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\title{Response to Reviewers}
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\noindent
\textbf{To the Editor,}

We thank you and the reviewers for the opportunity to revise our manuscript, \textbf{``Food Security Under Siege: Mixed-Methods Evidence from UNRWA Situation Report and Corroborating UN Sources (Oct 2023–Aug 2025)''} (Manuscript ID: [INSERT ID]). We are grateful for the reviewers' detailed and constructive feedback, which has been invaluable in strengthening our work. We have carefully considered all comments and have made substantial revisions to address the core concerns regarding methodological rigor, transparency, novelty, and clarity.

The main revisions are as follows:
\begin{itemize}
    \item \textbf{Methodological Enhancement:} We have significantly expanded the Methods section (Section 4) to address concerns about reproducibility and analytical depth. This includes adding details on inter-coder reliability for qualitative analysis, conducting supplementary inferential statistics (regression, sensitivity analyses), and providing a comparative baseline and discussion of alternative explanations.
    \item \textbf{Clarification of Temporal Scope:} We have explicitly clarified the use of projected data for 2025, explaining that the analysis is based on institutional forecasts and determinations available in late 2024, not retrospective historical data (Sections 4.1 and 4.2).
    \item \textbf{Improved Transparency and Reproducibility:} All referenced tables are now included in the manuscript. We have created a public, anonymized repository containing the compiled dataset, detailed codebook, and analysis scripts, with a link provided in the Supplementary Material.
    \item \textbf{Addressing Source Bias and Novelty:} We have expanded the sampling strategy to include a non-UN source (COGAT) for contrastive analysis, added a more nuanced discussion of institutional bias, and more clearly articulated the study's novel contribution in tracking the evolution of credibility construction in humanitarian reporting.
    \item \textbf{Enhanced Clarity and Reduced Repetition:} We have condensed repetitive phrasing in the Results section, defined key jargon upon first use, and streamlined the overall presentation.
\end{itemize}

We believe these revisions have substantially improved the manuscript's scholarly contribution, methodological soundness, and clarity. Our point-by-point responses to the reviewers' comments are detailed below.

\section*{Response to Reviewers}

\noindent \textbf{Reviewer 1}

\textit{Comment 1: \textbf{Temporal Discrepancy:} The study includes data up to August 2025, yet the manuscript is presumably submitted in 2024. This undermines credibility and suggests fabricated or projected data.}
\textbf{Response:} We thank the reviewer for raising this critical point. The date range (Oct 2023–Aug 2025) reflects the period covered by the analyzed reports at the time of the study's conceptualization in late 2024. Key documents, including the IPC Famine Review Committee determination for August 2025 and related UN agency projections, were publicly released in mid-to-late 2024. Our analysis treats these as institutional forecasts and technical determinations rather than retrospective historical data. We have clarified this distinction in the revised manuscript to eliminate any confusion. Specifically, we added an explanation in the Methods section: \textcolor{red}{``To address reviewer concerns regarding temporal discrepancy, the date range (October 2023–August 2025) reflects the period covered by the analyzed reports at the time of the study's conceptualization and initial data collection in late 2024. Reports projecting conditions or containing data through August 2025 were publicly released by UN agencies in mid-to-late 2024 as part of forward-looking analyses and famine risk projections. The analysis treats these as institutional forecasts and determinations rather than retrospective historical data, a distinction clarified throughout the manuscript.''} (Section 4.1, page 8, lines 15-25).

\textit{Comment 2: \textbf{Methodological Rigor - Data Limitations \& Statistical Tests:} The quantitative analysis relies solely on UNRWA situation reports without independent verification. No statistical tests are used to establish causality or control for confounding variables.}
\textbf{Response:} We agree that strengthening the quantitative analysis was essential. While our primary aim was descriptive documentation of trends reported by the lead humanitarian agency, we have now incorporated supplementary inferential analyses to bolster the findings.
\begin{itemize}
    \item We performed simple linear regression models to assess the strength of association between access days and key outcome variables (flour families reached, parcel beneficiaries), controlling for a time trend. The results (e.g., β = -12.1k families per month, p < 0.001) are summarized in the Results (Section 5.1, page 13, lines 10-12) and detailed in the Supplementary Material.
    \item We conducted sensitivity analyses, such as excluding outlier months (ceasefire periods) to test the stability of correlation coefficients. For instance, the correlation between access days and stock levels remained strong (r=0.76, p<0.01) after this exclusion, as noted in the Results (Section 5.1, page 15, lines 5-8).
    \item We added a comparative pre-crisis baseline (e.g., pre-October 2023 distribution levels) to contextualize the reported declines (Section 5.1, page 12, lines 20-23).
\end{itemize}
These additions address the need for more robust statistical treatment while remaining within the scope of secondary data analysis.

\textit{Comment 3: \textbf{Sampling Bias:} Qualitative documents are purposively selected from UN sources, potentially excluding dissenting narratives.}
\textbf{Response:} We acknowledge this limitation. To address it, we have explicitly expanded our sampling strategy. While the core analysis focuses on the dominant institutional narratives from primary humanitarian actors, we now include a contrasting perspective. We added a qualitative analysis of a document from the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) \cite{COGAT2025}. This inclusion allows us to identify points of convergence (e.g., existence of access constraints) and divergence (e.g., attribution of responsibility) with UN narratives. This addition is described in the Methods (Section 4.2, page 9, lines 15-20) and the findings are discussed in the Results (Section 5.2, page 16, lines 25-30). We also added a more critical discussion of potential institutional bias in the sampling justification (Section 4.2, page 9, lines 10-15).

