The massacre in Gaza exacerbates the political crisis in the Netherlands and forces the resignation of the foreign minister.

At least eight of the 61 victims in the Strip in the last 24 hours have died of starvation.

An explosion in Gaza City, where the Israeli army continues its invasion.
ARA
23/08/2025
3 min

BarcelonaThe Israeli massacre in Gaza has further exacerbated political divisions in the Netherlands and precipitated the resignation of Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp. A former ambassador to Israel and until now the Dutch foreign minister, Veldkamp announced this Friday that he was leaving his post after the caretaker government failed to agree on tougher sanctions against Benjamin Netanyahu's administration.

The decision was also echoed by his colleagues in the New Social Contract (NSC) party, who abandoned the administration, accusing liberals and populists of "denying the alarming situation in Gaza." "He was incapable of taking meaningful action," Veldkamp admitted in his farewell letter, also noting that we are living "in times of unprecedented geopolitical tensions."

The worsening of the crisis has erupted just after the Netherlands signed a joint declaration with around twenty European states. against new illegal settlements in the West Bank, and amid massive protests in several cities across the country demanding a firmer stance toward Israel. The Dutch government, in office since the departure of Geert Wilders' far-right party in early June, must manage this new institutional crisis with elections scheduled for October 29.

Gaza, trapped between bombing and hunger

Meanwhile, The war in Gaza continues and the pace of Israeli killing continues unabated.Since early Saturday morning, at least 41 Palestinians have died in various attacks by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, according to hospital sources cited by Al Jazeera. The figure adds to a devastating toll: since the start of the offensive in October 2023, 62,622 Palestinians have lost their lives and 157,673 have been injured, according to the Hamas government. In the last 24 hours alone, the few hospitals still functioning at minimal capacity have received 61 bodies and 308 wounded.

To the hunger catastrophe that threatens generations of Palestinians, especially the youngest ones—the CPI, the organization that measures food security worldwide and is supported by the United Nations, officially denounced this on Friday—is added the untold health crisis. The health system has practically collapsed.

Munir al-Bursh, director-general of the Ministry of Health in the Strip, explained on Friday, also on Al Jazeera, the total collapse of the hospital network and called for safe corridors for the entry of international medicine and equipment. "We haven't seen any real action," he warned, confirming that eight people—two of them children—had died of malnutrition in the last 24 hours.

For his part, Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, director of the children's hospital at the Nasser Medical Complex, also described a desperate situation on the Qatari network. At his center, there are 120 children at risk of dying from malnutrition, and "it would take ten hospitals to care for them." "The children of Gaza will suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives," he added.

According to Save the Children, tens of thousands of displaced children are suffering from severe food shortages, and no world leader can claim ignorance. The consequences also affect women. In Deir al-Balah, a town in the central Gaza Strip, more than half of pregnant and expectant mothers are malnourished, also according to Save the Children.

And amidst this context of daily terror, the food lines continue to be lines where people die, not where they eat. In just 24 hours, of the aforementioned 61 people who have lost their lives, at least 16 were waiting for food when they were killed. Another 111 were injured. Since the end of May, when the Israeli-controlled food distribution system was established with US support, the number of deaths in the so-called hunger lines has exceeded 2,076, and the number of injuries has risen to more than 15,300.

Despite all the evidence and the aforementioned formal declaration of hunger by the UN, Israel denies the existence of a food and humanitarian crisis and continues its offensive with the explicit intention of conquering Gaza City. Images of malnourished children and hospitals without resources are fueling international outrage and increasing pressure on European governments like the Dutch, which are forced to take a stand amid a new humanitarian catastrophe that has been going on for 22 months.

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