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U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration faces criticism after U.S.-backed report Famine in the Gaza Strip It was withdrawn this week, prompting accusations of political interference and pro-Israel bias.
A report from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), which provides information on global food insecurity, warns of a “famine scenario” emerging in the region amid Israel’s war on northern Gaza.
A note on the FEWS NET website seen by Al Jazeera on Thursday said the organization’s “December 23 alert is under further review and is expected to be re-released with updated data and analysis in January”.
The Associated Press cited unnamed U.S. officials as saying the U.S. requested the report be retracted. FEWS NET is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
USAID did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment Thursday afternoon.
Israel’s war in Gaza The conflict has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians since early October 2023 and plunged the coastal enclave into a dire humanitarian crisis as access to food, water, medicine and other supplies is severely restricted.
Israel’s military offensive in the northern part of the territory has caused particular concern in recent months Experts warn in November It was “highly likely” that famine was imminent in the region.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said in a report that “hunger, malnutrition and excess mortality from malnutrition and disease” are increasing rapidly in northern Gaza. alarm November 8th.
“The famine threshold may have already been breached or may be breached in the near future,” the report said.
Report
very few networks Report On December 23, it was noted that Israel had imposed a “nearly complete blockade of humanitarian and commercial food supplies in the besieged areas” of northern Gaza for nearly 80 days.
These include the areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon, Rights group estimates Thousands of Palestinians are trapped.
“Due to the collapse of food systems and deteriorating access to water, sanitation and health services in these areas… food consumption and acute malnutrition thresholds (IPC Phase 5) in northern Gaza are likely to have been exceeded,” the FEWS NET report said .
The network added that without changes to Israel’s policy on food supplies entering the area, at least two to 15 people are expected to die every day from January to March, which would exceed the “famine threshold.”
The report prompted public criticism from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, who said in a statement on Tuesday that FEWS NET relied on “outdated and inaccurate” data.
Lew questioned the number of civilians believed to be living in northern Gaza, saying the civilian population was “between 7,000 and 15,000, not the 65,000 to 75,000 on which this report is based.”
“It is irresponsible to issue a report like this at a time when inaccurate information is causing confusion and accusations,” he said.
— Ambassador Jack Lew (@USAmbIsrael) December 24, 2024
“Bullying”
But Palestinian rights advocates condemned the ambassador’s comments. Some have accused Lu of seeming to welcome forcibly displaced Palestinians in Gaza.
“Rejecting reports of starvation in northern Gaza by appearing to tout the fact that northern Gaza has successfully ethnically cleansed its indigenous people is nothing more than Biden administration officials supporting, allowing, and pretexting Israel’s clear and overt genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip Latest example. Gaza,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement.
The group urged FEWS NET “not to succumb to bullying by supporters of genocide”.
Prominent Palestinian-American human rights lawyer Huwaida Arraf also criticized Lew for “relying on Israeli sources rather than his own experts.”
“Are you working for Israel or are you working for the American people, who overwhelmingly disapprove of U.S. support for this genocide?” she wrote on.
Polls over the past year have shown that a high percentage of Americans oppose Israel’s offensive in Gaza and want an end to the war.
March Gallup survey found that 55% of Americans disapprove of Israel’s actions in Gaza, and even more disapprove of Israel’s actions in Gaza. recent opinion polls A Pew Research Center report released in October found that about 3 in 10 Americans believe Israel’s military offensive “goes too far.”
While the Biden administration says it is pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza, it has rejected calls for U.S. aid to Israel as a condition of ending the war.
Washington provides at least $3.8 billion in military aid to its allies each year, and Brown University researchers recently estimated that the Biden administration has provided an additional $17.9 billion to Israel since the Gaza war began.
America is subject to its own legal requirements Military aid to a country is suspended if it limits the delivery of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid, but the Biden administration has so far refused to apply that rule to Israel.
A U.S. State Department spokesman said: “We have not yet assessed whether Israel violated U.S. law.” Vedant Patel told reporters This came despite reports of “imminent” famine in northern Gaza.
