In yet another crime added to the ongoing series of genocidal acts committed by the occupation against civilians in Gaza, medical sources announced today, Saturday, the death of 10 civilians, including three children, over the past 24 hours as a result of starvation and malnutrition ravaging the population of the besieged Strip.
The sources indicated that the total number of victims of starvation has risen to 332, including 124 children, exposing the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe facing civilians, where the blockade is being used as a weapon of slow killing no less brutal than direct bombardment.
Since the declaration a few days ago that Gaza had entered the stage of famine, 54 additional deaths have been recorded, including nine children, due to deprivation of sufficient food and water, which is a stark indication that the occupation is not content with direct killing through airstrikes, but is systematically employing starvation as a tool of genocide.
According to the latest field data, more than half a million Palestinians are living in conditions described as catastrophic, characterised by extreme hunger, death and absolute deprivation, while over one million face severe food insecurity, thus placing the lives of millions on the brink of annihilation.
What is happening in Gaza represents a deliberate policy of the occupation, aimed at destroying Palestinian society through mass killing, forced starvation and denial of the basic necessities of life, in one of the most horrific manifestations of genocide in modern times. Humanitarian aid is turned into a tool of coercion, while the blockade is used as a means of silent genocide that kills children before adults.
Despite the clarity of the crime, the international community maintains a disturbing silence that amounts to complicity, issuing little more than token statements devoid of any binding action. Meanwhile, the daily loss of life continues, encouraging the occupation to persist in its crimes unchecked and exposing the hypocrisy of an international system that speaks of human rights in some cases, while turning a blind eye when the victims are Palestinians.
