Extermination in the Gaza Strip is no longer carried out through bombing alone by Israel. Alongside the bombs, a quieter and more deadly policy is unfolding: the management of starvation as a tool of slow death, implemented through careful control of the quality of food and aid, not just the quantity.
In recent months, trucks loaded with soft drinks, snacks, and sweets have been allowed in by Israel, while strict restrictions have been imposed on the entry of therapeutic food, nutritional supplements, baby milk, vitamins, and essential medicines. According to doctors and health officials in Gaza, this policy does not alleviate hunger, but rather reproduces it in more dangerous forms.
Dr Munir al-Barsh, director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, says:
This is not a food crisis, but a deliberate starvation policy administered with cold calculation, producing a slow and silent death.
Calories without life thanks to Israel
From a medical point of view, introducing high-sugar and high-fat foods is not a substitute for real food, especially in an environment that suffers from a severe shortage of protein, iron, folic acid and essential vitamins.
Nutritionists in Gaza hospitals explain that these foods:
• Do not treat severe malnutrition
• Exacerbate anaemia, especially in women and children
• Lead to serious metabolic disorders
• Create a false sense of satiety without real nutritional value
All of the above have had disastrous consequences for both children and adults, with effects that may last for decades. According to Ministry of Health data, this has led to a rapid increase in:
• Malnutrition rates among children
• Severe anaemia among pregnant women
• Early miscarriages
• Premature births (premature babies)
• Initial indications of an increase in birth defects
When pregnancy becomes a battlefield
One of the most dangerous aspects of this policy is its direct impact on the health of pregnant women. Depriving pregnant women of a balanced diet and essential supplements affects not only their health, but also that of their unborn children.
“We are not talking about individual cases, but a widespread pattern,” says a gynaecologist in the north of the Strip, explaining that maternity wards are seeing an unprecedented rise in premature births, low birth weights and complications that could have been avoided with basic nutrition.
In this context, the womb is no longer just a biological organ, but a silent battlefield where life is re-engineered before it even begins.
Managed extermination, not humanitarian chaos
What distinguishes the situation in Gaza, according to experts in international humanitarian law, is that starvation here does not appear to be the result of a general collapse or logistical chaos, but rather a policy of control and selection:
• Non-life-saving goods are allowed to enter
• The entry of goods that preserve life in the medium and long term is restricted
• The consequences are allowed to accumulate slowly within the bodies
Experts warn that this pattern falls under what international law describes as the use of starvation as a means of warfare, which is expressly prohibited under the Geneva Conventions.
A crime by Israel with long-term effects
Killing here does not happen in an instant, but over a long period of time:
A child suffering from malnutrition today may survive, but will bear permanent health and mental consequences.
A mother suffering from severe anaemia today may lose her foetus or give birth to a child who will suffer throughout his or her life.
In this sense, the policy of starvation targets not only the present, but also the future of an entire society.
An unanswered question in Gaza
In Gaza, the question is no longer: Will aid be allowed in?
Rather, it is: What kind of aid will be allowed in? And why?
Until this question is answered, the slow death continues… Silently, with ‘soft’ tools, and trucks that may appear to be bringing life, but in essence carry the engineering of delayed extermination.
Featured image via the Canary
By Alaa Shamali
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