A MASS starvation expert has warned that the crisis in Gaza is the “most severe” and “minutely engineered” act of deliberate starvation since the Second World War.
Speaking with System Update, Alex de Waal noted that whilst the man-made famine in Gaza is not the largest by numbers, it is more “intense” than the starvation imposed on countries like Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen.
His comments come after the UN reported that more than 1000 Gazans have been killed whilst trying to access emergency food via the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which opened in May.
De Waal, who has been working on mass starvation for over 40 years, said: “What's really remarkable and unique about the what we're seeing in Gaza today, it's not the largest in terms of the numbers – those in Ethiopia and Sudan and indeed in Yemen have been larger – but it's the most intense, the most severe and the most sort of minutely engineered.
“There is no other case since World War Two that I can think of where you have a people being subjected to this degree of starvation, and literally just a few miles away, there are aid givers with the resources, with the expertise, with the plans, with everything worked out, which, at the flick of a switch, could actually deliver a very comprehensive package of aid.
“It wouldn't solve the problem, but it would be an infinitely lot better than the what the people of Gaza are facing today. I haven't seen that in my career.”
The mass starvation expert also pointed out the gendered language of “man-made”, noting that it is a “deliberate” choice as we are “yet to see a woman-made” famine.
On Wednesday, former First Minister Humza Yousaf posted a clip on social media urging those in power to end the aid blockade as he and wife Nadia El-Nakla revealed that their family members in Gaza are starving.
More than 100 aid organisations have also warned of “mass starvation” in the enclave, where more than two million people face shortages of food and other essentials as the genocide continues.
