How is forced starvation allowed?

[Tinycatnoise]

The top story in the BBC right now is the starvation of Gazans by Israel. The images are horrifying and not dissimilar to seeing those images of concentration camps in Nazi Germany. I cried seeing those and am crying now. I am sure someone will claim antisemitism because of this statement, but anyone looking at these images of starving children would agree.

How is this still going on? I feel like we are watching a genocide take place that the world has turning a blind eye to. The daily shooting by Israel of people trying to get aid too is just barbaric. If nothing is being done to stop this, what is the next horror that will unfold in the world that people will just accept?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9xkx7vnmxo

Nobody said their lives don't matter. But can you not see the problem with plucking out children with medical conditions and claiming they represent the whole population? Its a lie, its manipulation, its propaganda and the people who would do it don't think all children's lives matter. They just want to win a propaganda war.

And we can't trust journalists and news outlets that oublish this stuff without doing basic due diligence. Collier isn't even based in the ME and doesnt have the resources of a media empire.

Yep, also with the destruction of medical infrastructure (including doctors) they will be less likely to receive treatment.

Collier used a lot of likely/maybe "I've seen but won't show you" to attempt to refute this single story.....

Article here: https://david-collier.com/the-truth-behind-the-viral-gaza-famine-photo/

Israel has enabled the delivery of more humanitarian aid per capita to the territory of an active wartime adversary than any nation in the history of modern conflict.

https://x.com/MiddleEast_24/status/1949203222511718628

Thank you @SharonEllis for posting this.

I was not aware.

I was aware that some of the malnourished children in Gaza need specialist formula that they were not getting due to the war. And that some have other underlying medical conditions so their condition is not exactly caused by a simple lack of access to food - it's more nuanced than that. I was also aware that some Gazan children are not getting good quality food or enough of it and as a mother, that upsets me.

But what you describe is a very cynical attempt to mislead people. I am disgusted with the media outlets involved and with anyone that would try to use Mohammed & his family for propaganda purposes.

Of course they can see the problem - it's obvious.

Whether they will admit to seeing the problem is another matter.

@SharonEllis Wow can't believe you have posted that propaganda piece. Sunk to a new low there. 133 children have died of malnutrition in the past few weeks has David Collier done a similar piece them? I'll wait

Shame on those denying the reality in Gaza

Baby food and formula:

https://x.com/cogatonline/status/1944459444126970204

https://x.com/cogatonline/status/1947237506228826122

Of course they can see the problem - it's obvious.
What's the problem that's so obvious? Please explain it to me

No need to wait. He didn't need to do a piece on them. Everyone else was doing that. No investigative journalist writes a piece that has already been written.

He's not denying reality. He's pointing out propaganda, media manipulation and contributing to the understanding of the complexity of the situation. Above all he is showing the dusgraceful callousness of the Pro-Palestinians who will use Palestinians as pawns in their media war.

Absolutely. But if civilians are in the way of the enemy, then you shouldn’t still bomb them. Yes, Hamas’s choices are deplorable but ultimately Israel chose to pull the trigger that killed civilians multiple times and they are the only people responsible for those acts. The tactics Hamas use make defeating them hard and avoiding civilian death would prolong the war but the alternative is sinking to the level of Hamas.

the problem with plucking out children with medical conditions and claiming they represent the whole population? Its a lie, its manipulation, its propaganda
They are there, they are starving, they are dying, they are the first.

Should we just sit on our hands and say ah sure it's only the vulnerable nothing to see here, nothing needs to change, until it effects the whole population let's carry on as we were. You have been sucked in by propaganda yourself you are just too entrenched to see it.

Its ok, it was a good quote!

The threads moved on to more discussion of the picture, and thats my point. The picture is used as a rallying point for more hatred. The picture causes emotion in us, fear, sadness, helplessness, despite what we're often called on here- none of us want children to be bombed or starved. But when we keep looking at image after image of this, we empathize with these people, they become part of our own tribe so to speak, then we're no longer able to empathize with the other tribe. Its evolutionarily appropriate, but doesn't help with situations like this. It just means we over empathize with one group, then under empathize with the other.

I dont think empathy is always helpful. I think it can cloud clear thinking about a very, very complex problem with no completely innocent party.

