{"id":3813,"date":"2025-08-10T23:57:47","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T23:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=3813"},"modified":"2025-08-10T23:57:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T23:57:47","slug":"how-israel-is-starving-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=3813","title":{"rendered":"How Israel Is Starving Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>    <!-- BLOCK(acast)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22ACAST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Afalse%7D)(%7B%22id%22%3A%22a-purely-manmade-famine-how-israel-is-starving-gaza%22%2C%22podcast%22%3A%22intercept-presents%22%2C%22subscribe%22%3Atrue%7D) --><\/p>\n<p>\n  <iframe src=\"https:\/\/embed.acast.com\/intercept-presents\/a-purely-manmade-famine-how-israel-is-starving-gaza?accentColor=111111&amp;bgColor=f5f6f7&amp;logo=false\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"acast-player__embed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(acast)[0] --><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"has-underline\">As the Israeli<\/span> government weighs, once again, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/08\/07\/world\/middleeast\/israel-gaza-military-offensive.html\">expanding<\/a> its genocidal military campaign in Gaza, the enclave is sliding into a full-scale famine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a purely manmade famine,\u201d says Bob Kitchen, vice president of emergencies at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rescue.org\">International Rescue Committee<\/a>. \u201cThe Gaza Strip is surrounded by very fertile farming territory. All of the countries around Gaza have more than enough food.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This week on the Intercept Briefing, Intercept reporter <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/staff\/jonahvaldez\/\">Jonah Valdez<\/a> speaks with Kitchen about what U.N.-backed hunger experts have called a \u201cworst-case scenario.\u201d Kitchen lays out how Israel\u2019s ongoing war, combined with severe restrictions on humanitarian aid and commercial access, has created near-impossible conditions for food and medical supplies to enter Gaza \u2014 accelerating a crisis that could soon be irreversible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only thing that\u2019s changed is the war, the restrictions on humanitarian aid, the restrictions on the market economy where commercial traffic can\u2019t get in,\u201d says Kitchen. \u201cThat\u2019s the only thing that is driving the hunger right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-intercept-briefing\/id1195206601\"> Apple Podcasts<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2js8lwDRiK1TB4rUgiYb24?si=e3ce772344ee4170\"> Spotify<\/a>, or wherever you listen.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Transcript<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jonah Valdez:<\/strong> Welcome to The Intercept Briefing. I\u2019m Jonah Valdez.<\/p>\n<p>Since Israel began choking off aid to Gaza nearly six months ago, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipcinfo.org\/ipcinfo-website\/countries-in-focus-archive\/issue-133\/en\/\">U.N.-backed hunger experts<\/a> issued their gravest warning yet: that a worst-case famine scenario was unfolding.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There are three criteria that must be met for a famine to be officially declared: widespread extreme food shortages, high levels of acute malnutrition, and the extent of malnutrition related-mortality. The first two are evident \u2014 the third is hard to confirm.<\/p>\n<p>But Palestinians in Gaza did not need this confirmation. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2025\/07\/gaza-evidence-points-to-israels-continued-use-of-starvation-to-inflict-genocide-against-palestinians\/\">At least 18,000<\/a> children have been hospitalized for acute malnutrition since the beginning of this year. Though officials say the vast majority of malnourished children can\u2019t reach medical care.<\/p>\n<p>At least <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/hamas-says-it-will-allow-aid-hostages-if-israel-halts-airstrikes-opens-permanent-2025-08-04\/\">175 people<\/a> \u2014 92 children and 82 adults \u2014 have died of hunger in Gaza in recent weeks, according to Gaza health officials. And over <a href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2025\/08\/1165582\">1500 people<\/a> have been killed in the last few months while trying to access food \u2014 many near distribution sites that were supposed to provide safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This is a crisis created by Israel\u2019s policy \u2014 one that aid organizations say could be solved. To help us understand what\u2019s happening on the ground and what it would take to address this crisis, we\u2019re joined by Bob Kitchen from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rescue.org\/\">International Rescue Committee<\/a>. He is the vice president of global emergency and humanitarian actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.<\/p>\n<p>Bob, thanks for joining us.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bob Kitchen:<\/strong> Thanks for having me.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jonah Valdez:<\/strong> So we\u2019re speaking on Wednesday, August 6th, and you\u2019ve worked in humanitarian crises around the world for over two decades. How does what you\u2019re seeing in Gaza compare to other famines you\u2019ve witnessed and what makes this situation unique?