Malnourished starving children in Gaza

[babyproblems]

The photos that appeared this morning on my news updates of mothers holding their children, dying of starvation and extreme malnutrition in Gaza have absolutely broken my heart. I am not particularly news focused, of course I’ve followed it all but this morning it has stopped me in my tracks and took my breath away. As a mother of a 3yo DS who is sleeping peacefully in his bedroom, whilst we have a fridge full of food downstairs and a life of peace, I feel so sorry that those poor mothers and children are living this hell so undeserved and also so so lucky we have the peace we do…
I don’t really know what the point of my post is; I suppose I’m screaming When Will This End inside and want to tell everyone to not take the freedom and peace we have for granted; use your right to vote and use your privilege to make informed choices that steer the world away from conflict towards peace…

Sending a handhold to all the mothers’ whose lives are not being lived in peace and whose children are suffering 🕊️💔

And no justification for the army opening fire on people waiting for food at a GHF distribution point, either. That is absolutely brutal.

There is plenty of aid at the Gaza borders, but aid agencies can't get in to distribute it. There's also a shortage of potable water. It feels futile to donate money if the food and water isn't getting in.

It's hard to see what can be done without a ceasefire, and I'm afraid I can't see a ceasefire happening any time soon.

Two wrongs don't make a right; they never have, and never will.

And even if they did, there is the question of proportionality to consider. How many Gazans need to die to avenge the deaths of the 1,200 or so killed by Hamas on 7 October? The death toll topped 60,000 a few days ago.

Alex de Waal, who has studied and written extensively about famine, has an excellent piece about this in the Guardian today.

De Waal on Gaza famine

1. they are starved by Hamas and Egypt
2. 60k is fake number
3. these people are Iran's agents
4. All pictures released were AI, photoshopped or pictured with well fed adults
5. USAID lied before about famine in Gaza in the past only to admit there wasn't one at all

Tragically, neither Hamas or Israel give a shit about any Palestinian child dying of starvation. Hamas soldiers would happily sacrifice their own children if it meant Israel could be wiped off the map.

Has famine ever officially been declared in Gaza? I think not. We have been told for over a year that they are on the brink of famine...how long can even healthy adults go without food?

Now everyone finds images of starving ill children upsetting...but every child I've seen on the news who is malnourished usually has an underlying medical condition. Terrible of course but show me a starving adult?

"Zios"?

Ah the slogan that when Hamas use it means they are evil. And when is part of the ruling Likud's party's constitution, it's just fiiiine.

Surely it should be condemned for both or neither...

I personally think it's an unhelpful slogan for either side. Neither side are willing to compromise long term with their desire to be rid of eachother.

It's profoundly disturbing to me that there is a segment of the population which shares this bizarre worldview and utter lack of humanity. Frankly I think people like this are much more of a threat to "British values" and society than anyone in the pro-Palestinian movement. I should think the Prevent programme ought to be paying some attention to this type of radicalisation.

Are these statements facts or opinions, @GoldenRosebee ?

If the former, would you be kind enough to give the sources, please?

Well said.
I am astonished how many times Egypt has been blamed. Israel controls the border ffs. Why let facts get in the way of your hatred though?

VERY heated debate about something
I can personally do fuck all about.
Lots of swearing and calling posters "disgrace", if they don't immediately become emotional and unable to function.
There have been problems in that area,
since I was a child myself.
Sorry for not feeling guilty about my "comfortable life".
This thread ought to be taken down.

It's someone jumping up and down screaming "Fake nooooos!" Don't take any notice.

I really don’t have the time to get into this today but I read nonsense like this and I feel forced to log into Mumsnet to respond. Don’t take us for fools! Israel is only providing (a small amount of) food to Palestinians because they want to control the food that gets into Gaza. I’ll leave other posters to speculate as to why that might be.

Aid agencies skilled in distributing food are being blunted because Israel massively limits what they can move in. Moreover, Israel will not guarantee that aid agencies won’t be fired on, like World Food Kitchen were. I think Netanyahu et al would happily let all Palestinians starve but starving Palestinians is a step too far for Israel’s allies. They are generally moral cowards, but governments struggle to justify mass starvation to their citizens and they are starting to get restless and challenge Israel more. So Netanyahu, who generally ignores the useful idiots, pulls back a little bit. Okay, okay, we’ll let them have food, but we’ll do it so we can control (limit) the amounts. And while we’re at it, we’ll kill a bunch of desperate people who get rowdy because they’re hungry and desperate.

The gaslighting is one of the things that makes this conflict different from others. The way the Israeli government and their propaganda agents on Mumsnet tell it, they are angels, the righteous ones, who are just defending themselves from the evil Hamas. Hamas is pretty impotent right now. The current plan being carried out by the Israeli government is not about Hamas. The destruction of buildings and infrastructure in large areas, even intact buildings. Severely limiting food to Palestinians. The problem is that the Palestinians have a legitimate grievance and until that is dealt with, the pain of that grievance will live on and continue to recruit people to organisations like Hamas. This plan to crush the Palestinians just buys time. It doesn’t deal with the root cause of the problem.

The good thing is that media organisations like the BBC have a much greater reach than individual Mumsnet threads. The BBC are not perfect but they are reasonably impartial and they are certainly painting a very different picture from the likes of Dangermoo and Featherruffler. They also regularly remind us that Israel won’t allow foreign journalists access to Gaza. I wonder why that is.

Are you reporting all this from Gaza or just making it up as you go?

Points 1-5 are utter rubbish, believed only by racist people so full of entitlement that they deny the right of others to exist. The open hatred and contempt that "some people" have for Palestinians is horrific and depressing. I used to try and understand both sides. Now it is very clear who is the victim and who is hell bent on genocide.

Mate.

How would you like to be 'shown a starving adult' @Comedycook ? What would pass muster with you, as you sit pontificating on the other side of your television?

Do you genuinely believe that many major newspapers are printing completely fake or misleading photographs on their front pages?

if so, what rationale do you have for saying you know anything at all about it as clearly not one news source, worldwide, can be trusted at all.

Are all the pictures of starving babies and children AI or photoshopped OR are they being starved by Hamas and Egypt?

You can't have it both ways.

I don't want to see one...I don't want to see anyone starving which I know must be a huge disappointment for the sanctimonious types who like to demonise people as either good or bad. But I imagine if there were adults dying of starvation, hamas would be making sure the world saw it, wouldn't they?

But like I said... We've been told they are on the brink of famine for month and months now turning into years .yet it's never actually a famine is it? it's also an absolute miracle that the population has grown during this.

Incorrect it has dropped significantly

Horrific and it is insane that no action is being taken by countries/the UN to help them.

It started with most of us understanding that what Hamas did was horrendous and that Israel was right to defend itself to the Israeli government thinking they could just do whatever they want as a result, starve and kill civilians and wipe Gaza off the map.

It is sickening that this has been allowed to happen and Starmer for a start should stop enabling this genocide.

I am sick of the media pussy-footing around this and everyone having to be extra careful not to appear anti-semitic by criticising the Israeli government when kids, not terrorists, are dying.

Oh well, as long as it's only 'on the brink' of starvation...

Seriously, WTF @Comedycook

We are allowed to question things surely?