GAZA,(The Palestine Foundation Pakistan)The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has said that the Gaza Strip continues to face a severe threat of famine and malnutrition despite the recent ceasefire agreement, with humanitarian aid falling far short of meeting the population’s critical needs.
“The risk of famine and malnutrition, and their devastating consequences, remains present in the Gaza Strip despite the entry into force of the ceasefire agreement. The limited quantities of goods and aid allowed into Gaza represent only a fraction of actual needs and fall far short of addressing the severe food and supply deficit that Israel has deliberately imposed as a tool of genocide during two years of military assault and comprehensive blockade,” Euro-Med said in a report on Tuesday.
Since the ceasefire took effect last Friday, only 173 aid trucks have been allowed entry into Gaza, including minimal shipments of cooking gas and fuel, compared to the minimum 600 trucks daily stipulated in the ceasefire terms. No aid trucks entered on Monday or Tuesday due to Israeli pretexts and holidays, violating the ceasefire agreement and exacerbating the crisis, according to Euro-Med.
Reports from Israeli media suggest potential official decisions to further reduce humanitarian aid and keep the Rafah crossing closed as punishment against Hamas, citing the Movement’s failure to release bodies of Israeli soldiers, Euro-Med noted.
“The entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza is not a privilege granted by Israel but a binding legal obligation under international humanitarian law, guaranteeing civilians in wartime an absolute right to receive such assistance. Any attempt to link food or medicine to political or security conditions constitutes a flagrant violation of fundamental rights, including the right to life, dignity, personal safety, health, food, and water,” Euro-Med explained in its report.
“Humanitarian aid must be provided based solely on neutrality and need, without discrimination, delay, or selectivity. Subjecting aid to political conditions or negotiations transforms it from a tool of relief into one of destruction and displacement, contributing directly to the perpetuation of the crime.”
“Gaza’s more than two million residents have suffered from real famine and acute malnutrition over the past two years, the devastating effects of which remain evident today. Rates of wasting, anemia, and stunted growth among children have risen to unprecedented levels, while hundreds of thousands of women, pregnant individuals, and elderly people suffer from weakened immunity and chronic deficiencies in essential nutrients due to the lack of access to sufficient and diverse food.”
“A temporary halt to attacks or the entry of limited aid cannot be considered an adequate solution. No ceasefire agreement holds genuine meaning unless it guarantees a complete end to hostilities and a full lifting of the blockade. It is essential to allow the unrestricted and sustained flow of food, medicine, fuel, and reconstruction materials, alongside the restoration of basic services that enable people to live in dignity and safety after two years of systematic destruction of infrastructure and the stripping of the population’s means of survival.”
“Any agreement must include clear international guarantees to prevent the re-imposition of the blockade or the obstruction of aid under any pretext. Lifting the blockade is a prerequisite for restoring life in Gaza; maintaining it means the continued strangulation of the population, depriving them of their right to survive, and using Israel’s control over food, water, medicine, and fuel as a means of domination to advance a colonial project aimed at emptying Gaza of its population and erasing their right to exist and return.”
“Ongoing Israeli practices in Gaza must be closely monitored to ensure an end to the crime of genocide in all its forms. Preventing genocide is not a political choice or a matter of discretion—it is an absolute legal and moral duty that requires immediate and effective action by states and international actors to fulfill their obligations of prevention and accountability.”
Euro-Med called on the international community to “take immediate and decisive action to address the root causes of the Palestinian people’s decades-long suffering and persecution, guarantee their inalienable right to freedom, dignity, and self-determination in accordance with international law.”
Euro-Med also called for international action to “end the unlawful Israeli occupation, dismantle the system of settler colonialism and apartheid imposed on Palestinians, ensure Israel’s full withdrawal from the territories occupied since 1967, lift the illegal blockade on Gaza, and ensure comprehensive accountability and redress for victims, conditions essential to achieving justice and ending the cycle of impunity.”