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bob Kitchen:<\/strong> Well, I was just gonna say unprecedented, \u201cunique\u201d is a good term. When we see famines normally, it\u2019s normally as a result of the intersection of conflict and then some form of natural disaster, natural hazard where the man-made conflict turbocharges the effects of climate \u2014 where whether it\u2019s a drought, where food has failed, the crop has failed, where farmers can\u2019t get to market because of insecurity.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What we\u2019re seeing now is not that. We\u2019re seeing a purely manmade famine where Gaza, the Gaza Strip, is surrounded by very fertile farming territory. All of the countries around Gaza have more than enough food.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So the only thing that\u2019s changed is the war, the restrictions on humanitarian aid, the restrictions on the market economy where commercial traffic can\u2019t get in. That\u2019s the only thing that is driving the hunger right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> And I want to ask you more about those conditions specifically. But first, could you tell us more about the work IRC is doing on the ground to help alleviate hunger and malnutrition?<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK: <\/strong>People very rarely die of just hunger. As people get more and more hungry, their system becomes more and more prone to communicable diseases. People normally die of dehydration as a result of dirty water. So our primary focus is on distributing clean water, helping with the sanitation system \u2014 so installing and maintaining latrines, cleaning up solid waste and sewers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And then as a secondary priority that is urgent in and of itself, we\u2019re looking at nutritional screenings. So we\u2019re doing massive screening campaigns to identify particularly children who are themselves slipping into acute malnutrition, and then either helping them or referring them into inpatient care so they can try and stabilize and recover.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> And as you alluded to, aid organizations, as you know, have been clear that this isn\u2019t a supply problem and there\u2019s enough food and medical supplies available elsewhere, but the crisis stems from the conditions that the Israeli government has created that prevent aid from reaching people who need it.<\/p>\n<p>Can you walk us through the specific logistical barriers your team is facing?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> It starts with the fact that there\u2019s tens of thousands of tons of food waiting to go into Gaza \u2014 prepositioned in Jordan, in Egypt, all around, ready to go in. But before any aid is allowed into Gaza, we all have to ask for permission with the government of Israel.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a long, bureaucratic process. And at the moment, a lot of aid is turned down. It\u2019s rejected. It\u2019s not allowed in. So for us, for example, we have multiple trucks of what\u2019s called RUTF, reinforced therapeutic feeding supplies, that we use to help particularly children, as I said, stabilize and begin the process of recovery from acute malnutrition.<\/p>\n<p>We have trucks full of it. We have pharmaceutical supplies ready to go, and we\u2019ve been asking for permission for almost six months to bring these trucks across the border from Jordan and in through Israel, into the Gaza Strip. It would help thousands of people, particularly children, and we have not been given that permission, so they\u2019re just sitting waiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And that is our situation, but it\u2019s mirrored across the tens, hundreds of U.N. agencies and international and local organizations that are trying to provide assistance to the 2 million civilians on the ground who have run out of food.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> And I want to zoom in a little bit on what you said about these trucks just sitting there and you\u2019ve been asking for permission for six months, you said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s worth mentioning the Israeli government, its defenders, and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation have all propagated this line that aid restrictions are necessary to <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/30\/new-york-times-hamas-aid-israel-gaza-famine\/\">prevent Hamas<\/a> from stealing aid and they have to do this for security purposes and that the United Nations is refusing to actually distribute the aid, there\u2019s no blockage\u00a0\u2014 despite ever providing evidence to back any of these claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What do you and IRC make of these explanations and justification for the ongoing blockade?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> Well, not to put too blunt a point on it, I think they\u2019re incorrect. I think they\u2019re wrong. I think the humanitarian community, comprised of the United Nations and international organizations like the IRC, have decades of experience working in complex war zones where resources are scant and parties to the conflict frequently try and get their hands on aid. And we have a history of being able to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance, food, water, medicines to civilians.