Famine should be declared in Gaza Strip

At least 70 organisations are calling on relevant authorities and international institutions to officially declare a famine in the Gaza Strip, where there is a rapid spread of famine, according to the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor yesterday.

It said that food insecurity is increasing across the enclave because of Israel's use of starvation as a "weapon of war" against the Palestinian people – something the organisations say is part of a genocide, a charge Israel has denied.

"The organisations stated that food security levels have significantly declined as a result of the Israeli army's ground operation in Rafah City, south of the Gaza Strip, which began on May 7 and was preceded the day before by blocking the entry of humanitarian aid trucks through the Rafah crossing" the statement read.

Health authorities officially recorded 30 deaths due to famine: Euro-Med

 "Thousands of trucks on the other side of the Rafah crossing have been at a standstill for weeks and are inaccessible to the residents whose lives depend on them due to Israel's decision to starve the people of the Gaza Strip, close the crossings and prevent the entry of aid."

Euro-Med said health authorities have officially recorded 30 deaths due to famine, and that famine-related deaths occur nearly daily, compounded by Israeli bombings and inadequate medical treatment, reports The Guardian.

About 200 aid trucks were expected to enter Gaza yesterday through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, Khaled Zayed, the head of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society in North Sinai, told Reuters earlier.

The Rafah border crossing has been shut for almost three weeks, since Israel took control of the Palestinian side of the crossing.