‘False campaign’: Israel insists there is no starvation in Gaza

Israel’s embassy in Australia has declared there is no starvation in Gaza despite calls by world leaders for more aid to be allowed into the ravaged strip and reports of surging malnutrition levels among Palestinian civilians.

The Israeli embassy also rejected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s claim that Israel has breached international law in Gaza by curtailing food aid, insisting the nation has complied with its humanitarian obligations since the conflict began 21 months ago.

Palestinians wait for food distribution in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Credit: AP

The intervention came as the Israeli military began a limited pause in fighting in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day and began airdrops to increase the supply of aid to Gazans.

Deputy Israeli ambassador Amir Meron told journalists in a briefing on Monday that claims of starvation amounted to Hamas propaganda and relied on “false pictures” presenting a distorted view of the situation in Gaza.

“We don’t recognise any famine or any starvation in the Gaza Strip,” Meron said.

“This is a false campaign that is being [led] by Hamas, taking advantage of sick children in order to show a false claim and false presentation of hunger and starvation.”

The remarks are starkly at odds with those of the UN, global aid organisations and world leaders including Albanese, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that the organisation is “witnessing a deadly surge in malnutrition-related deaths” in Gaza, with at least 21 cases of children under the age of five dying from malnutrition.

Meron said that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007 and launched the shock October 7 attacks on Israel that led to an estimated 1200 deaths, was “deceiving the media, deceiving international organisations, the international community, and it is deceiving its own people”.

Referring to images of emaciated Palestinian children that have shocked people around the world, including Albanese, Meron said: “The picture that you see, we think these are false pictures.”

Meron said food shortages in Gaza should be blamed on a lack of willingness by international aid organisations to deliver the aid and the theft of food and other supplies by Hamas militants.

He said the new measures announced by Israel, including pauses in the fighting, were “of course to tackle this false campaign that Hamas is running against Israel, the starvation campaign”.

“When the UN agencies are saying that there is no aid, we’re showing those pictures [and saying] look, there is aid, and it’s ready, and it’s you can take it now and bring it to the Gaza Strip into the population. Why aren’t you taking it?” he said.

The deputy ambassador’s comments echoed those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier on Monday, who told the UN and other aid organisations: “Stop finding excuses, do what you have to do and stop accusing Israel deliberately of this egregious falsehood. There is no starvation in Gaza, no policy of starvation in Gaza.”

Netanyahu has been charged by the International Criminal Court with using starvation as a weapon of war, a claim his office dismissed as false and antisemitic.

After French President Emmanuel Macron urged world leaders to recognise Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly last week, Labor MP Basem Abdo used his first speech to parliament on Monday to subtly support Australian recognition of Palestine.

Abdo, who was born in Kuwait to Palestinian refugees, described Palestinians as a “suffering people, a steadfast people”, adding that “international law matters, the international rules-based order matters”.

“The right to peace, justice and recognition matters – deserving of a historic commitment,” he said.

Credit: Matt Golding

More than 100 international aid organisations issued a joint statement last week saying “mass starvation” was spreading across Gaza, and that “our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away”.

According to the WHO, there have been 74 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza this year, with 63 occurring in July – including 24 children under five.

“Most of these people were declared dead on arrival at health facilities or died shortly after, their bodies showing clear signs of severe wasting,” the WHO said in an update on Sunday.

The Australian government last week joined 27 nations to condemn “the drip-feeding of aid” by Israel, while Albanese said on Sunday that “quite clearly, it is a breach of international law to stop food being delivered, which was a decision that Israel made in March”.

Pressed on whether Albanese was wrong to say that Israel broke international law by halting all aid deliveries from March until May, Meron said: “What we’re saying is that Israel doesn’t breach ... international humanitarian law in Gaza.

“There is enough aid in Gaza, and we are acting in different ways in order to bring more aid in Gaza.

“And the responsibility should be [placed] on Hamas, not on Israel.”

Albanese told parliament on Monday that Gaza is in “the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe” and that “Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children seeking access to water and food, cannot be defended nor can it be ignored”.

“We have called upon Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law,” he said, adding that he also condemned Hamas.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told Sky News: “I find the images incredibly distressing and the stories of aid not reaching the people where it’s needed incredibly distressing.”

Asked about Meron’s comments regarding “false pictures”, she said: “It’s clearly a very complicated situation on the ground.”

The war could end immediately if Hamas agreed to surrender and release all the remaining hostages, Ley added.

Liberal senator Dave Sharma said there was “pretty overwhelming” evidence of malnutrition and food shortages in Gaza but told the ABC: “I don’t believe Israel has stopped food from being delivered, or at least my understanding is that has not been the policy intent.”

According to the UN human rights office, more than 1000 Palestinians have been killed while trying to get food aid over the past two months, including more than 700 near one of the distribution centres run by the recently created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s office was contacted for comment.

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