The formal declaration of famine in Gaza puts more pressure on the New Zealand government to recognise Palestine as a state, and to call on the Trump administration to persuade the Israeli government that Israel’s future peace and prosperity depends on a two-state solution.
Prime Minister Luxon is to be commended for calling on Israel to allow “unfettered access” to Gaza for humanitarian agencies like ChildFund partners and other charities trying to bring life-saving water and food to children and families in the Strip.
The US has long supported a two-state solution as a core policy.
Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or IPC, the global hunger watchdog, declared famine in Gaza late last week, warning that 41,000 children are at heightened risk of death.
The report said that the number of people facing “emergency” conditions is expected to rise to 1.14 million people out of the roughly 2.1 million people in Gaza.
Under IPC criteria, a famine can be formally declared when three thresholds are met: at least 20% of households face extreme food shortages, at least 30% of children are acutely malnourished, and two or more people per 10,000 die each day from hunger or hunger-related disease.
This marks only the fifth time famine has been declared in the world in the past 15 years. The last famine declaration was last year, in Sudan’s conflict-affected North Darfur region.
“Post Covid we are seeing an alarming increase in famines across the world. This is the first time in IPC’s history that there have been official famine declarations in two consecutive years,” says Josie Pagani, CEO of ChildFund.
“We believe now is the time for governments like New Zealand’s to compel Trump to take a firm stand on the recognition of Palestine, and the urgent need to get aid across the border, given that American public opinion is gradually shifting against Israel.
In a recent Gallup poll, only 46% of Americans express support for the Israeli government’s actions, the lowest rating in 25 years of Gallup’s annual tracking of this measure on its World Affairs survey.
ChildFund is calling on the New Zealand government to:
– Commit to recognising the state of Palestine (with borders agreed in key international agreements), at the United Nations meeting in September, along with Britain, France and Canada.
– Increase collective pressure on the US government to use their influence to persuade Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu to allow life-saving aid into Gaza immediately.
– Show diplomatic support for an Arab-led peace plan endorsed by Arab leaders in the region.