'There is no famine in Gaza, there is a famine of the truth': Fact-checking Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer
Israeli blame for Gaza's 'man-made mass starvation' disputed by aid agencies and UN
CLAIM: Hamas and aid agencies are to be blamed for what the World Health Organisation has described as “man-made mass starvation” in Gaza caused by Israel’s blockade.
BACKGROUND: Israeli government spokesman David Mencer appeared in an interview on Sky News on Wednesday, July 23, where he was challenged about conditions in Gaza after over 100 aid agencies signed a letter warning of mass starvation.
METHOD: Mercer’s statements were cross-checked with eyewitness reports, official statements by UN and aid agencies, medical sources and statements by Israeli authorities and the U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
RATING: Many of the claims made by Mencer have been heavily disputed by multiple sources, and some others are currently unverifiable.
In a heated interview with Sky News’ Mark Austin, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer blamed Hamas for engineering a famine in Gaza as he was challenged about the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground.
Famine
"There's no famine caused by Israel. There is a man-made shortage, but it's been engineered by Hamas. That's the point. That's the end of the sentence, which you don't include. But this suffering exists because Hamas made it."
The UN and aid agencies have disputed these claims.
The head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, recently told reporters: “I don’t know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it’s man-made, and that’s very clear,” he told a press conference from Geneva on Wednesday. “This is because of [the] blockade. And I have said it in my statement, more than 80 days of blockade straight. And then, of course there is [an] opening now but it's not enough. It's just a trickle and people are starving.”
Access to aid restrictions
"And right now at this, there are over 708 trucks sitting inside Gaza waiting for the UN to collect them. 708 trucks are right now waiting for the incompetent UN to come and collect them right now."
Recently, a video published by the Israel Defence Forces and COGAT -- the Israeli authority for coordinating aid for Gaza -- showed a large amount of aid stockpiled in a vast open space, said to be inside the borders of Gaza. At the time, the IDF stated that 950 trucks of aid were waiting at the site to be collected by UN agencies.
Logistical hurdles and restrictions imposed by Israel are hindering access to and distribution of aid, according to the World Food Programme.
Ross Smith, WFP Emergency Director, said this week, "a set of minimum operating conditions" is needed for agencies to deliver aid at scale. "
“We need crossing points into Gaza including proper routing inside Gaza itself so we can move independently and at choice. It includes the reduction in waiting times and approval times that we need to move in, to alleviate the desperation that's there. And until we have that scale of assistance it's going to be really really difficult to control the situation on the ground." He added: "We also need a ceasefire at the moment so that we can move effectively," Smith said.
A statement signed by 109 major NGOs on Wednesday also laid the blame for the famine conditions in Gaza at the feet of the Israeli siege. It said: "Humanitarian agencies have the capacity and supplies to respond at scale. But, with access denied, we are blocked from reaching those in need, including our own exhausted and starved teams."
Aid and distribution
"Aid is flowing through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Millions of meals are being delivered directly to civilians and also coordinated shipments, food, medicine, raw materials, flour for bakeries and kitchens. Since May, over 408 trucks have entered Gaza carrying flour and baby food, 2500 tons of baby food. High calorie nutrition for children and vital medical supplies. Just yesterday alone, Mark, two million meals were handed out in just weeks. That's 1.4 million packages."
Mencer's response cites the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as the distributor of aid, but appears to conflate aid distributed through the GHF with aid distributed through NGOs and the UN.
COGAT, on July 22, separated aid into two types:
Distribution sites operated by GHF where weekly food packages are provided to families;
The entry of complementary aid coordinated with the UN, international organisations and countries, which includes raw materials for local bakeries and communal kitchens.
This leaves the majority of the types of aid mentioned by Mencer as heavily restricted for the reasons given by the UN and other aid agencies.
Despite the large quantities of aid reportedly entering Gaza, only a minimal amount reaches the population. On average, 28 trucks of aid are distributed daily in Gaza, according to aid agencies. This is roughly in line with what GHF reports on its Facebook page on those days when it lists the number of truckloads it has handed out. Amid the extreme levels of deprivation, Gaza requires a minimum of 500 to 600 trucks of aid daily to meet the needs of the population, according to previous estimates by the UN.
Most recently, UNICEF told Reuters that Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, used for treating malnourished children, is in short supply and will be depleted by mid-August. Doctors have also reported that Israel has blocked infant formula from entering Gaza, with aid coming through the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, not including baby milk. A British doctor, Professor Nick Maynard, who has worked at Gaza's Nasser Medical Complex, said in an interview on Good Morning Britain that colleagues entering Gaza had been prevented from taking any baby formula when entering, saying Israeli security forces were "very specifically confiscating that, nothing else."
Mencer blames Hamas for the deaths of aid seekers
“Hamas designed this war. They designed this killing. They wanted their own people to get shot. They fire at us from crowds. They kill their own people. Just today, the IDF released footage of tunnels full of food of Hamas terrorists living it up, stuffing their faces with their portly frames while their own people suffer.”
Aid hubs run by the U.S. and Israel-backed GHF have been described as "sadistic death traps" by Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner General of the UN agency for Palestine (UNRWA). The UN and all major NGOs have refused to work with the GHF, accusing it of not working in line with humanitarian principles and weaponising food. Killings and mass casualties have been reported on an almost daily basis at these sites since they became operational on May 27.
As of July 21, the UN has said it recorded at least 1,054 people have been killed by Israeli forces trying to access aid -- around three-quarters of them at GHF distribution points. The statement by Thameen Al-Kheetan, a UN human rights office spokesperson, was made to the AFP and singled out the Israeli military as responsible for the shootings. Israel has disputed the figures without providing further evidence, while surgeons have said the majority of the wounded they are treating are coming from aid sites.
An ex-guard at a GHF site this week told news media he saw colleagues shoot at unarmed Palestinians as they were finishing getting aid to get them to leave. Accounts and video obtained by the AP also showed U.S. contractors at the distribution sites using live ammunition and stun grenades against Palestinians seeking aid. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in June that IDF officers and soldiers had told it they were ordered to fire at unarmed people near food distribution sites even when they did not present a threat.
There have been multiple reports of lootings and people being robbed of the aid they managed to secure at the GHF sites by armed groups. The background of these groups and any links to Hamas or other allied militant groups are not known. In early June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also confirmed Israel is arming clans opposed to Hamas. One particular group in the south is led by a man called Yasser Abu Shabab and claims to protect humanitarian aid, but critics have accused it of carrying out lootings.
Mencer refers to a video the IDF published on Wednesday, claiming it shows Hamas militants in an underground tunnel eating fresh fruit it has been hoarding. No information is provided on when or where it was filmed, and it is not possible to confirm whether it shows Hamas fighters or was filmed in a tunnel in Gaza. The GHF does not distribute fresh fruit or meat in its food parcels, which means this is unlikely to be looted aid.
Sources
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