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We are audited all of the time, all around the world. And what\u2019s called aid diversion, where food supplies is stolen by parties to the conflict, is a big issue for auditors. They look at it and take it very seriously, and we pass with flying colors, all of these audits because we know what we\u2019re doing. What\u2019s more ironic is that we have collectively decades of experience of doing this inside Gaza. I was particularly struck in the last couple of weeks by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/07\/26\/world\/middleeast\/hamas-un-aid-theft.html\">a New York Times report<\/a> where a government of Israel, an IDF person, spoke to the fact that based on their assessment there\u2019s no evidence of aid diversion. There\u2019s no evidence of aid being stolen, of it benefiting Hamas. That seems to be a pretty clear statement to the fact that the previous system run by the United Nations, run by international NGOs, were successful in getting aid through to civilians.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And that has now, not completely but almost stopped and has been replaced by another system run by the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/24\/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-israel-aid-starvation\/\">Gaza Humanitarian Foundation<\/a> that is struggling to feed less than a quarter of the population. And while they do it, many people are being killed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> Right. Right. And thanks for mentioning other coverage disputing some of the lines coming from the Israeli government.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m wondering if there\u2019s anything else, as far as what you would want people to understand about this crisis, that isn\u2019t getting through in most media coverage.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> I think the starting point for me is the fear of providing material support to a terror group is legitimate.\u00a0But we have a proven track record that the military of Israel has said that \u2014 in its own words \u2014 is not providing material support to Hamas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And the one thing I know for sure is that you don\u2019t create terrorists by feeding very hungry children \u2014 it\u2019s the inverse. If you don\u2019t feed children, if you don\u2019t feed a population to the point where they\u2019re starving, that\u2019s where anger really festers, that\u2019s where resistance really builds. So in the overarching theory of change of defeating Hamas, this is not going to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rescue.org\/country\/occupied-palestinian-territory-opt\">IRC website<\/a> says, \u201cGaza is not just experiencing hunger \u2014 it is enduring a slow, systematic death by starvation.\u201d The IRC [is] also warning the Israeli government that its \u201ctactical pause and limited humanitarian corridors will not meaningfully alleviate Gaza\u2019s catastrophic hunger crisis.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Could you talk more again about the role the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/05\/26\/gaza-famine-aid-israel-palestine-ghf\/\">Israeli government<\/a> is playing in creating and perpetuating this crisis?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> I will do, but let me just say some things about that statement.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV: <\/strong>Please.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK: <\/strong>It\u2019s not just about food. If you reflect on what I said to start with \u2014 that people very rarely die of just hunger, it\u2019s normally complications that come alongside that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It therefore is not just food that is urgently required. It\u2019s food. It\u2019s medicine. It\u2019s oral rehydration salts to help people recover. It\u2019s IVs. It\u2019s the materials that we require to be able to give people jerry cans so they can safely store water. It\u2019s getting money, cash in to pay our staff and to buy things. Delivering aid to 2 million people who have suffered nearly two years of real violence \u2014 it takes everything that a society needs because there\u2019s nothing left inside Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>So under international humanitarian law, states are obliged to ensure the provision of food, medicine, and water. They\u2019re failing to do that at the moment. We\u2019re collectively failing to do that because of the restrictions that have been placed on us. But it takes a lot more than that to mitigate the risks that this population is facing after such a long time.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s the bureaucratic impediments that we have to navigate are broad and well-seated. So requesting aid, getting aid across the primary checkpoint, close to Rafah, getting it \u2014 everything is searched, offloaded and searched, put back onto trucks. That\u2019s the first major hurdle. But then getting it into Gaza, moving it away from the \u201cborder,\u201d from the checkpoint, and across the territory to where so many people are still based itself is complex because there is a war going on. The pauses that have been declared are short-term. They\u2019re focused primarily in the west of the territory, which is on the opposite side of the strip from where the majority of aid is crossing.