Our attacks will continue until they are no longer a threat to Freedom of Navigation.”
He added: “The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at US ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran.”
Houthis claim they downed another US drone
The militia claimed to have felled a drone in Marib governorate, home to oil and gas fields still under the control of allies to Yemen’s exiled central government. Footage released on social media showed flames in the night, with a Yemeni man claiming a drone had been shot down.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, separately claimed downing the MQ-9 drone in a prerecorded video message.
Saree described the militia targeting the drone with “a suitable locally manufactured missile.” The Houthis have surface-to-air missiles — such as the Iranian missile known as the 358 — capable of downing aircraft.
Iran denies arming the militia, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen for the Shiite Houthi militia despite a United Nations arms embargo.
The US military acknowledged to The Associated Press being aware of reports of the downing of a Reaper, but declined to comment further.
General Atomics Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes over 40,000 feet (12,100 meters) and remain in the air for over 30 hours. The aircraft have been flown by both the US military and the CIA for years over Afghanistan, Iraq and now Yemen.
The Houthis claim they’ve shot down 20 MQ-9s over the country over the years, with 16 downed during the militia’ campaign over the Israel-Hamas war. The US military hasn’t acknowledged the total number of the drones it has lost there.
Intense US bombings began March 15
An Associated Press review has found the new American operation against the Houthis under Trump appears more extensive than those under former President Joe Biden, as the US moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel as well as dropping bombs in cities.
The new campaign of airstrikes, which the Houthis now say have killed at least 61 people, started after the militia threatened to begin targeting “Israeli” ships again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip. The militia have loosely defined what constitutes an Israeli ship, meaning many vessels could be targeted.
The Houthis targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors from November 2023 until January of this year. They also launched attacks targeting American warships, though none has been hit so far.
The attacks greatly raised the Houthis’ profile as they faced economic problems and launched a crackdown targeting dissent and aid workers at home amid Yemen’s decade-long stalemated war, which has torn apart the Arab world’s poorest nation.


Egyptian inmates’ ordeal in Sudan prisons

Egyptian inmates’ ordeal in Sudan prisons
Updated 01 April 2025
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Egyptian inmates’ ordeal in Sudan prisons

Egyptian inmates’ ordeal in Sudan prisons

CAIRO: Prisoners held by the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan spoke on Monday of their ordeal in paramilitary detention centers.

Arrested two months after the country’s civil war began in April 2023, Egyptian traders suspected of spying for the regular army were stripped, tortured and starved, and watched as other inmates died from cholera and malaria.

“You couldn’t go two weeks without falling sick,” said Emad Mouawad, 44, who was held at the notorious Soba prison in southern Khartoum after paramilitary forces raided his home in the city.

At night, swarms of insects crawled over the prisoners. “There was nothing that made you feel human,” he said.

Ahmed Aziz, who was detained with Mouawad, said: “They would bring us hot water mixed with wheat flour. Just sticky, tasteless paste.” Water was either polluted from a well or muddy from the Nile. “If you were sick, you just waited for death,” Aziz said.

Another trader, Mohamed Shaaban, 43, said: “They stripped us naked as the day we were born.  Then they beat us, insulted and degraded us.”
Back home in Egypt, the former prisoners are struggling to recover physically and mentally. “We have to try to turn the page and move on,” Shaaban said. “We have to try and forget.”


New Syrian Cabinet ‘won’t be able to satisfy everyone’

New Syrian Cabinet ‘won’t be able to satisfy everyone’
Updated 01 April 2025
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New Syrian Cabinet ‘won’t be able to satisfy everyone’

New Syrian Cabinet ‘won’t be able to satisfy everyone’
  • Interim president says 23 ministers chosen for competence and expertise, not ideology

DAMASCUS: The new transitional government in the Syrian Arab Republic would aim for consensus in rebuilding the war-torn country but would “not be able to satisfy everyone,” interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa said on Monday
The transitional 23-member Cabinet was named at the weekend, more than three months after Sharaa’s forces led an offensive that toppled dictator Bashar Assad. The new authorities were seeking to reunite and rebuild the country and its institutions after nearly 14 years of civil war, Sharaa told a gathering at the presidential palace broadcast on Syrian television after Eid Al-Fitr prayers.

“A new history is being written for Syria ... we are all writing it,” he said.
Sharaa said ministers had been chosen for competence and expertise, “without ideological or political orientations.” The government’s composition took into consideration “the diversity of Syrian society” while rejecting a quota system for religious or ethnic minorities, instead opting for “participation,” he said.