Ask Bucko

If you think the starvation of Gazans is a new evil, think again. It has been going on since at least 2007. That is when Hamas took control of Gaza.

They won the elections of 2006, but then fought a short civil war against Fatah, a rival Palestinian political group. Do not for a moment think that Israel was an innocent bystander. Israel supported Hamas, as a counterfoil to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Israel also expressly approved Hamas receiving financial aid from Qatar. It saved Israel money.

Now that Hamas was in power, Israel created a 1000km long security buffer zone, and instituted a tight blockade. Egypt joined them, by blockading the southern border. The buffer meant that 29% of Palestinian farmland was rendered useless, and any houses or villages, any schools or medical clinics, any civilian infrastructure, was destroyed and bulldozed.

So the blockade killed two birds with one stone. It limited access to food and the necessities of life, and it provided ‘border’ security. Oh, and any Palestinian entering the buffer zone was liable to be killed, on sight. Useful’.

This was the beginning of the starvation regime.

The Israel Defence Force (IDF) then began enforcing a rule that anything which could be considered “dual use” was not permitted into Gaza. Dual use meant anything which could concievably be used in a civil, and or a military, way.

This of course meant items like fertilizers, concrete, copper wiring, pipes. These were all important in managing and maintaining Gaza’s power system, which led to its eventual energy failures, to the point that cooking and refrigeration became non-functional. Food related essentials; part of the plan, I suggest. They also blocked canned food, on the basis that it had two possible uses.

The dual use rule meant that 85% of materials for maintaining water infrastructure were restricted. 70% of water, sanitation and hygiene related materials were blocked. By 2019, four years before Hamas made its barbaric attack on Israel, 97% of Gaza’s fresh water was unsuitable for human consumption. Source: Think Global Health

This has led to water contamination being the largest cause of infant mortality. Not the death of random adults, some of whom might be seen as a threat to Israel, but infants, dying from preventable diseases.

My question is: If I know this, and the United Nations knows it, and anyone who cares to inquire knows it, and it is commonly known among Israel’s political class, why is it still happening? To infants?

Having cut off fresh water, sanitation, devestated almost a third of the farmland within Gaza, where to for food? Israel has complete control of the mediterranean coast, so cue control of fishing. Why, if not to control the available calories going to feed Gaza’s more than two million souls.

In 2009, after another Israeli invasion into Gaza, Israel restricted fishing to 3 nautical miles from shore, which led to a 47% drop in the fish catch. They also used their dual use rule to restrict fishing, by only allowing the use of small marine motors, so the fishers are doubly restricted to waters close to shore. These waters are now over-fished, often contaminated with sewage, and unable to sustain human life.

Before the outbreak of war in October 2023, two thirds of Gazans were dependent on food aid. Within two months of the war beginning, by December 2023, Gazans made up 80% of people worldwide who were suffering “catastrophic hunger”.

So this goes directly to the actions of the Netanyahu government, and the explicit orders of Yoav Gallant, the then Defence Minister, who instigated a “complete siege” of Gaza. He vowed he would halt the supply of electricity, food, water and fuel. Gallant in name, cruel and vicious in nature. Why, if not to starve Gaza?

What did he expect Gazans to do to feed themselves? The Israelis know precisely how many calories are needed to sustain life. They know the effects of starvation, especially on the young. Many will have some form of visceral memory of their families being starved by the Germans in Poland. Starvation is not a sudden event; it is a process which takes time, and it does not happen without physical signs, such as emaciation, listlessness, weakness. We’ve all seen the signs, and we recognise them.

So the catastrophe continues. Governments worldwide condemn Israel’s policy of starving the Palestinians, and then threaten what? They will adopt a policy of recognising Palestine, if blah, blah, blah!

Problem is, will there be any Palestinians left by the time they act? Many of these countries are still providing arms, and or parts, for the upkeep of Israel’s war machine, while the entire population slowly and agonisingly dies from hunger.

Even the so-called ‘stable genius’ in the White House recognises starving children when he sees them. He seems to be stuck between wanting the people to be given food aid, while continuing to supply the ammunition for their murder as they queue for food.

One day we will look back on this episode in history, and discover that we all failed them, because we did not recognise the seriousness of the crisis, and we did not ‘storm the barricades’ and force our governments to act.

Israel began this starvation regime eighteen years ago, and they have been treating Palestinians like animals ever since. I cannot understand the West’s support for Israel; it appears to go against every tenet of modern morality. Its cruelty is unmistakeable, and relentless, and we are constantly assailed by the right wing denying their actions. Why bother when your intentions are crystal clear? You want the land for yourselves, and in a century where might is right, you will probably get away with it.

It feels that the political leaders of the present time have shown themselves to be totally lacking in decency and moral clarity. We need to re-design the system, if this bunch is the best we can elect.

After the crisis is resolved, with either many more deaths, or hopefully not too many more, Netanyahu and Gallant, Joe Biden, and the Hamas leaders have got to account for their actions. There is still a possibility that Trump, for whatever reason, might decide to demand a finish to the conflict. He might even succeed.

But if he doesn’t intervene, he should stand beside Biden and the other enablers and be judged for mass murder. They did, remember, stand idly by while Israel engaged in an obvious, and conscious, genocide.