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe only solution is an overwhelming amount of aid to go in.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>So getting in through an active war zone is possible, but it\u2019s not straightforward. And then we\u2019re distributing and moving within a population of 2 million that we spent the last 15 minutes talking about extreme levels of hunger \u2014 so there is matching levels of desperation. So it is an increasingly insecure place where it is difficult to move around in trucks that have aid in with people surrounding you that are desperate, without them trying to access the aid themselves.<\/p>\n<p>So it is a multilayered and complex situation and frankly, the only solution is an overwhelming amount of aid to go in, in a way that is sustained. It will take months of unimpeded and free-flowing aid to catch up with the needs of people so that things can settle down.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> Right. And you know, you mentioned the desperation.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m wondering if you could walk us through more of those logistical challenges on the ground that continue in getting aid delivered to Palestinians. There was a stat published by the United Nations that since May, <a href=\"https:\/\/app.un2720.org\/tracking\/collected\">2,604 U.N. aid trucks<\/a> have entered the strip, but only a small fraction of those have actually reached their destination.<\/p>\n<p>And of course, I think it\u2019s worth mentioning that GHF and the Israeli government has said, well, this looting is more evidence that Hamas is doing the looting, that they\u2019re stealing aid. Talk about the desperation, the logistical challenges that these aid groups are facing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> So it\u2019s the right question to ask, and my answer is going to be both understandable and unacceptable at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t tolerate crime, we don\u2019t tolerate the theft of humanitarian aid \u2014 but that\u2019s what we\u2019re facing right now. As you cross into Gaza \u2014 I was there last year, went into Gaza during the war and saw it firsthand \u2014 that as soon as the trucks cross the Israeli checkpoint and go into Gaza, they\u2019re entering a territory that no longer has law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>What was provided, the police were Hamas. They have been killed. They\u2019ve taken the uniforms off, they\u2019re hiding. They\u2019re no longer on the streets for sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So what you are then faced with as a truck driver, whether you work for the commercial sector or whether you work for NGOs and U.N. agencies, is a very large number of people that are desperate, who will do almost anything to get their hands on food and other aid supplies. Whether to feed their family \u2014 that\u2019s the majority now\u00a0\u2014 or whether to sell onto the market to make some food, to make some money. Now, the reality is that that crowd that I\u2019m discussing is made up of both criminals who have organized themselves into gangs, unknown armed elements \u2014 I don\u2019t know their identity. But then there is also civilians, who are taking desperate actions because of the desperation they feel.<\/p>\n<p>So, writ large, it\u2019s a dangerous situation. High number of aid convoys that have gone in have been looted and others have just not been able to get into the territory because it\u2019s so dangerous. So they\u2019re able to cross the checkpoint and then they\u2019re parked up. So when [the] government of Israel say X number of trucks have passed through the checkpoint \u2014 there is a large number of trucks on any given day that are waiting to try and seek some safety before they proceed along one road that is preyed upon on a daily basis by criminals and civilians and other armed elements that are looting the trucks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So it\u2019s a very difficult situation, but I will say you can track it back to there is nothing in Gaza. There is no food, there is no commercial traffic coming in, so there\u2019s nothing on the market. Inflation is something like 700 percent. Bags of flour sell at close to a hundred dollars at the moment. People don\u2019t have any money. There\u2019s no work, they have no food. So it is both understandable and unacceptable at the same time. And the only solution is to open multiple gates so it\u2019s not just one gate and one road; and flood the Gaza Strip with food and water and medicine. So the level of desperation, the level of criminal opportunity goes down because there\u2019s things on the market and people are getting the aid they need.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- BLOCK(cta)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22CTA%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%7D) --><\/p>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(cta)[0] --><\/p>\n<p>[BREAK]<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV: <\/strong>Could you tell me about the major disparity between what\u2019s accessible now versus other points of the conflict, specifically during the ceasefire? We\u2019re talking GHF, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is operating, I believe, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/21\/israel-gaza-famine-food-aid-starvation\/\">four aid sites<\/a> right now, which is dwarfed by \u2014<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> A drop in the ocean.