It's really hard for me to not be a dick, so I apologize. I said it specifically that way to see if you were language quibbling or not. I didn't say "starving to death". I used the dictionary definition of starving "to suffer or die because you do not have enough food to eat" and using the link that you seemed to favor. It's pretty clear what your link says, but I'll cut and paste it here to make it easier.
Almost half a million people in Gaza are projected to be facing starvation
Israel’s humanitarian blockade on Gaza since March 2 has intensified the food crisis in the strip, with the entire 2.1 million population experiencing high levels of food insecurity, including 469,500 people at risk of starvation, according to a projection by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
Yeah, I get it. Not all 469,500 of them have starved to death yet. If we use the time window from your link (between May and September), it might only be 100,000 currently in the process of dying from lack of food. The rest might just wish they could get another Kit-Kat bar and will only work their way towards actually starving to death over the next couple of months - maybe another 100,000 over the next five weeks and another 100,000 the five weeks after that and so on until September - by when the link also says there is a high risk that famine will occur if things don't change. But, no sweat because if famine does occur, not everyone will actually be dead yet, so rather than do something about it now we can at that point maybe raise the issue if it's not too late and it doesn't upset Bibi too much.
Or maybe we could talk about it now and try to head some of that off.
Yes, I understand that I'm still being a dick. It's congenital, but I've been working on it. Imagine how bad it was when I was a teenager.
This is a touchy topic that is very important. I understand how you could get worked up. Me too.
Here's my problem with this, though: organizations that appear neutral sounding (but we don't know how they're connected to Hamas or if they just rely on the Hamas MoH) have been predicting an imminent famine since the outbreak of the war:
GAZA — With only ten percent of necessary food supplies entering Gaza since the beginning of the conflict, the Strip now faces a massive food gap and widespread hunger as nearly the entire population is in desperate need of food assistance, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.
www.wfp.org
The IPC acute food insecurity analysis conducted in December 2023 warned of a risk that Famine may occur by the end of May 2024 if an immediate cessation of hostilities and sustained access for the provision of essential supplies and services to the population did not take place.
www.ipcinfo.org
Three senior United Nations officials warned the Security Council today of imminent famine in the Gaza Strip, urging immediate action to avert humanitarian disaster in a territory where many Council members alleged the use of hunger as a weapon of war.
press.un.org
Yet, we still haven't reached a famine, despite these years long warnings. That makes me skeptical of them and these reports.
Maybe a lot of people have died of starvation to date, but I've searched for numbers and can't find any that aren't just wild guesses. That's why I keep asking the question. The reporting I find usually repeats the Hamas MoH numbers for casualties inflicted by the IDF, although sometimes they confuse that with total number of deaths due to the war--again, why I'm being so damn picky with the language. Because it's important.
Language even tripped up UncleMark above, who thinks 50K civilians have been killed, when that reported number, from MoH, is of total deaths due to IDF and they don't break it down by combatant vs. civilian. IDF thinks they've killed 20k-30k combatants, with some estimates up to 80% of all casualties, and other orgs saying 80% of casualties are civilians. Hell, MoH might not even be able to tell if they tried because their combatants violate international law by intentionally mixing with the civilians and not wearing uniforms--not to mention every other law of war Hamas is, or has, broken.
On top of this, we have no idea if MoH is over or under counting (although we know their incentives).
So everyone now is in the fog of war. It's impossible to know and I'm not even sure we know who to trust. Another example: I watched an interview of Douglas Murray on this tonight looking for his response and he clearly dodged this question of starvation, so now I don't trust him much, either. Given all this, I just don't think it makes sense to be throwing around accusations of war crimes and terrorism against Israel regarding intentional starvation of hundreds of thousands of people.
Now, for some of my biases, which create emotional reactions to some arguments on this topic:
1. I think what Hamas did on Oct. 7 is reprehensible and want them all hunted down and killed. I think Palestinian society is sick in many ways and has created and enabled Jew hatred of a kind not witnessed since the Nazis.
2. I like Israel's form of govt., their free press, and feel for them as an underdog nation surrounded by others that want to kill them.
3. Many of my closest friends are Jewish. One is an Israeli emigre (who is also incredibly left wing and torn by this war). I hate that they have to live through this stuff, even here in the USA and experience that shadowy fear, pit-of-your-stomach worry that the other shoe is about to drop that one has as a Jew. That creates in me a vague desire to defend them.
4. I have no Palestinian friends and I'm not sure I've ever met one.
