Gaza hunger figures: “History will judge the moral paralysis of our leaders” – Oxfam

“The figures in this report are deeply shocking and demonstrate the devastating impact of the failure of world leaders to heed earlier warnings, and to hold Israel to account for its deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war.

“The level of suffering in Gaza is immense. Almost the entire population is facing extreme hunger and half of households reported having nothing to eat on a regular basis. In just the last week two more babies starved to death. Safe drinking water is now scarce, increasing the spread of disease. In the face of these horrors, the world should not wait for a famine declaration to act.

“The slight improvement of conditions in the north of Gaza shows that Israel can end human suffering when it chooses - but just as quickly those gains can vanish when access is again constrained, as the report warns is happening now.

“The forcibly imposed deprivation across Gaza has created an unprecedented situation where we are now witnessing the world’s highest concentration of people fleeing to a so-called safe zone, Al Mawasi, while simultaneously being denied access to even the most basic aid and services.

“Yet again Oxfam urgently calls on the UK government to do more to put pressure on Israel to allow aid to reach more than two million people living in these intolerable conditions, and to stop adding fuel to the fire by allowing the sale of arms to Israel to continue.

“History will judge the moral paralysis of our leaders. But what we need today is an immediate and permanent ceasefire, so that humanitarian aid can be delivered to prevent people from starving, to end the death and destruction from the bombardment and to ensure the safe release of all hostages. Each day without a ceasefire, more and more lives will be lost.”

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For more information, please contact: Sarah Dransfield in the Oxfam Press Office, on 07884 114825 / sdransfield@oxfam.rog.uk

Notes to editors:

The latest IPC report, published today, found:

• A high risk of Famine persists across the whole Gaza Strip as long as conflict continues, and humanitarian access is restricted.
• Around 96 percent of the population of the Gaza strip (2.15M people) face high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above).
• on a regular basis, more than half of the population does not have any food to eat in the house, and over 20 percent go entire days and nights without eating.