Gaza's hunger crisis spurs a diplomatic gamble

The situation urgently requires US President Donald Trump's intervention.

- Alistair D.B. Cook

Waiting for aid. Sheltering in a school. At a food distribution centre. Sheltering in a tent. At a mobile charging point. Waiting for aid convoys. Injured or killed by air-dropped aid. These are the circumstances surrounding Palestinian deaths or injuries reported in six days in August in Gaza.

A fresh humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Gaza. Over two million are "severely food insecure," the United Nations estimates, while the World Food Programme says nearly a quarter are facing acute famine.

"This is no longer a looming crisis. It is starvation, plain and simple," said Mr Ramesh Rajasingham earlier in August, in briefing the UN Security Council on Gaza on behalf of the UN undersecretary-general and emergency relief coordinator, Mr Tom Fletcher.

Since the introduction of rules by Israel to ensure "aid reaches the population directly and not Hamas," the situation there has deteriorated. Humanitarian aid groups claim that the restrictions have left hospitals without supplies and people including the elderly, young children and people with disabilities dying from hunger and treatable diseases. More than 100 have signed a petition for Israel to "stop the weaponisation of aid."

In July, the World Health Organisation warned that malnutrition was reaching alarming levels. Over 13,000 new admissions of children were for acute malnutrition, according to the UN. About 2,800 or 22 per cent of these were cases of severe acute malnutrition.

Many medical evacuations of the injured and malnourished have ended in tragedy. Palestinian Marah Abu Zuhri, who was flown to Italy for treatment for severe malnutrition, died in hospital.

As Israel prepares to launch a fresh assault on Gaza, mobilising tens of thousands for the military operation, and warning international aid organisations to plan for the evacuation and displacement of the Palestinian population, the humanitarian crisis is set to worsen.