Palestinians in Gaza 'already dying' amid Israeli siege, famine threat: Canada FM

Canada's foreign minister late on Thursday expressed deep concern about "catastrophic" humanitarian conditions across Gaza and warned about "the life-threatening levels of acute malnutrition."

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly cited a report by the Famine Review Committee that found a strong likelihood that famine is occurring or imminent in areas within the northern Gaza Strip. The committee has previously found that 133,000 people in Gaza were facing catastrophic food insecurity.

"This means that civilians — men, women and children — are dying because of the lack of humanitarian assistance allowed into Gaza," she said in a joint statement with International Development Minister Ahmed Hussein.

The statement said not enough aid is reaching those who rely on it for survival and humanitarian agencies and workers continue to face severe impediments.

Israel must abide by its obligations under international humanitarian law and provide a significant and sustained increase to humanitarian assistance for the civilian population, it added.

Canada's warning came amid a report by Haaretz on Friday that only three UN aid trucks entered the besieged town of Beit Hanoun on Monday — the first in 40 days. However, the trucks, which consisted of ready-to-eat products, given most Gaza residents have no means to cook food, were subsequently attacked by Israeli forces, forcing starving residents to flee.

Israel has consistently attacked aid trucks and lines of Palestinians waiting for food. On Wednesday, Israeli forces reportedly killed dozens of Palestinians who gathered in the Sudanese roundabout area, northwest of Gaza City. The victims were waiting for the arrival of humanitarian aid amid Israel’s siege on the enclave.

The United States warned it would halt weapons supplies to Israel unless more aid was provided to the residents of the enclave. However, aid organisations have so far been unable to deliver assistance to the thousands of residents trapped under siege in the northern towns of Jabalia and Beit Lahia. 

More than 43,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza over the past year since Israel launched its war on Gaza, with much of the enclave reduced to a wasteland of wrecked buildings and piles of rubble. Over 2 million Gazans are seeking shelter in makeshift tents and facing shortages of food and medicines.