A displaced Palestinian woman feeds children in front of a tent at the al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 10, 2024.    (Photo by AFP)

Ramallah, April 15 (RHC)-- The Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) has said that Gaza has entered a full-blown famine as 91% of the population faces extreme food insecurity following Israel’s long genocidal war against the Palestinians there.

"Israel is deliberately starving 2 million people — bombing bakeries, blocking food, and cutting off water.  This is not a crisis.  It’s genocide," PNGO said on Monday.

According to PNGO, 91% of Gaza’s population faces crisis-level food insecurity. 345,000 people are in Phase 5 — the most extreme stage of famine. 60,000 children urgently need treatment for malnutrition.

And 92% of children under 2 and breastfeeding mothers aren’t getting the nutrition they need. This means permanent, irreversible damage to an entire generation, the PNGO said.

"This is not a natural disaster.  It’s a policy of starvation — by design."

Bakeries have been shut down.  Food and medicine warehouses were bombed.  Aid blocked at the border.  Water desalination plant destroyed, the PNGO said.

The United Nations has sounded the alarm on a severe malnutrition crisis gripping the Gaza Strip.  Even polio vaccines and nutritional supplements are being prevented from entering, it stated.

“The Israeli apartheid regime is intentionally preventing the entry of food, medicine, and fuel,” PNGO said.

This is the textbook definition of genocide — and it’s being backed, funded and supported by the United States, it said.

PNGO has demanded the following:

* Gaza be declared a famine zone

* Sanctions on Israel

* Safe corridors for aid

* Suspension of all arms transfers — especially from the US and EU

* War crimes prosecutions for Israeli leaders

The relevant international and UN organizations must formally declare famine in the northern Gaza Strip, according to a human rights group.

[ SOURCE: AL JAZEERA and NEWS AGENCIES ]