For decades, Israel has been proud of its officials’ defense and argument and persuasion. The war in Gaza has seen the country’s public diplomacy face the biggest test – as it was clearly shown on Wednesday morning, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer had a strong exchange with Nick Robinson, host of the BBC’s flagship program today.

Mencer stressed that he spoke on behalf of the Prime Minister and made uncompromising statements about Israel’s arguments, including accusation that Hamas was described as a “genocide-death cult” and called civilians a human shield.

He told Robinson: "Israel is now facing a moral paradox. It was created by Hamas. We have the opportunity to strike every military target, but when we do, we are condemned, you know, or we don't strike them, we reward the use of the human shield."

But the core of the confrontation is Israel's blockade of Gaza. Here, some listeners may have decided that Mencer is involved in an attempt to deliberately cover up the reality of reliable reporting that is political, ideological and strategic purposes.

Of course, Israel’s key argument is that it is difficult to maintain “Gaza is free from hunger.” Mencer accompanied the claim that there is food in Gaza and the market is open.

Indeed, even after the total Israeli lockdown 11 weeks, the territory still has some basic knowledge, and some stalls and shops still offer some basic knowledge. But the vast majority of the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip cannot afford to buy what they need to survive, and if they can, stocks are only enough to satisfy the numbers.

The amount of flour that is often damaged is limited, with a standard 25 kg bag costing hundreds of dollars, fresh food (such as potatoes and tomatoes), and one kg costs between $10 and $15. There is no dairy, almost no meat. A few weeks ago, the free bakery closed due to a lack of fuel and flour, while the community kitchen, which once served one million meals a day, was closing rapidly. Almost all major warehouses operated by large international NGOs such as the World Food Programme or near-income people are now empty.

Many people live on canned peas or dried beans, with a limited supply of them.

But there are thousands of tons of food, medicine, shelters, fuel and everything necessary to prepare for survival in Gaza, but this can only happen if Israel opens its checkpoints controlled along its periphery.

As Mencer said, it was indeed introduced and stored in a 10-week ceasefire that came into effect in mid-January, but it all disappeared - this influx did not offset the consequences of the war that destroyed agriculture, water supplies, health systems and health services, severely weakened populations and vulnerable to illness.

Aid workers say the essential medicines used to treat malnutrition are now being rationed and medical supplies are running lower.

Then there is obvious evidence that people with malnutrition (usually children). Mensell suggested that this situation may not prove that thousands or tens of thousands of others are in the same terrible state, but a report on Monday, the Integrated Food Security Stage Classification (IPC), a consortium of experts who have advised the United Nations and the government for decades, said Palestinians living there faced “a critical risk of famine.”

IPC has developed a warning system for level five famines and found that between April 1 and May 10 this year, 244,000 people in Gaza were at the most critical food security situation: Level five, "Disaster/Famine". The IPC noted that since the last assessment in October 2024, the food security situation in Gaza has become “significantly worsened”.

Messel denied that Israel was using hunger as a deliberate strategy, asking why in this case, Israel sent "enough food aid to fill London's Wembley Stadium 80 times" to send it to Gaza during the conflict.

But through most of the conflict in 19 months, allowing aid to Gaza is insufficient, unpredictable, and criticized by bureaucratic processes that blocked many cargoes and slowed down more. It is also difficult to distribute, given the widespread destruction and ongoing violence.

Nearly 53,000 people have been killed since the Israeli offensive began. The sanitation system, water supply and sanitation services are in ruins. The roads were suffocated by rubble and bulldozers were systematically targeted by Israel.

Israeli officials believe Hamas steals and sells aid to fund its military and other operations. Therefore, they said the restrictions on aid were to defeat the radical Islamic group, which attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and ensuring that 57 of the 251 hostages still held in Gaza that day returned.

Instead, Israel has developed its own plan to distribute assistance to six major hubs in southern Gaza, which will be operated by private contractors and defended by Israeli forces.

Aid agencies say they have powerful mechanisms to prevent aid leaks and that Hamas rarely steals (if any). They also said they believed the new Israeli plan was unrealistic, insufficient, potentially dangerous, and could be illegal because it would allow hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to replace them in the Gaza Strip, and if that territory would force them into smaller areas. In view of this, they cannot agree to cooperate with it.