So yes, I do look away when I get emotional. I can't think of the Bibas mother or Hind Rajab at all.

You can't see the problem with plucking out children with medical conditions and claiming they represent the whole population?

Yes one of the things he refused to show was documents about the child's medical history. Its called ethics. If you go to the original article on his website it is extensively illustrated and referenced with links to sources. Sometimes 'likely' is all we know. We do know for sure that those pictures do not represent what we were told they represent.

It’s not a lie.
The other children are just deteriorating more slowly. They are also malnourished. They are at risk of stunted growth, deformities, organ damage, and long-term health issues. Why does it have to reach the point where every child is visibly dying before you admit something is severely wrong?
The human will to live is strong. That does not mean survival equals safety or dignity.
Go back and read previous threads. There is an AMA from a Jewish Mumsnetter who worked in a UN school in Palestine before October 7th. The deprivation is not new. It is generational. People who have visited have said how noticeably shorter many Palestinians are compared to people in other regions. That is not a coincidence. It is what decades of restriction, poverty, and malnutrition does.
What I see now is that a lot of people cannot admit what is happening because doing so would break the worldview they were raised with. The simple story of who is good and who is bad, who is always the victim, who is never capable of cruelty.
So they shift the goalposts.
"Where is the picture?"
"That picture is fake."
"Where is the video?"
"That video was edited."
"Those kids were already ill."
"They only show disabled children."
What will it take for you to finally say,
"Actually, I think the Israeli government and the IDF are treating Palestinians horrifically and it needs to stop."
You do not need to change your politics to say that. You just need to be honest. And human.

Above all he is showing the dusgraceful callousness of the Pro-Palestinians who will use Palestinians as pawns in their media war.
The media is being used to put pressure on governments to make changes and with aid now going through it has worked. Israel has completely controlled the narrative will not let any independent correspondents in so we are relying on these images to know what is happening.

Israel hasn't completely controlled the narrative. How the hell would they even do that? Please explain the mechanism for Israel controlling the narrative?

Yes, the media has put pressure on governments. Lets pray Israel is able to keep the aid out of the hands of Hamas so it goes to the children that need it. How do you think that can be controlled?

No they were showing starving children and it woke people up to realise something needs to be done to stop this torture. 133 children have died of starvation so far, how many more would you accept? Over 1000 killed trying to get aid how many more would you accept? Or would you agree that the images (of which there were many) have meant Israel has had to respond and increase the amount of aid going through.

Just like Michael Buerks piece from Ethiopia spurred the world into action.

I mean you really should be questioning your motive and morals when you START from a position of believing evil sub human terrorists and their supporters, who carried out the kind of atrocities of Oct 7th, kidnapped babies and children, and celebrated it.

The UN and NGOs are parroting Hamas, and are absolutely complicit.

Even if you want to ignore them deliberately leaving thousands of tonnes of aid to rot while refusing offers of help to distribute it, to try to DELIBERATELY manufacture a ‘famine’ for people it is supposed to be giving life saving support to (which is arguably much worse than Israel, the enemy, allegedly trying to starve them), those NGOs and the UN were in Gaza for decades while kids were indoctrinated into a martyrdom ideology where death means more than life, exploited and abused as pawns against Israel and now used as human sacrifices in this war.

They do represent the population as a whole, everyone is starving. They are simply the first to die. Most people do not need that spelling out to them.

Israel hasn't completely controlled the narrative. How the hell would they even do that? Please explain the mechanism for Israel controlling the narrative?
By controlling who goes in and out of Gaza, by killing journalist and denying access to independent war correspondents.

Where did I say we should sit on our hands? What needs to happen is aid needs to get to people who need it. That doesnt happen if Hamas has any part in the disruotion, if Hamas engineers disruption, if Hamas steals aid for themselves or to sell.

I notice noone is really addressing the issue. It seems, as ever people actually don't really care about getting this right. Just cheap shots.

Lets pray Israel is able to keep the aid out of the hands of Hamas so it goes to the children that need it. How do you think that can be controlled?

@SharonEllis ah this lie that has already been disproven. You are so entrenched in Israeli propaganda you can't see it

So how did these pictures get out? Did Israel release them? This is too ridiculous for words. Please try to think about what you are saying.

How do you know that 'everyone' is starving?