Time Is Running Out to Stop a Major Famine in Gaza

If the U.S. were committed to “pulling out every stop,” it would not be indulging in the insulting theater of airdropping a tiny, inadequate amount of food.

The president pretends that his administration is working overtime to save lives in Gaza:

The United States is committed to pulling out every stop to get more aid to those in Gaza who desperately need it. We won't stand by. We won't let up.

None of this is true, but Biden needs the American public to believe that it is. The administration has not pulled out every stop, and in fact they seem unwilling to do much at all. The U.S. has not only been standing by while the Israeli government uses starvation as a weapon against the people of Gaza, but it also continues to provide that government with arms and diplomatic protection to assist them in their policy of collective punishment. The administration is trying to create a smokescreen with its public messages and stunts to distract from its ongoing complicity in the terrible crimes against the Palestinians of Gaza.

The reality of the Biden administration’s response to the man-made humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza couldn’t be more removed from this story of a relentless drive to do anything possible to stave off starvation. If the U.S. were committed to “pulling out every stop,” it would not be indulging in the insulting theater of airdropping a tiny, inadequate amount of food. The U.S. is doing the bare minimum to make it look as if it is concerned about the humanitarian crisis, but it isn’t doing any of the things needed to prevent large-scale loss of life.

Jeremy Konyndyk and Hardin Lang of Refugees International urge the U.S. to take real action to stave off famine:

The United States is likely the only outside power that can ensure a famine is avoided, given the leverage it has with its ally Israel. As negotiations about a second cease-fire and hostages-for-prisoners swap gain steam, the United States has a crucial opportunity to press Israel to change course and allow a major famine-prevention effort. U.S. President Joe Biden must act now to make famine prevention a top priority and be prepared to deploy meaningful U.S. leverage—including pausing arms sales—if the Israeli government does not comply [bold mine-DL]. Famine would not only constitute a humanitarian cataclysm; it would also represent a geopolitical failure that would damage U.S. credibility in the Middle East for years to come.

They make an excellent case, and the administration should follow their recommendations. The trouble is that there have been lots of smart, informed people pleading with the government for months to get ahead of this disaster to no avail. As far as anyone on the outside can tell, the administration has paid no attention.

It is imperative that the Israeli government not launch a ground operation in Rafah. As Lang and Konyndyk explain, “A Rafah offensive could become the act that tips the territory officially into famine.” The Biden administration has expressed its reservations about a ground operation, but it has failed to warn of any consequences that would follow if Netanyahu ordered an assault.

While there is still time to prevent a major famine, there is not much time left. Young children have been dying from malnutrition and more are dying as we speak because of the catastrophic conditions that the Israeli government has created. Adele Khodr, UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, released a statement earlier this week in which she announced that another ten Palestinian children had died from dehydration and malnutrition:

UNICEF has been warning since October that the death toll in Gaza would increase exponentially if a humanitarian crisis emerged and was left to fester. The situation has only gotten worse, and as a result, last week, we warned that an explosion in child deaths was imminent if the burgeoning nutrition crisis wasn’t resolved.

Now, the child deaths we feared are here and are likely to rapidly increase unless the war ends and obstacles to humanitarian relief are immediately resolved [bold mine-DL].

The sense of helplessness and despair among parents and doctors in realizing that lifesaving aid, just a few kilometres away, is being kept out of reach, must be as unbearable, but worse still are the anguished cries of those babies slowly perishing under the world’s gaze. The lives of thousands more babies and children depend on urgent action being taken now.

The U.S. squandered the last several months when much more could have been done to prevent these deaths. Our government must not waste any more time. There must be a permanent ceasefire and a massive emergency relief effort starting now, or there will soon be a major famine that devours tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of innocent lives.