On their website, the group spreads the egregious lie that “Israel restricts the amount of food going into Gaza, a ruthless and deliberate policy whereby the dietary needs of the Gazan people are chillingly calculated to keep the population alive at a near starvation level.”
It’s a complete falsehood.
There are no restrictions on food going into Gaza, and Gaza
farmers export agricultural products to the Middle east and Europe. Rather than facing starvation, obesity is becoming a public health priority in Gaza. Gaza's stores, and restaurants are filled with luscious offerings
Gaza exports agricultural products. “Strawberries are an important source of income
in Gaza for Palestinian farmers and their families,” said the Israeli Defense
Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT)
unit, which facilitates the exports. “The export and sale of strawberries from the Gaza Strip has yielded revenues of about 13m NIS so far this harvest
season, a 290% improvement over last year,”
Rather than a
population kept at “near starvation levels”, peer reviewed medical literature documents the Palestinians' struggle with Western rates of obesity.
An article published earlier this year (PLoS One. 2019 Jan 25) Epidemiology of coronary artery disease and stroke and associated risk factors in Gaza community found
The overall obesity in our study was found to be 47.8%, with higher prevalence in females (60.2%), the mean BMI was 30.35. It is in line with previous study performed in urban Palestinian population of Ramallah, describing an obesity prevalence up to 41% (49% and 30%) in females and males respectively.
The cross-sectional study covered 5 Gaza governorates, both urban and rural.
An earlier article, Obesity and overweight: prevalence and associated sociodemographic factors among mothers in three different areas in the Gaza Strip-Palestine, published in BMC Obesity concluded:
The overall obesity in our study was found to be 47.8%, with higher prevalence in females (60.2%), the mean BMI was 30.35. It is in line with previous study performed in urban Palestinian population of Ramallah, describing an obesity prevalence up to 41% (49% and 30%) in females and males respectively.
The cross-sectional study covered 5 Gaza governorates, both urban and rural.
An earlier article, Obesity and overweight: prevalence and associated sociodemographic factors among mothers in three different areas in the Gaza Strip-Palestine, published in BMC Obesity concluded:
·
The
prevalence of obese and overweight cases among women is high. Obesity is a
serious public health problem in the Gaza Strip and must be emphasized because
the trend is continuously increasing.
A glance at Gaza's social media proves beyond a doubt that there are no restrictions on food entering Gaza, and that there is no current risk of "starvation".
From the Facebook page of Gaza's Al Jayyar for chocolate
A glance at Gaza's social media proves beyond a doubt that there are no restrictions on food entering Gaza, and that there is no current risk of "starvation".
From the Facebook page of Gaza's Al Jayyar for chocolate
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| Starving Gaza? Al Jayyar for Chocolate |
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| Starving Gaza? Al Jayyar for Chocolate |
Photos from the buffet at Gaza's Almathaf, proudly displayed on their facebook page
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| Starving Gaza? The Buffet at the Almathaf |
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| Starving Gaza? The Buffet at the Almathaf |
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| Starving Gaza? The Buffet at the Almathaf |
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| Jane Jewell. Photo from Washington report on Middle east Affairs |
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