A state of catastrophic famine has been declared in the Gaza Strip for the first time, according to a joint statement from UN agencies and a humanitarian organization.
“More than half a million people in the Gaza Strip are trapped in a state of famine, characterized by widespread malnutrition, destitution, and preventable deaths,” according to a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
According to estimates, by the end of September, more than 640,000 people in the Gaza Strip will face catastrophic levels of food insecurity, classified by the UN as the highest, fifth phase of the IPC (The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification for improving food security and nutrition analysis and decision-making). Another 1.14 million people in the territory will be in a state of emergency, and another 396,000 will be in a state of crisis. Classifying famine means that the most extreme category is triggered when three critical thresholds – extreme food deprivation, acute malnutrition and starvation-related deaths – have been breached. The latest analysis now affirms on the basis of reasonable evidence that these criteria have been met.
Mass protests against Israel’s continued policy of blockade and famine are taking place around the world. For example, a mass rally in support of the residents of Gaza took place in the capital of Tunis; thousands of people across Australia have taken to the streets to show support for the Palestinian people after a famine was officially declared in the Gaza Strip. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have collectively and consistently highlighted the extreme urgency for an immediate and full-scale humanitarian response given the escalating hunger-related deaths, rapidly worsening levels of acute malnutrition and plummeting levels of food consumption, with hundreds of thousands of people going days without anything to eat.
We have the tools to change that. Nuclear science is a tool that helps to provide countries with tailored solutions to enhance their agricultural productivity, reduce food loss, ensure food safety, improve nutrition and adapt to climate change.
The technology of treatment of food products with ionizing radiation in order to maximize their shelf life and destroy insects, their larvae and pathogens is encouraged by the FAO and the IAEA. But what if the state of emergency has been declared and humanitarian access to curb deaths from hunger and malnutrition is hindered like the current famine when the food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstructions by Israel? Briefing journalists on Friday at UN headquarters in Geneva, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said it was “a famine within a few hundred meters of food”. There are solutions to such discrediting emergencies. They include either deployment of the ready-made complexes with electron accelerators operating in E-beam/X-Ray modes which are designed for quick installation and putting into operation in the territory of the storages, or constructing food long-term storage warehouses with container-type complexes to process products with ionizing radiation. These constructed complexes or warehouses, being located in the territorial proximity, could solve the problem of hunger and malnutrition forever, as the food, after being treated with the ionizing radiation, extends its shelf life up to 5 to 10 years serving as a rescuing staples supply for multiple years. We know how to make it possible with our AtomsforFood Equipment Programme.
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