Famine in Gaza?

[quesaisje]

This article from The Economist contains the following claims.

1. "The UN says Israel routinely denies approval for aid convoys. Earlier this month it bombed a food-distribution centre. Israeli forces occupy most of the farmland."

2. "Increasingly there are areas [in Gaza] where local crime families have stolen the little food brought in and are selling it for profit."

3. "Data the IPC has gathered indicate that in February 29% of children under the age of two in northern Gaza were suffering from acute malnutrition. Some 66% of families there went without any food for 24 hours at least ten times last month."

4. "[In Gaza city] only a small handful of supply convoys have been allowed in."

5. "Israel claims its war is to destroy Hamas', not the civilian population, and has denied that it is intentionally starving Gaza. But some senior Israeli politicians have called for exactly that and security officials have admitted that withholding supplies is 'a lever of pressure on Hamas to release Israeli hostages'."

Based on a glance at a few other articles in mainstream publications, this seems typical.

You can choose not to believe the IPC numbers, but either way, the following are well-supported by multiple sources, different forms of evidence, and common sense: (A) there are significant barriers to last-mile distribution, (B) much of the aid is not reaching its intended recipients, (C) some areas of Gaza are in much worse shape than others and (D) Israeli politicians and officials are constantly saying things that indicate that they don't care very much about Gaza's civilians.

[quesaisje]

5. "Israel claims its war is to destroy Hamas', not the civilian population, and has denied that it is intentionally starving Gaza. But some senior Israeli politicians have called for exactly that and security officials have admitted that withholding supplies is 'a lever of pressure on Hamas to release Israeli hostages'."

this thread is about the reality of what's actually happening in Gaza, not the polemic of some wingnut Israeli politicians.

This is BS and I don't know how anyone following this conflict could think otherwise. This is just the first story that came to mind:

In front of an impassioned audience of thousands of right-wing activists, 11 government ministers and 15 coalition lawmakers pledged Sunday night to rebuild Jewish Israeli settlements in the heart of the Gaza Strip, with some also encouraging the emigration of the Palestinian population after the war with Hamas is over.

Speaking amid a carnival-like atmosphere at the Jerusalem International Convention Center, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party, extolled the virtues of creating new settlements, declaring: “God willing, we will settle and we will be victorious.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the extreme-right Otzma Yehudit party, told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was not present, and the audience that it was “time to return home to Gush Katif” — the name of the Israeli settlement bloc in Gaza that was evacuated in the 2005 Disengagement.

Reuters also covered this one.

These aren't "random wingnuts." They are wingnuts in positions of power.

The rest of your points come down to assuming that because the food exists somewhere in Gaza, it's getting to the people who need it. That's like taking a dump on the bathroom floor and calling yourself toilet-trained.