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV: <\/strong>Right, right.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> That\u2019s the word you\u2019re looking for \u2014 a drop in the ocean.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> A drop in the ocean. How many aid sites were there previously? I mean, hundreds right?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK: <\/strong>Hundreds. UNRWA, the U.N. office for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, operated more than 100 sites for distribution. And then alongside them, organizations like the IRC and many other international groups and then Palestinian organizations had their own distribution sites. So there\u2019s a number of very bad, worrying things going on here.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Number one, it is no longer an issue of the cost of food and other supplies being prohibitive on the market. It\u2019s just the fact that there is nothing on the market anymore. No matter how much money you have, you can\u2019t readily buy food off the market.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So, for example, my staff on the ground in Gaza, we employ just less than 60 Palestinians on the ground \u2014 they can\u2019t find food. Their children are now starving. Two things that I have never done in the 25 years I\u2019ve been in the humanitarian industry is number one: I am now serving one meal a day in the office to try desperately to give my staff some food for them to be able to survive. So I\u2019m finding ways to afford and to import food into the Gaza Strip, specifically for my staff.<\/p>\n<p>I have done that in other locations where there is no food because of a natural disaster. I\u2019ve done that when we\u2019re just right out in the middle of the desert. I\u2019ve never done that when there is plentiful food within 25 kilometers.<\/p>\n<p>The other thing I\u2019m doing is I\u2019m opening my nutritional programs to the children of my staff. These are well-paid professionals, highly educated, receiving an NGO salary. But they can no longer find the food to be able to feed their children, and their children are officially falling into acute malnutrition. So we\u2019re having to open up our programs to our own staff children.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve never done that before. And it speaks to the desperation of the situation and how unacceptable the situation we face is.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So in addition to my staff, this is being faced by people across the Gaza Strip. So you asked about the GHF distribution sites, there\u2019s some very important things that you should be aware of. Number one, we\u2019ve seen a decrease from what I was just saying about there being hundreds of distribution sites to only four \u2014 which in itself is crazy to try and serve that number of people from just four sites. No wonder they have crowd control issues, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/06\/27\/israel-killed-palestinians-food-aid-gaza\/\">no wonder it\u2019s a very dangerous situation<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What is more worrying is that all of those four sites are in the south of the Gaza Strip, so people are being forced to either move permanently from the north of the Garza Strip down into the south, so there\u2019s a greater concentration of desperation, mouths to feed. There\u2019s no resources, but whatever resources there are, they\u2019re now stretched even further because of the density of the population who have walked down.<\/p>\n<p>And if they do try and travel down and then return, they\u2019re crossing multiple checkpoints that the government of Israel has installed, which themselves are very dangerous. So either the profile of the population is being forced to change, where people are traveling to the south to find food. Or people are taking double risks by moving down north, south across the strip, across multiple checkpoints before they even take on the danger of going to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, which themselves are extremely dangerous.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> Could you talk more about from a health care standpoint of the actual physical toll and the health toll on the body that something like malnutrition has in the short term, in the long term, up until someone\u2019s death, or if they happen to survive it?<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> I will flag that I am neither a doctor or a nutritionist. I am proudly a generalist. So I\u2019ll tell you what I know, and this is born of working in some of the most severe food security situations around the world, but I\u2019m not a doctor. So there\u2019s two groups that we are most concerned about.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously under 5s are where we really focus a lot of our attention on because of two pressures. Number one, when you\u2019ve yet to reach the age of 5, your system is developing in an accelerated fashion and requires nutrition to be able to do so. So if you are starved of nutrients \u2014 of food \u2014 your development is profoundly and irreversibly impacted, so that results in wasting and stunting. So you may not be able to fulfill your potential of growth. Your organs will not develop in the way they\u2019re supposed to. So there is a chance of long-term illness. So that is profoundly serious for this population in the long term, given the number of children who are still in that developmental phase.