In Gaza, deadly hunger riot sparks storm of criticism against Israel

Correspondent in Jerusalem

The international community is gripped with horror at the scale of the carnage that occurred during the hunger riot on al-Rashid Boulevard in Gaza. During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, around a hundred Palestinians died and around 700 were injured when a humanitarian convoy arrived in the enclave. Around 300,000 people live in the ruins of Gaza City, almost without any help. The risk of famine is more imminent than ever. It was hunger that pushed thousands of civilians to ransack a convoy of 30 trucks arriving in the city.

Dozens of them would have died in the crowd movement, some would have been crushed by trucks. The Israeli army denies having fired on the convoy but admitted that tanks, whose crews would have felt threatened, fired on civilians. The exact circumstances of this tragedy are not yet known. But the condemnation of Israel, which militarily holds the north of the Gaza Strip, is unanimous.

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On Friday, Emmanuel Macron expressed on X his “deep indignation at the images reaching us from Gaza where civilians were targeted by Israeli soldiers.” Expressing his “firmest disapproval”, he demanded “truth, justice and respect for international law.” His Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, called for “explanations” and “an independent investigation to determine what happened.” Italy, Spain and Germany are on the same wavelength.

The United States is demanding “answers” ​​from Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and a “thorough investigation.” China has called for a ceasefire. Saudi Arabia condemned “the targeting of defenseless civilians by the occupying forces.” Qatar, one of the main mediators in the war, demanded “international action to immediately end the (Israeli) aggression.” The UN Security Council met urgently and behind closed doors and the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, denounced “new carnage”.

Faced with this storm, Israel is turning its back. Aside from the army's attempts at clarification, no official reaction had been published as of Friday afternoon. In the Israeli press, the event received little mention. Only the progressive newspaper Haaretz gives it some importance. Exhausted by five months of war, living in inhumane conditions, fighting every day for their survival, the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip seem to have already moved on. “We’re used to it,” admits a Palestinian refugee in the south, near Rafah. It’s like this every day here: death and hunger!”

This event, however, could be a tipping point in this war, triggered on October 7 by the Hamas terrorist attack in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and some 250 kidnapped. According to the Ministry of Health of the Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip, the war has left 30,000 dead. About ten days after its start, an explosion that occurred in the courtyard of al-Ahli hospital, in Gaza City, aroused the excitement of the international community. It was initially rumored that the Israeli army had bombed civilian refugees, before it emerged that a malfunctioning rocket fired by Hamas was the cause of the explosion, bringing an immediate end to the scandal. This time, the carnage has an obvious cause: it is the humanitarian crisis caused by five months of war.

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For weeks, humanitarian organizations have been sounding the alarm. The daily assessment published by the United Nations agency in charge of humanitarian coordination is increasingly deplorable. The latest, which uses figures from the Hamas Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, is catastrophic in every respect. In addition to the hundred deaths on al-Rashid Boulevard, he counts 193 dead and 920 injured between Thursday afternoon and Friday, 12:30 p.m. He affirms that the risk of death from famine continues to increase, which it “affects children and pregnant women disproportionately” and that it is made worse by poor water quality. Unicef ​​spokesperson in Palestine, returning from a stay in the Gaza Strip, Jonathan Crickx confirms this assessment.

According to UNICEF, 15% of children living in the northern Gaza Strip suffer from “acute malnutrition.” In the southern Gaza Strip, this figure drops to 5%. Cases of children dying of malnutrition are increasing. “The United Nations has not been able to deliver aid to the north for a week,” regrets Jonathan Crickx. The number of trucks that were able to enter the south was reduced by half. “In any case,” concludes this seasoned humanitarian, “humanitarian organizations cannot meet the needs of 2.2 million people.” In addition to a ceasefire, according to him, we must let the commercial sector take over. But again, the entire food production system has been destroyed.

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UNRWA, the United Nations agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, is the main actor of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. Philippe Lazzarini, its commissioner general, denounces “an imminent famine caused by man”. He also welcomes the release of 50 million euros from the European Union for his organization, in order to “maintain vital and essential services for Palestinian refugees”. In the enclave, the health system is also in a catastrophic state. In the few hospitals still functioning, the injured continue to arrive. With its objective of militarily dismantling Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army allowed chaos to take hold there.