Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz on Friday said Gaza “will become Rafah and Beit Hanoun” unless Hamas agrees to Tel Aviv’s conditions, his warning coming against the backdrop of Israel readying a massive military offensive into the besieged city.
“We approved yesterday the IDF's plans to defeat Hamas in Gaza - with intense fire, evacuation of residents, and maneuvering,” Katz wrote in a post in Hebrew on X.
“Soon, the gates of hell will open upon the heads of Hamas's murderers and rapists in Gaza – until they agree to Israel's conditions for ending the war, primarily the release of all hostages and their disarmament,” he wrote.
He added: “If they do not agree – Gaza, the capital of Hamas, will become Rafah and Beit Hanoun. Exactly as I promised – so it shall be.”
His declaration came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would authorise the military to seize Gaza City.
Hunger grows in Gaza
The hunger crisis in Gaza is at a tipping point, with critically low supplies of fortified milk and special nutritious pastes exacerbating food shortages and pushing greater numbers of children into starvation, according to aid agencies, malnutrition experts and the United Nations.
After a global outcry at Israel severely restricting aid from March, its military began allowing more food into Gaza in late July. But volumes are too small and distribution too chaotic to stop more people becoming malnourished, while those who are already starving or vulnerable are not getting life-saving supplements, three hunger experts and aid workers from six agencies told Reuters.
According to figures from Gaza's Health Ministry, verified by the World Health Organisation, deaths from malnutrition and starvation are spiking.
In the 22 months following the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas, 89 fatalities were attributed to malnutrition or starvation, mostly children under 18. In just the first 20 days of August, there were 133 deaths, including 25 under 18s, the ministry said on Wednesday.
"We are seeing the worst possible humanitarian catastrophe that we can even measure," said Jeanette Bailey, a child nutrition lead at the International Rescue Committee, a New York-based aid organisation.
There are "going to be a lot more children dying, a lot more pregnant and lactating women suffering from malnutrition."
ALSO SEE: https://www.telegraphindia.com/gallery/what-forced-starvation-does-to-the-people-famine-lessons-for-gaza-from-bengal-photogallery/cid/
Israel does not accept there is widespread malnutrition among Palestinians in Gaza and disputes the hunger fatality figures given by the health ministry of Gaza's Hamas-run government, arguing that the deaths were due to other medical causes.
Some of the most malnourished children are in the few hospitals still operating in Gaza, where doctors are scrambling for supplies of special therapeutic milks.
At Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City, doctor Ahmed Basal held up an infant, arms stick thin and wizened from wasting. He said normal formula, even when available, cost up to $58 per carton, while mothers were themselves too malnourished to breastfeed.
Gaunt-looking Aisha Wahdan gave her eight-month-old son Hatem fortified milk from a bottle, saying that before coming to hospital she tried to wean him on wild plants such as carob, chamomile and thyme because she could not breastfeed.
"There was no milk. I used natural herbs and tried everything because there was no milk substitute," she said.
Some ordinary baby formula, needed for those whose mothers are dead or unable to breastfeed, or when the child is unwell, has entered Gaza since the aid blockade was loosened, Unicef said on Tuesday. However,the agency said it only has stocks for 2,500 babies for a month and estimates that at least 10,000 babies need formula.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for aid, said in an August 12 media statement that most deaths attributed to malnutrition by Palestinian health authorities were caused by other medical conditions.
Malnutrition experts say deaths among people with existing health problems are typical in the early stages of a hunger crisis.
Israel has recognised shortages of food, but blames the United Nations for failing to effectively distribute supplies and Hamas for stealing it, which the groups denies. An official Israeli review found "no signs of a widespread malnutrition phenomenon among the population in Gaza", COGAT said.
The United Nations human rights office in June accused Israel of "weaponising" food for civilians, calling it a war crime, after documenting hundreds of people killed by the Israeli military as they tried to reach aid distribution sites by run Israel- and U.S.-backed organisation the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The Israeli military has acknowledged that its forces have killed some Palestinians seeking aid and says it has given its troops new orders to improve their response.