<\/p>\n<p>The other pressure that young kids face is that they\u2019re so much more vulnerable to food security. They have less reserves. So if a kid under 5 doesn\u2019t get the food they need, they more rapidly move toward the danger zone of severe acute malnutrition where intervention is urgently required, and without it, they will pass away.<\/p>\n<p>So what that looks like for them and in a slower way for older children and then adults because of the reserves that we develop as we grow older, is that your system starts to close down. So the body prioritizes getting nutrition, nutrients to your brain. So your major organs start to close down, you are very susceptible to outbreaks and diseases that are sadly common in this type of environment.<\/p>\n<p>So, as I said earlier, people rarely die of just acute hunger. What they normally die of is diarrhea \u2014 acute watery diarrhea \u2014 where they\u2019re eating in unsanitary environments. The food is dirty, their hands are dirty as they\u2019re eating, or they\u2019re drinking contaminated water. That gives them \u2014 what we would see as an upset stomach \u2014 what they see is a life-threatening disease because as soon as you get acute watery diarrhea or diarrhea of any form, your system is rapidly becoming dehydrated. And that is a cause of death when you\u2019re that hungry.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> Not to mention individuals who may have preexisting conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK: <\/strong>Oh, for sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV: <\/strong>I\u2019m wondering if you could say more about people with injuries from airstrikes or military operations. How it\u2019s even more\u2014 I\u2019ve seen reporting [say] that it\u2019s more difficult to recover from those injuries\u00a0when malnourished or lacking food.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> I\u2019m not a doctor, but this is not brain surgery.<\/p>\n<p>This is simple math. Your body requires more good nutrients to recover from injury, to rebuild bones or heal wounds, or recover even just from trauma. So when you don\u2019t have those, the healing process is slow or non-existent. And because of the trauma that your body\u2019s trying to handle and trying to keep the systems running, you have less resilience and therefore things start closing down more rapidly. It\u2019s terrible for the individuals who have already suffered violence and injuries to now not get the nutrients they need to recover.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> Right. And in preparing for this interview, one of your colleagues mentioned that there\u2019s a real potential for a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/05\/15\/israel-palestine-gaza-women-children-genocide-nakba\/\">lost generation<\/a> in Gaza. What does that mean?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> They\u2019re probably referring to what I was referring to before: the children\u00a0who [are] unable to develop in the way they need to, whether that\u2019s physical or brain power. Brain function is affected by lack of nutrition, lack of growth \u2014 developmental. So there\u2019s a real risk of physical constraints.<\/p>\n<p>But it doesn\u2019t need to be even that. It can be: We\u2019re now two years into there <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/05\/17\/palestine-gaza-war-education-school\/\">not being any schools<\/a>. So there is a generation of children who are not only deeply traumatized, but they also <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/11\/08\/gaza-education-schools-children-palestine\/\">don\u2019t have access to education<\/a>. They don\u2019t have the ability to continue to develop, have normal relationships with other kids, [and] have normal relationships with anyone because of the violence that they\u2019re surrounded by.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> Thanks for that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So last month, as I\u2019m sure you know, more than 100 humanitarian aid and human rights organizations signed a letter urging for governments to act \u2014 to push the Israeli government for an immediate ceasefire and to end the siege, and immediate flood of aid. Things we\u2019ve talked about here in this conversation.<\/p>\n<p>And I noticed that IRC was notably absent from the letter, which included other notable organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, MedGlobal, CARE. I\u2019m wondering, I just want to give you a chance to explain IRC\u2019s thinking around this issue and why IRC didn\u2019t join other aid groups in making these calls in that letter at least.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> Yeah, it\u2019s a simple answer. Much of that letter is right on the money. We agree with it completely, but as an organization, we prioritize the continuation of delivery of services on the ground. So we\u2019ve chosen to prioritize staff safety and program continuity over signing joint letters such as that one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> On a similar topic, as you know, some humanitarian organizations, a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/12\/04\/amnesty-international-israel-genocide-gaza\/\">growing number of organizations <\/a>are using the word \u201cgenocide\u201d to describe what\u2019s happening in Gaza. I\u2019m wondering where does IRC stand on that?