Israeli Report Refutes UN Claims of Imminent Famine at Gaza, as Food Deliveries Soar 80 Percent Over Pre-War Levels

With demands from abroad for more aid for residents of Gaza growing louder by the day, an Israeli government agency released a report Sunday disputing warnings from the United Nations and others that a famine is imminent in the war-torn strip.The director of Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Ghassan Alian, said the UN’s reports are based on faulty methodology, mistaken data, and reliance on unreliable sources such as the Hamas terrorists who started the war and continue to cling to power in the strip. More trucks laden humanitarian aid are entering Gaza now than were entering before the war began on October 7, the report says, and the number of truckloads of food entering the strip has increased by 80 percent compared to the pre-war period.“We note there are inaccuracies in the report as well as failing to mention Israel’s considerable efforts to improve the humanitarian situation,” the Israeli report states. “Israel is attentive to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and is working proactively with partners to provide relevant aid to the population and calls on the international community and the aid organizations to continue to work together for this purpose.”The report comes in response to claims by the UN that unless action is taken soon, more than a million residents of Gaza will be living in famine conditions in the coming months. The UN based its report on a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report on the situation at Gaza that said half of Gaza’s residents, or about 1.1 million people, could face famine if the war continues, and the remaining half will face “emergency” and “crisis” levels of food insecurity.“Palestinians in Gaza are enduring horrifying levels of hunger and suffering,” the secretary general of the UN, António Guterres, said when the report was released last week. “This is the highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger ever recorded by the Integrated Food Security Classification system — anywhere, anytime.”The UN report prompted howls of protest from liberals in the West, who demanded that Israel allow more humanitarian aid into the strip. Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Senator Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, urged President Biden to use some of America’s clout with the government of Prime Minister Netanyahu to convince the Israelis to allow more aid into Gaza.“I’m just saying to President Biden, you said no excuses when it comes to getting humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Mr. Van Hollen said. “Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to drag his feet. So, instead of just sending more bombs without in turn getting the request that you want, Mr. President, let’s at least make this a partnership.”In a separate appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” the head of the UN’s World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, the wife of the late Republican senator from Arizona, said she believes that politics is playing a role in the distribution of food aid at Gaza. Israel’s government has maintained that Hamas terrorists are looting the aid that does make it into the strip and that UN relief agencies charged with distributing the aid once it gets into Gaza have not been doing their jobs.“I’m not really sure where the mistake has been made, but I do know that there’s been accusations that somehow the UN isn’t doing their job, which couldn’t be further from the truth” Ms. McCain said. “I think again it’s politics. It’s something various factions are involved in. All I want to know is where and when we can take the food in and distribute it. That’s what I want to know from the Israeli government.”The report from Israel’s territories agency notes that there are, as of Sunday, some 400 aid trucks parked on the Gaza side of the border awaiting distribution and that 10 trucks were allowed into North Gaza overnight Saturday. Additionally, 96 one-ton shipments of aid were airdropped into northern Gaza Saturday, and seven tankers of cooking gas and other fuel made their way into Gaza on the same day. There are, the report said, at least 21 bakeries operating in the strip at the moment.“It’s clear the IPC report has many factual and methodological inaccuracies that undermine its credibility and those of the sources of information it relies on,” the report concludes. “Furthermore, the report systematically ignores Israel’s humanitarian efforts during wartime; therefore, we won’t allow any entity to defame the state of Israel in this manner.”

Israeli Report Refutes UN Claims of Imminent Famine at Gaza, as Food Deliveries Soar 80 Percent Over Pre-War Levels

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