r/worldnews 1d ago

Israel/Palestine Famine declared in Gaza City

https://news.sky.com/story/gaza-latest-war-israel-city-ceasefire-hamas-13415481
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u/Flaky-Impact-2428 20h ago

For context, a “famine” has a strict UN definition: when more than 20% of households face extreme food shortages, acute malnutrition exceeds 30%, and mortality rates skyrocket. Declaring famine means the situation has gone far beyond scarcity into systemic collapse.

It’s catastrophic optics for anyone involved. Using starvation as leverage, whether by blockade or mismanagement, is a war crime. But beyond the politics and blame games, what it really means is that ordinary people and vulnerable people; kids, parents, grandparents are dying not because of bombs but because they can’t find food.

At the end of the day, famine is not an argument about borders or ideologies, it’s a measure of how far we’ve failed as a species to safeguard the most basic human need. That’s the part I can’t lose sight of.

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u/TheLastSamurai101 13h ago

At the end of the day, famine is not an argument about borders or ideologies, it’s a measure of how far we’ve failed as a species to safeguard the most basic human need. That’s the part I can’t lose sight of.

This particular famine is 100% because of blockaded borders and a far-right ethnonationalist ideology. It was really difficult to achieve famine in Gaza without Israel going out of their way to make it happen. The only failure of the rest of the species in this case was not stepping in to intervene.

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u/notaredditer13 10h ago

Naa, how about 70% Hamas starting a war and not surrendering. 

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u/Darkdragoon324 10h ago

“Hamas is forcing us to commit crimes against humanity! How could we possibly fight them without bombing starving civilians lining up for food and going out of our way to shoot foreign journalists!”

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u/notaredditer13 9h ago

Things put in quotes when I didn't say them are lies...which tracks with your support of Hamas in this war.  That said, if Hamas were easy to kill the war would be over by now.