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> We stand as a humanitarian organization. We [are] approaching 100 years of experience helping communities affected by conflict around the world.<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019re a humanitarian organization rather than a human rights organization. We don\u2019t feel as though we have the mandate or expertise to be able to define, to make that decision ourselves. We\u2019ll leave that to the responsible courts and member states who have to judge that. I hope they do soon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> Yeah. And speaking of courts and this <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/06\/israel-palestine-gaza-war-politics\/\">shift<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/06\/israel-palestine-gaza-war-politics\/\">in the past week<\/a> that we\u2019ve been seeing in tone across the globe from the U.K., France, and Canada signaling they\u2019re ready to accept Palestinian statehood to a U.S. Senate vote last week where a record number of Democrats voted against a weapons deal with Israel. And new polls showing the majority of Americans disapprove of Israel\u2019s offensive in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m wondering in terms of accountability, who has the power to change the situation that we laid out, that you laid out in the conversation today, and what pressure points exist to make that happen? And more specifically, what can the U.S. government and other western governments as well as average Americans do in this moment?<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> Yeah, I think it\u2019s going to take \u2014 a very American sports term \u2014 but a full court press from all member states, international governments, to convey to the government of Israel that it\u2019s enough that 2 million civilians are suffering and are dying. And the violence on October 7 was unforgivable. But more violence is not the answer. More death is not the answer. So the only route forward is a ceasefire and the release of all of the hostages immediately. And, as we discussed before, an overwhelming flood of humanitarian aid going into Gaza to protect against more loss of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> And to close, are there any final thoughts that you wanted to share?<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> Only to say thank you for your interest. It is part of what we were just discussing. The whole world needs to convey through their governments, through their elected officials, that there\u2019s been enough suffering, there\u2019s been enough loss of life, and the way forward is a ceasefire, and that needs to happen now. That won\u2019t happen unless elected officials hear from people \u2014 interested members of the population \u2014 saying enough. So they can then turn around.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I think your question earlier about the U.S. government, I think the U.S. government is one of the only governments in the world that has the influence still to say to the government of Israel that we understand your suffering. We understand the need to get your people back, the hostages back, but the route forward is the ceasefire and it needs to happen now.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> Well, thanks for joining me on the Intercept Briefing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>BK:<\/strong> Thank you for having me.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>JV:<\/strong> That does it for this episode of The Intercept Briefing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We want to hear from you.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Share your story with us at 530-POD-CAST. That\u2019s 530-763-2278. You can also email us at podcasts at the intercept dot com.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This episode was produced by Laura Flynn. Sumi Aggarwal is our executive producer. Ben Muessig is our editor-in-chief. Chelsey B. Coombs is our social and video producer. Fei Liu is our product and design manager. Nara Shin is our copy editor. Will Stanton mixed our show. Legal review by Shawn Musgrave. And transcript by Anya Mehta.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Slip Stream provided our theme music.<\/p>\n<p>You can support our work at <a href=\"http:\/\/theintercept.com\/join\">theintercept.com\/join<\/a>. Your donation, no matter the amount, makes a real difference. If you haven\u2019t already, please subscribe to The Intercept Briefing wherever you listen to podcasts. And tell all of your friends about us, and better yet, leave us a rating or review to help other listeners find us.<\/p>\n<p>Until next time, I\u2019m Jonah Valdez.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for listening.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/08\/intercept-briefing-podcast-gaza-aid-food\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the Israeli government weighs, once again, expanding its genocidal military campaign in Gaza, the enclave is sliding into a full-scale famine. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a purely manmade famine,\u201d says Bob Kitchen, vice president of emergencies at the International Rescue Committee. \u201cThe Gaza Strip is surrounded by very fertile farming territory. All of the countries around [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-usa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}