Analysts see truce efforts in dire need as starvation takes a toll on civilians, including children
Palestinian children collect food on Feb 25, 2024 from a refrigerator inside their damaged home following overnight Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. As the Israel-Palestine conflict continues, a food crisis is ongoing in Gaza. (PHOTO / AFP)
Reports of a possible temporary cease-fire deal in the Israel-Palestine conflict have been welcomed by analysts as they noted that starvation has taken a toll on civilian lives amid an ongoing food crisis in Gaza.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said the agency was last able to deliver food aid to northern Gaza on Jan 23, and that their calls to send food aid “have been denied and have fallen on deaf ears”.
Doha-based news outlet Al Jazeera reported on Feb 25 that a two-month-old Palestinian boy died from starvation in northern Gaza, just days after international child welfare advocates warned of an “explosion” in child deaths due to Israel’s attacks on the besieged enclave.
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On Feb 19, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and the World Food Programme noted in a statement that malnutrition was rare in Gaza before the current hostilities, with just 0.8 percent of children under five classified as acutely malnourished.
Acute malnutrition now affecting 15.6 percent of children under two in northern Gaza suggests “a serious and rapid decline”, the agencies said.
“The deliberate starvation, particularly evident in the northern part of Gaza, is viewed as a coercive tactic aimed at compelling Palestinian resistance factions to acquiesce to Israeli terms,” Belal Alakhras, a political analyst and Palestinian researcher at the University of Malaya, in Malaysia, told China Daily.
“Amid this critical juncture in Gaza with far-reaching regional implications, the role of international actors comes under scrutiny, serving as a litmus test of whether the global landscape remains predominantly under the sway of US unipolarity or has indeed transitioned to a multipolar reality,” he added.
Negotiations on hammering out an urgent cease-fire deal took place in Paris among representatives from Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and Israel on Feb 23 and resumed later in Qatar.
The conditions for a potential six-week pause involve a prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israeli authorities, media reports said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US broadcaster CBS News that it was unclear whether a hostage deal would materialize from the negotiations, but said Hamas needed to be more reasonable in its demands.
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Meanwhile, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, whose country has been involved in mediation efforts, has traveled to Paris on a state visit, with the Gaza issue dominating the talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Alakhras from the University of Malaya noted that almost five months into the conflict, Israel has yet to achieve its stated military objectives.
This dilemma, he said, “has not gone unnoticed by Israel’s allies”, who are now exploring alternative approaches to safeguard Israeli interests “amid this quagmire”.
“Discussions of a potential pause or cease-fire in Gaza reflect a maneuver to secure the release of Israeli prisoners in exchange for Palestinian detainees, affording Israel the opportunity to reassess its approach to the situation,” said Alakhras.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh submitted his government’s resignation on Feb 26. President Mahmoud Abbas must now decide whether to accept the resignation.
“The next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political arrangements that take into account the new reality in the Gaza Strip,” Shtayyeh said.
Agencies contributed to this story.
