The government of US President Joe Biden is under criticism after a US-backed report Famine in the Gaza Strip was withdrawn this week amid allegations of political interference and pro-Israel bias.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) report, which provides information on global food insecurity, had warned that a “famine scenario” was unfolding during Israel’s war on the territory in the northern Gaza Strip.
A note on the FEWS NET website, seen by Al Jazeera on Thursday, said the group’s “December 23 warning” is “under further review and is expected to be reissued in January with updated data and analysis.”
The Associated Press news agency, citing unnamed American officials, said the U.S. had asked to retract the report. 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 on Thursday afternoon.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians since early October 2023 and plunged the coastal enclave into a dire humanitarian crisis, with access to food, water, medicine and other supplies severely limited.
An Israeli military offensive in the northern part of the territory has caused particular concern in recent months Experts warn in November There is a “high probability” that famine is imminent in the area.
“Hunger, malnutrition and excess mortality from malnutrition and disease are increasing rapidly in northern Gaza,” said a report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification alarm on November 8th.
“Famine thresholds may have already been exceeded or may be exceeded in the near future,” it said.
The report
The FEWS NET report A Dec. 23 report noted that Israel has maintained a “near-total blockade of humanitarian and commercial food supplies to besieged areas” in the northern Gaza Strip for nearly 80 days.
These include the areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon, where Rights groups have estimated Thousands of Palestinians are trapped.
“Due to the collapse of the food system and the deterioration of access to water, sanitation and health services in these areas… it is highly likely that the food consumption and acute malnutrition thresholds for famine (IPC Phase 5) have now been exceeded in North Gaza Governorate” , said the FEWS NET report.
The network added that without a change in Israeli policy regarding food deliveries to the area, it is expected that at least two to 15 people would die per day from January to March, exceeding the “famine threshold.”
The report had sparked public criticism from US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, who said in a statement on Tuesday that FEWS NET had relied on “outdated and inaccurate” data.
Lew disputed the number of civilians believed to be living in northern Gaza, saying the civilian population was “in the range of 7,000 to 15,000, not 65,000 to 75,000, which is the basis of this report.”
“At a time when inaccurate information leads to confusion and accusations, it is irresponsible to issue such a report,” he said.
— Ambassador Jack Lew (@USAmbIsrael) December 24, 2024
‘bullying’
But Palestinian rights advocates condemned the ambassador’s comments. Some accused Lew of seeming to welcome this forced expulsion the Palestinians in Gaza.
“Rejecting a report on the famine in northern Gaza by seemingly boasting about the ethnic cleansing of the local population there is just the latest example of Biden administration officials supporting and enabling Israel’s clear and open campaign of genocide and apologize. “Gaza,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement.
The group called on FEWS NET “not to succumb to the bullying of genocide advocates.”
Huwaida Arraf, a prominent Palestinian-American human rights lawyer, also criticized Lew for relying “on Israeli sources instead of his own experts.”
“Are you working for Israel or the American people, the overwhelming majority of whom disapprove of U.S. support for this genocide?” she wrote on X.
Polls last year showed that a high percentage of Americans oppose Israel’s offensive in Gaza and want an end to the war.
One March Gallup poll found that 55 percent of people in the United States disapproved of Israel’s actions in Gaza current survey A Pew Research Center study released in October found that about three in 10 Americans believed Israel’s military offensive went “too far.”
While the Biden administration has said it is pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza, it has rejected calls to condition U.S. aid to Israel on ending the war.
Washington provides at least $3.8 billion a year in military aid to its ally, and researchers at Brown University recently estimated that the Biden administration has given Israel an additional $17.9 billion since the start of the Gaza war.
It is the USA required by its own laws to suspend military aid to a country if that country restricts the delivery of American-backed humanitarian aid, but Biden’s administration has so far refused to apply that rule to Israel.
“We have not concluded at this time that the Israelis are violating U.S. law,” a State Department spokesman said Vedant Patel told reporters in November, despite reports of an “imminent” famine in northern Gaza.
