Gaza War: Blinken says 100 percent of Gaza’s population “suffers from food insecurity”

Blinken’s statements come on the eve of his visit to the Middle East, this time including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, to discuss efforts to reach a ceasefire and increase the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

In an assessment of food security published by specialized agencies at the United Nations on Monday, the international body warned of a “catastrophic” food situation for half of the Strip’s population and of an “imminent” famine.

Blinken said that “the post-war period in Gaza” will be the title that brings him together with senior leaders in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

This is not Blinken’s first visit since the war began on October 7.

Washington announced its support for Israel in its response to the Hamas attack, which led to the death of 1,200 people and the taking of 200 hostages in Gaza, according to the Israeli army.

Israel has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women, since the beginning of its response to the attack.

The war in Gaza only stopped for a few days since its beginning, when Hamas and Israel reached a preliminary agreement according to which a number of hostages were exchanged for Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli prisons.

In Blinken’s current and previous visits, he spoke about diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement that guarantees the release of all Israeli hostages, and a humanitarian truce that allows for the sustainable and increased delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.

The residents of the Gaza Strip suffer from a lack of drinking water, electricity, and food, especially in the north of the Gaza Strip, whose residents are suffering from famine due to the lack of access to food aid.

Earlier, Hamas leader Osama Hamdan told the BBC that the movement’s demands are clear: “First, stop the aggression, and this means stopping military operations and withdrawing the occupation from all the lands it entered during the operations completely and finally, and also lifting the siege and bringing in relief urgently and immediately, and beginning to A broad, programmed and specific process for reconstruction, and the subject of the exchange could be at any moment thereafter.”

While Netanyahu declared that Hamas’s demands were “imaginary” and declared that his goal was to eliminate the movement.

The Israeli government and the war council are witnessing disagreements over the post-Gaza war plan.

On February 22nd, Netanyahu presented a plan that stipulates the dismantling of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, the release of the Israeli hostages, and Israeli security supervision of “the entire western Jordanian region.”

The text stated that Gaza would be demilitarized, that the Israeli army would retain “an unlimited freedom to operate throughout the Strip to prevent the return of armed activity,” and that “a buffer zone would be established on the Palestinian side of the border.”

Netanyahu’s proposal was met with rejection by all Palestinian forces, including the Palestinian Authority, and American refusal to reoccupy the Palestinian territories in Gaza and the West Bank.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Israeli War Council will meet tonight after the return of Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea from Doha. The newspaper “Israel Hayom” reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu excluded Minister Benny Gantz from the decisions of the exchange deal. The newspaper described the relations between Netanyahu and Gantz as “bad” since the beginning of the war on Gaza.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated that military decisiveness and Hamas’ surrender are the only way to “return the hostages and win the war.”

For his part, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Al-Ansari said that the parties “are not close to reaching an agreement until the moment,” noting that negotiations on an exchange deal have resumed in all their tracks in Doha. There is “cautious optimism” in Qatar about the talks.

Al-Ansari announced that the Mossad chief left Doha after a round of negotiations, but the technical teams are still meeting in the Qatari capital and consultations will continue in the coming days. In the weekly briefing, Al-Ansari added that the Doha talks focus on achieving a temporary ceasefire and the introduction of humanitarian aid. He said that it is still too early to talk about any breach or success, but we are cautiously optimistic, as he put it.

Al-Ansari pointed out that any operation on Rafah would lead to a humanitarian catastrophe and would have a negative impact on the progress of the talks, stressing that Israel must be held responsible for the safety of civilians and health facilities in the Gaza Strip.

Regarding humanitarian aid, the Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed that Qatar is trying as much as possible to ensure the continued entry of aid in various forms into the Gaza Strip, indicating that it is not possible to accept the fact that Gaza is on the verge of famine, as the United Nations said, under the eyes of the international community.

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, called on Israel to allow unrestricted aid entry into the besieged Strip, saying, “We are running out of time.”

For his part, US President Joe Biden warned that a large-scale ground attack by the Israeli army in Rafah would constitute a “mistake,” in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first in a month.

The White House said that Netanyahu agreed to Biden’s request to send a delegation of high-ranking Israeli officials to Washington to discuss this attack and a possible “alternative approach.”

Netanyahu said he assured Biden of Israel’s determination to “achieve all the goals of the war,” including “eliminating Hamas.”

The US President is facing increasing criticism due to the high Palestinian death toll and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the United Nations warns of the risk of famine.

On Friday, Biden praised the “good speech” delivered by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, in which he called for elections in Israel.

With the United Nations warning of an imminent famine in Gaza, Biden ordered the American forces to begin airdropping humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip, and he also ordered the establishment of a temporary port off the Strip for the docking of humanitarian aid ships.

A UN-backed report warned that famine could spread in the devastated and isolated northern Gaza Strip by May, in the absence of urgent intervention. He stated, “All evidence indicates a significant acceleration in deaths and malnutrition.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded by saying, “Israel allows significant humanitarian aid to enter Gaza by land, air and sea.”

On Monday, the Israeli authorities did not allow the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, to enter the besieged Gaza Strip, according to what was announced.