The world awakes to the Gaza famine
Atrocities are atrocities, and we must say as much, in clear language, every time they happen.
By Shalise Manza Young
James Baldwin once wrote, “The children are ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.”
Israel is allowing only a trickle of food to make it into Gaza over the past three months—after an 80-day stretch in the spring in which all aid to Gaza was stopped. As a result, more and more children are dying of acute malnutrition. Many others are approaching the point of no return—within weeks, the body begins to consume itself and organs begin to fail. Doctors Without Borders wrote on July 25 that in just the two previous weeks, the number of children under 5 arriving to its Gaza City facility with severe malnourishment had tripled.
The U.N. World Food Program is now estimating that a third of civilians in the strip are going multiple consecutive days without eating.
Humanitarian groups have been warning for months that the area is on the brink of famine. But until very recently, much of the world’s leadership, particularly in this country, has turned a blind eye to it.
Dr. Nick Maynard, a British surgeon who has made several trips to Gaza, said that on his most recent trip to the area, Israeli forces searched doctors’ belongings and confiscated baby formula. Maynard and other witnesses have said they watched Israeli Defense Forces shooting at civilians at one of the few aid points; the IDF denies the charge.
It is so bad that doctors and medical workers desperately trying to heal civilians in the worst conditions imaginable are also passing out from hunger, and the few journalists remaining in the territory—well over 200 have been killed since October 2023—are reporting that their own malnutrition is severely affecting their ability to bear witness to what is happening.
It’s only now, with the inescapable photos and videos of emaciated children looking like skeletons in their malnourished bodies, that even people who have defended Israel have finally begun speaking up about what has been happening in Gaza, where children are half of the population.
Former President Barack Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton held their silence until just a few days ago, when both publicly decried the conditions in Gaza and demanded that the full flow of assistance begin again, though in social media statements neither mentioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist, far-right cabinet as the reasons for the starvation conditions.
House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries posted a statement to X at 9:30 p.m. Friday night, which is the very best time to get the country’s attention. He said “the starvation and death of Palestinian children and civilians in an ongoing war zone is unacceptable” and called for a two-state solution. He also made no mention of Netanyahu.
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who could be considered one of Congress’ moral leaders, used similar language in his statement. He wrote that Hamas’ influence must decrease. Again, nary a word of criticism of Netanyahu—with whom he and other Senators met in Washington earlier this month.
Some, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is Jewish, have been far more forceful in condemning Israel’s behavior.
Rumblings from American leadership and others globally is presumably what led to the Israeli military beginning airdrops of aid last weekend and briefly pausing attacks to distribute supplies. But critics say the drops make for good optics, but they don’t provide nearly enough of what is needed and can often cause more harm than good.
By Monday, President Donald Trump had done one of his famous flip-flops on the situation. After saying late last week that Israel needs to “finish the job” when ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas once again broke down, Trump was asked during a meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer if he agreed with Netanyahu’s claim that there is no policy of forced starvation in Gaza.
“I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly. Those children look very hungry,” Trump said. In another interview, he said, “We’re giving money and we’re giving food. … I want [Netanyahu] to make sure they get the food, every ounce of food.”
Will Trump stick to that? If Netanyahu calls him up tomorrow and flatters him in any way, likely not.
Let us be clear: Most Gazans don’t support Hamas, and many Israelis don’t support Netanyahu and his bloodthirsty cabinet members, in the same way that Americans in increasing numbers are not supportive of the Trump regime as it strips decades of hard-fought civil rights and kidnaps people off the street.
But too many have generally made no such distinction, spreading the false notion that criticism of Netanyahu is antisemitic or leaning into their racism and Islamophobia.
Atrocities are atrocities, and we must say as much, in clear language, every time they happen. It has been nearly two years since the Israeli government started its assault. It is past time to stop taking Netanyahu’s feelings into account over what we’re all seeing unfold.
We must recognize that for many Gazan children—our children—the day is rapidly coming when it will be too late.
Shalise Manza Young was most recently a columnist at Yahoo Sports, focusing on the intersection of race, gender and culture in sports. The Associated Press Sports Editors named her one of the 10 best columnists in the country in 2020. She has also written for the Boston Globe and Providence Journal. Find her on Bluesky @shalisemyoung.
The day is not coming. It has come and gone for far too many children and families.
It is such an unnecessary tragedy created by Netanyahu's fear of going to jail for corruption. He is as cruel as the 34xfelon/sexual predator heading the US govt.