PMO says UN Gaza famine declaration a ‘modern blood libel,’ touts Israeli humanitarian efforts

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says the United Nations declaration of famine in parts of the Gaza Strip is an “outright lie” and “modern blood libel.”

“Israel does not have a policy of starvation. Israel has a policy of preventing starvation,” the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement on X. “The only ones being intentionally starved in Gaza are the Israeli hostages.”

The statement says the report by the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system ignores Israel’s humanitarian efforts and fails to mention a drop in the prices of oil, sugar, salt, flour, yeast and chickpeas in Gaza that the PMO attributes to the entry of humanitarian supplies into the Strip. The source of the information on the prices is unclear.

Citing data from the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the PMO says Israel has facilitated the entry of millions of tons of aid into Gaza since war there was triggered by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.

The statement also says the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, as well as NGOs facilitated by Israel, have served millions of warm meals to Gazans.

On the other hand, the PMO cites UN data as saying that in July, “of 1,012 aid trucks collected, only 10 reached warehouses; the rest were looted before distribution.” The PMO also accuses the UN of having refused to deliver “hundreds of pallets of food” from the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

The PMO concedes there had been “temporary shortages” of aid in Gaza “which Israel overcame with airdrops, maritime deliveries, safe transport routes and GHF distribution points manned by American companies.”

According to the PMO, the shortages were caused by “Hamas’s systematic theft.”

The statement does not mention the 11-week aid blockade Israel imposed on the Strip following the collapse of the last ceasefire-hostage deal on March 2.