How Israel's blockade caused starvation in Gaza

Data: COGAT, a unit of the Israeli military; Note: "Other aid" includes water, shelter, gas, medical supplies and infrastructure equipment; Chart: Kavya Beheraj/AxiosChildren are starving in Gaza today as a direct result of the Israeli government's decision four months ago to suspend all aid into the enclave.While that decision has been partially reversed over the last two months, it's had devastating and ongoing implications for vulnerable Palestinian civilians in Gaza, aid groups report.The big picture: At least 16 children under five have died of starvation-related illnesses since July 17 and half a million people are currently experiencing "an extreme lack of food," according to a UN-affiliated report out Tuesday. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza puts the death toll from malnutrition over 100, including at least 80 children. It says 60,000 Palestinians have been killed overall since the war began.The Israeli government denies there is starvation in Gaza. President Trump rejected that claim on Monday, saying "there is real starvation in Gaza — you can't fake that."Between the lines: Gaza was already facing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises prior to March, but the ceasefire that began on Jan. 17 significantly improved the situation.Israel's decision to suspend all aid and unilaterally end the ceasefire in March drove the situation to its current desperate state.On the ground: "The sound of children crying from hunger never stops. Every day, people knock on our doors asking for food. Not money — just bread," said Rania Al Shrehi, an International Rescue Committee staffer in Gaza. Palestinians line up for food in Gaza City on July 23. Photo: Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu via Getty ImagesFlashback: Israel's freeze on all aid into GazaOn March 2, the Israeli government announced it was halting all humanitarian aid and fuel deliveries to Gaza and closing all border crossings.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision was made to pressure Hamas to release more hostages after the first phase of a Jan. 15 ceasefire deal expired.Netanyahu stressed it was made "in full coordination with President Trump and his people."Yes, but: While Hamas was ready to negotiate the second phase of the January ceasefire brokered by the Biden administration in coordination with Trump, Israel never seriously engaged, Axios' Barak Ravid reported.A senior Israeli official privately admitted recently that Israel never intended to extend the ceasefire.At the time, an Israeli official briefed reporters that there was enough food in Gaza to last four to six months.The total blockade on all aid — food, water, medicine and more — would continue for 2½ months, severely straining supplies.Renewed fighting deepens sufferingIsrael unilaterally resumed the war in Gaza on March 18.Tens of thousands more Palestinians were displaced as the war resumed, and Israel continued to block all aid.As food and other supplies grew more scarce, prices climbed. With Gaza's economy also wrecked by the war, many Palestinians could no longer to feed themselves and their families.Reports of malnutrition spiked, particularly among children. But the Israeli government rejected international appeals to end the blockade, describing it as leverage over Hamas.Friction point: Israel had long claimed international aid shipments played into Hamas' hands because the group diverted the aid and distributed or sold it, gaining legitimacy and funds. Those claims are disputed. Palestinians jostle to receive a hot meal at a charity kitchen in Khan Yunis on July 22. Photo: AFP via GettyIsrael's controversial new aid mechanismAs the aid freeze continued, Israel worked to establish a new aid mechanism to circumvent the UN and Hamas, with U.S. support.In late May, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was launched. Its mission was to establish "secure distribution centers" for Palestinians to go and receive food.While Israel temporarily reopened some existing aid channels alongside GHF, virtually all aid into Gaza was soon flowing through the new foundation.But there were at least two glaring flaws in the plan.First, the GHF sites are all in southern and central Gaza, meaning there was still almost no aid available in the north.Second, the plan required Palestinians to travel to the aid sites, through Israeli military positions, in the middle of a war. More than 750 people been killed while trying to make their way to the aid sites, according to the UN — reportedly by Israeli troops in several instances.In another incident this month, at least 20 people died in a stampede at a distribution center.Zoom out: GHF says it has provided more than 97 million meals in the last two months.But the nature of the mechanism means people who are physically strong are most able to travel to the centers, jostle for food once there, and transport it home. Women, children and the elderly in particular have struggled to obtain food.Reports of severe malnutrition — and, eventually, starvation — began to intensify over the last several weeks. A recent UN report put it bluntly: "Palestinians in Gaza are starving to death." Palestinians gather at a GHF distribution site on June 25. Photo: Eyad Baba/AFP via GettyIsrael shifts policy under global pressureIsrael has continued to deny there's any starvation in Gaza, but the government began taking tentative steps in July to increase aid.Those moves came as Israel faced international pressure, including threats of sanctions from European countries.On July 6, the Cabinet voted to allow more aid convoys to enter northern Gaza. However, that policy change was implemented haltingly, and the ongoing fighting and instances of looting along the few designated aid routes made distribution difficult.As the crisis continued to deteriorate, Israel and the UN blamed one another for the failure to distribute aid.In late July, Israel announced that it would begin airdropping food into Gaza and allowing Egypt and the UAE to do the same — a tacit admission of how severe the hunger crisis had become.Israel also announced daily humanitarian pauses in parts of Gaza to facilitate aid delivery — something it hadn't done since March.Aid groups and Western leaders welcomed those decisions, but continued to plead for a ceasefire and for the flow of aid to be dramatically increased on the ground."Air drops are expensive, inefficient and can be dangerous — and when there are clear alternatives, this is simply not the answer," IRC chief David Miliband said.State of play: "Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths," Tuesday's UN-affiliated Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report states. "Immediate action must be taken to end the hostilities and allow for unimpeded, large-scale, life-saving humanitarian response. This is the only path to stopping further deaths and catastrophic human suffering."What to watch: The Trump administration has backed the Israeli government's handling of the Gaza crisis over the past six months, even as nearly every other Western government has denounced it. But the administration is now weighing a policy change to try to expedite an end to the war and improve the humanitarian situation. Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Israel this week to discuss those issues, and may also visit a GHF distribution site in Gaza.

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