The official declaration of a famine in Gaza by the competent UN agency (IPC) confirms what the whole world has been watching live on its screens for months: Palestinians are not simply suffering from hunger, they are starving to death and the death toll is set to increase exponentially.
For many children, it’s already too late, says UNICEF. And according to the IPC report, if the situation continues as it is, the number of children suffering acute malnutrition (currently estimated at 14,000) will have tripled by June 2026.
It is the first time the UN agency has declared a famine outside Africa.
“When you hear the word famine, you probably think of the worst hunger imaginable. But famine isn’t just a word—it’s a technical term. It’s the very stage on the hunger scale. By the time it’s declared, people are already dying of hunger,” a UN WFP official said, stressing that the conditions that cause famine “are man-made.” A number of experts were quick to explain the obvious as Israel dismissed the IPC report and accused the UN agency—oh, what a surprise!—of spreading fabricated Hamas lies.
Exposed before the entire world, Israel insists on the same line. It refutes reality, denies any responsibility, accuses everyone else of serving the Hamas narrative, and declares its determination to press ahead with its plan to occupy the enclave and displace the Palestinians.
Trump: the hostages may not all be alive
The silence of the U.S. on the developments of the last few days has been deafening. And when Donald Trump is forced to address the issue, the messages he sends only serve to encourage Netanyahu.
Asked by a journalist about the opposition of relatives of the Israeli hostages to the plans to occupy Gaza, Trump more or less declared they should be grateful to him, because without his intervention none of them would have been released, before adding that it was uncertain if all 20 hostages were even alive, causing an uproar in Israel.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum issued a statement criticizing Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer—Israel’s chief ceasefire negotiator—for not keeping them informed about the situation of their loved ones and called on the U.S. President to continue his efforts to secure their release.
However, it would seem that all such efforts have now been abandoned. The ceasefire proposal, which bears the signature of the U.S. and has been accepted by Hamas, has been thrown into the waste bin as Netanyahu will accept nothing but capitulation.
Resentment among reservists – “How many times can you tell them about Zionism?”
At the same time, the discontent in Israel is also spreading to the reservists called up for the operation to occupy Gaza, following the decision to mobilize 60,000.
The Israeli daily Haaretz has published statements made by officers and soldiers who describe how the news of the mobilization has caused fury among the reservists.
Some are discussing the possibility of not reporting for duty, while many are showing signs of fatigue. Largely, the reasons are not political, but rather financial and personal.
What is certain is that the sense of mission is gone. “These aren’t the same soldiers from October 7. We’re worn down, exhausted, and between tours people are trying to save their businesses,” one reservist told the Israeli newspaper.
“Already in our last tour in May, we realized that there wasn’t really any fighting in Gaza, that there was no purpose,” he said. “Nobody has any idea what the goal is. We go on guard duty every few hours and launch attacks on destroyed buildings that we’re told are terrorist infrastructure.”
“How many times can you tell them about Zionism and that this war is for our home? Students in our units have already missed an academic year, and it’s unclear if they’ll be able to attend for the next year. What do I say to a 26-year-old – that he’ll start studying in a year or two? The army doesn’t understand the depth of the crisis in the units. We’re playing with fire when it comes to the reservists,” a lieutenant colonel said.
Despite the discontent in the army and public disagreements among officers about the lack of an exit strategy for the war in Gaza, the Israeli army does not seem likely to deviate from its plan to displace the Palestinians.
Attacks on the already displaced
Israel is not only bombing northern Gaza, which it wants to occupy, but the entire enclave. On Friday night into Saturday, the IDF once again targeted the supposedly safe haven of al-Mawashi, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are crowded in squalid conditions.
The West Bank is also in the crosshairs
Attacks are also escalating in the West Bank. Following the announcement of Plan E1 to expand the settlements in such a way as to cut Jerusalem off from the West Bank, and with the declared aim of burying the idea of a Palestinian state, settler and army attacks on Palestinians are a daily occurrence.
In a village outside Ramallah, Al-Mughayyir, Israeli forces uprooted 8,000 olive trees, a source of income for local Palestinians. In the video below, posted by a female IDF soldier, an Israeli bulldozer uproots the olive trees, which may have stood there for hundreds of years, accompanied by music and the caption “I hate you.”
Similar images are arriving from different parts of the West Bank, with the army setting up roadblocks and blocking ambulances, besieging neighborhoods, and arresting Palestinians en masse.
Yesterday, 25 countries, including Greece, issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s new settlement plan in the West Bank and calling for it not to be implemented, as doing so would be in breach of international law.
The Dutch Foreign Minister also announced his resignation yesterday as the actions he had proposed the government take against Israel, although debated, were not accepted.
International pressure on Israel is growing, loyal allies such as Britain and Germany are stepping up their criticism and warning the Netanyahu administration that the line it is taking is isolating the nation. Nonetheless, so far no one seems willing to employ the tools provided for by international law to halt the crime against the Palestinian people that was foretold and is now in full swing.
