Afrasianet - Khidr Raslan - There is no neutrality in famine. The silent is a partner. A spectator of children dying of hunger cannot tell us about morality, victory, religion or freedom. 

In Gaza, it is not the land that is starving, but the lives. The stone is not only hurting from the bombardment, but the human being is screaming from hunger, from thirst, from abandonment. In the 21st century, as nations race towards space and artificial intelligence, there are those who die because they have not found a morsel for their child or medicine for their baby.

More than 6,000 martyrs, nearly 120,000 wounded, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health, most of them children and women. A war without mercy, no red lines, no safe zones. Schools are being bombed, hospitals are being destroyed, and shelters are being turned into mass graves.

But the massacre does not stop at the limits of bombing. Hunger has become the most horrific face of aggression. The World Food Programme (WFP) officially announced in July 2024 that Gaza has entered a phase of famine, with 500,000 people at risk of starvation, and more than 90% lacking minimum food. The United Nations has documented the deaths of children due to hunger, such as the baby Salma Al-Tanani (one year) and the infant Mohammed Abu Jarad (8 months), and the reports remain ink on paper without any result.

What is happening in Gaza is not a natural disaster, but a crime resulting from a direct and illegal military occupation and a systematic blockade that has been going on for more than 17 years. UN resolutions such as Resolution 242 and Resolution 338 demand Israel's withdrawal from the occupied territories, but they continue the bombing and blockade, prevent food and medicine, and use famine as a weapon of war. These are not just violations of the Geneva Conventions, but a slow-moving genocide, as Human Rights Watch calls it an "unimaginable catastrophe," according to the United Nations. 

This famine not only reveals the face of the occupation, but also drops many masks: the mask of Western civilization, which has always praised human rights, and thus justifies genocide under the slogan of "self-defense". The mask of the Arab regimes that were content with denouncing or participating in the siege and closing the crossings.  The mask of the religious institutions that ignored Gaza's calls, despite the fact that it is the cradle of Rabat, Ahl al-Sunnah and the protectors of Al-Aqsa.

The cries of Gazans cross the border and come back disappointed, hitting the walls of silence, or waiting at the closed crossings. Where did the phrases "Wa Islamah" and "Waghoutah" and the support of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'a go? Why didn't the armies or even consciences move? Collective responsibility is collective: Israel that uses hunger as a weapon against civilians, the United States and Europe that provide political and military cover, the Arab regimes that have turned into border guards that prevent relief, and the global media that covered the crimes with cold words or ignored them.

Gaza is not asking for weapons, but rather a loaf of bread, a flour truck, a carton of milk, or even an honest position in international forums. What Gaza is asking for is a humanity that has not yet lost its meaning.

There is no neutrality in famine. The silent is a partner. A spectator who watches children starve to death cannot tell us about morality, victory, religion or freedom.

History is unforgettable... And the peoples are unforgivable.