Aug. 11—There is no starvation in Gaza, repeated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, the Butcher of Gaza, at an Aug. 10 news conference. When asked about the matter, he lied that, while there was “deprivation” in Gaza, “no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war” if Israel was implementing a “starvation policy.” He sidestepped the question about people starving to death, to passively deny there was a “starvation policy” being implemented to effectively kill everyone that won’t “leave voluntarily.” He was also never asked whether there is a “starvation policy” whose primary aim might be, not to directly kill everyone, but to drive everyone out of Gaza. There are historical examples in 1940s Poland and in Nazi Germany, where similar policies were carried out. In World War II’s concentration camps, the mission was to work the inmates (including the Reich’s political enemies) to death and to gas the ones that were deemed no longer worthy to be worked to death.
Netanyahu lied, as he has been doing repeatedly, since being warned by President Donald Trump last week to stop claiming that people are not starving, when everyone can see that they are. "If his mouth is moving, then he is lying<' said one source close to the White House. "President Trump, for one, does not believe his lies, believing hsi own eyes instead." This and other sources say that Trump will be announcing a comprehensive U.S. to halt the starvation and ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza last this week, perhaps before his Aug. 15 summit in Alaska with President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
What follows is a brief summary overview of the policy of the Netanyahu government using food in Gaza as a weapon:
The UN and related agencies had no logistical blockages to getting 600 trucks/day into Gaza during the February ceasefire. That was completely stopped in March and April. From May through July, a total of 5,100 trucks have gotten in, not quite 57/day—or 8 days worth of aid over 91 days. And that figure included the late July “upsurge” response by Israel. Yet July averaged only 72/day. As of Aug. 10, the daily figure for people starved to death and for people shot dead trying to get aid was at 11 apiece. There are still more people in the latter category (around 900 at or around the GHF sites) than the former (around 150 known cases).
The so-called Gaza Humanitarian Fund claimed that they distributed 7.6 million “meals” last week. While that is certainly a record high for them, they don’t actually distribute meals. (The World Food Program, e.g., used to distribute meals.) The GHF figure has devised the amount of 40-lb boxes employed as the prize in a bizarre pre-dawn, 8-minute scramble—what have been called by its critics “hunger games.” The figure of 7.6 million “meals” translates into 19,000 boxes/day for the more than 1 million Gazans in southern Gaza.
What happens in this real-life “hunger game” is that about 8,000-10,000 people walk some 5 miles in the dark to line up, under gunfire, at each of four sites. Some 4,000-5,000 boxes are distributed at each site. Those lucky ones who get a 40-lb box try to walk the 5 miles back, and the other 4-5,000 are supposed to take it in stride and leave the winners alone. And to get the boxes back to their families, they have to avoid criminal gangs—some armed and financed by the Israelis—who can avoid the 10-mile trek.
Do those boxes translate into 57 meals per box? That would require access to water and cooking fuel. Normal aid, last February and pre-October 7, included water and cooking fuel. However, since February, no water has been delivered, and two (that is, 2) trucks of cooking gas have been delivered. Normal deliveries of cooking gas were 8 truckloads/day, so Gaza has received in the last 5 months one quarter of one day’s cooking gas. Brackish water, with salt and waste, has been used, creating widespread diseases.
No nation that imposes this mass death on others can remain fit to survive for long, nor can nations who choose to look the other way at what is going on.