Editorial: Palestinian famine “must haunt us”

The words strike our conscience in the background of the photo of an emaciated child. "This is a famine that will and must haunt us all." At a press conference on Friday, Tom Fletcher, the head of the United Nations' humanitarian coordination office, officially recognized the state of famine in Gaza .

According to UN experts, more than 500,000 Gazans are living in "catastrophic" food distress. Worse still, this tragedy could have been avoided without an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip preventing humanitarian aid from entering. The UN goes even further, considering this famine "a weapon of war" that has been "openly promoted by certain Israeli leaders." At the same time, Benjamin Netanyahu 's government continues to deny the evidence and is preparing to attack Gaza City with the full might of the Israeli army in an attempt to occupy this part of the Palestinian enclave.

In an unprecedented move, breaking their duty of confidentiality, European officials (1,650 people) are calling, in an open letter addressed to Ursula von der Leyen , President of the European Commission, for humanitarian measures to be taken quickly for Gaza. And it is true that the European Union's hesitation in putting real pressure on the Hebrew state is creating incomprehension.

Beyond any bias in the Middle East conflict, beyond the urgent need to free the Israeli hostages, beyond the undeniable terrorist nature of Hamas, which is holding them, the tragedy unfolding in the Middle East calls for an essential and firm response. Even if it means political action. By suspending its arms deliveries to Israel on August 8th —a doubly courageous decision given its past with the Hebrew people—Germany showed the way. We now want to hear Europe's voice.