Gaza is gripped by a famine caused by Israel restricting food and other vital supplies. The only time that aid agencies and commercial shippers were able to get in adequate supplies was during the ceasefire that started on 19 January this year. That stopped abruptly when Israel imposed a total blockade on 2 March and two weeks later went back to war.
The global body that assesses food emergencies, the IPC, said in its most recent report in August that the famine had reached Gaza City. Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there is no famine in Gaza, rejecting the overwhelming evidence presented by the IPC as an 'outright lie'. The IPC is globally respected as an impartial and expert body. Netanyahu says Israel is not responsible for any 'shortages'.
Abdullah was a bright young man. Sticky notes above his desk display reminders to himself to aim for 95% in his exams. Judging by the photos his father provides, he dressed smartly, with a sharp haircut and an expectant smile. He must have seen possibilities ahead in his life, even in Gaza, a place where life was hard even before the war. Now it is reduced to a struggle to survive Israeli attacks and the famine.
The current offensive is aimed at forcing up to one million people out of Gaza City. It suits the plan pushed by Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline allies to seize the Gaza Strip for Jewish settlers - and force Palestinians out. One extremist leader in the Israeli cabinet predicted a real estate bonanza.
The determined opposition of Israel, backed by the US, makes the vision of a Palestinian state remote. So does the presence of more than 700,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, on land the UK and others now call the state of Palestine. But Britain's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and France's President Emmanuel Macron argue they have to act now to try to keep alive the hope of peace through the two-state solution.