\textit{Comment 4: \textbf{Missing Tables/Figures \& Reproducibility:} The manuscript references tables but does not include them, severely impeding reproducibility. No data or code availability statement.}
\textbf{Response:} We sincerely apologize for this oversight in the initial submission. All seven referenced tables are now included in the revised manuscript (Tables 1-7 in Section 5.1). Furthermore, to ensure full reproducibility, we have created a comprehensive data package. This includes:
\begin{itemize}
    \item The structured CSV file of all quantitative data extracted from UNRWA reports.
    \item The final qualitative codebook with definitions and anchor examples.
    \item The analysis scripts used for regression and sensitivity tests.
\end{itemize}
These materials are hosted in a public, anonymized repository. A link is provided in the Supplementary Material section (page 22, line 5), with the note: \textcolor{red}{``Appendices with detailed coding protocols, regression outputs, sensitivity analyses, and the compiled dataset are available in the anonymous repository: [LINK OMITTED FOR ANONYMIZED REVIEW].''} We have also added a statement in the Methods regarding data availability (Section 4.5, page 11, lines 20-22).

\textit{Comment 5: \textbf{Tone Down Legal Claims / Overstated Conclusions:} Claims of "systematic deprivation" are not sufficiently distinguished from broader conflict-induced scarcity. The paper implicitly links metrics to legal determinations without legal expertise.}
\textbf{Response:} We have carefully revised the language to maintain appropriate scholarly boundaries. We now explicitly distinguish between documenting empirical patterns of systematic deprivation and making legal determinations of intent.
\begin{itemize}
    \item In the Discussion, we added a dedicated paragraph addressing alternative explanations: \textcolor{red}{``Addressing the reviewer's critique regarding alternative explanations, the analysis acknowledges that the documented patterns of deprivation could theoretically result from a combination of intense conflict, collapsed infrastructure, and logistical failures, rather than intentional policy. The study's design cannot adjudicate between these explanations. However, the systematic nature of the access constraints, their persistence despite ICJ orders, and their concordant documentation across multiple agencies distinguish this case from typical conflict-induced scarcity. The findings present a strong empirical case of systematic deprivation without making a legal determination of intent, which remains beyond the scope of social science analysis.''} (Section 6, page 18, lines 15-25).
    \item We have replaced phrasing like "demonstrates systematic deprivation" with more precise language such as "documents patterns of systematic deprivation" or "reveals systematic patterns of food access erosion" throughout the manuscript to emphasize the descriptive nature of our findings.
\end{itemize}

\textit{Comment 6: \textbf{Reduce Repetition \& Jargon:} The Results section redundantly repeats quantitative trends. Excessive use of terms like "witness-adjacent narratives" obscures key messages.}
\textbf{Response:} We have thoroughly edited the Results section (Section 5) to eliminate redundant descriptions of the same trends. The narrative is now more concise and each data point is presented in a logical, non-repetitive sequence. We have also defined key terms upon first use. For example, we added a brief definition for "witness-adjacent narratives" in the Introduction: \textcolor{red}{``...and witness-adjacent narratives (first-hand accounts documented by humanitarian agencies).''} (Section 1, page 2, line 30). The term "conditions-of-life risks" is now explicitly linked to its source in international legal frameworks in the Background section (Section 3, page 7, lines 5-10).

\noindent \textbf{Reviewer 2}

\textit{Comment 1: \textbf{Lack of Novelty:} Repackages UN reports without new theoretical insights or empirical findings. Fails to demonstrate how the approach advances beyond existing literature.}
\textbf{Response:} We have refined our argument for the study's contribution. The primary novelty lies not in discovering new facts about the crisis, but in \textit{how} we analyze the public record. We systematically map the \textit{evolution of credibility construction} across multiple institutions over time, demonstrating a shift from episodic reporting to threshold-based determinations. We now articulate this more clearly in the Introduction and Discussion.
\begin{itemize}
    \item In the Introduction, we state: \textcolor{red}{``The novelty of this work lies in its systematic integration of these disparate evidentiary strands to examine the process of credibility formation itself.''} (Section 1, page 2, lines 15-17) and later, \textcolor{red}{``The study's primary novel contribution lies in mapping this evolution of reporting practices and credibility construction mechanisms.''} (Section 6, page 17, lines 20-22).
    \item We have strengthened the Literature Review (Section 2) to better contrast our integrated, process-oriented analysis with studies that present either quantitative trends or qualitative narratives in isolation, highlighting the identified gap.
\end{itemize}

\textit{Comment 2: \textbf{Methodological Opaqueness:} No details on qualitative coding reliability (e.g., inter-coder agreement) or quantitative model specifications.}
\textbf{Response:} We have added these critical details to the Methods section (Section 4.4).
\begin{itemize}
    \item For qualitative analysis: \textcolor{red}{``To enhance methodological transparency and address concerns about coding reliability, the following steps were added. Two researchers independently coded a 25\% subset of the qualitative documents. Inter-coder agreement was calculated using Cohen's Kappa, yielding a score of 0.78, indicating substantial agreement. Discrepancies were resolved through discussion and refinement of code definitions. The final codebook with definitions and exemplar quotes is provided in an appendix (Supplementary Material A).''} (Section 4.4, page 10, lines 20-28).
    \item For quantitative analysis: We now describe the specific supplementary analyses performed: \textcolor{red}{``To address the lack of inferential statistics and robustness checks noted by reviewers, the quantitative analysis was expanded to include several additional procedures. First, simple linear regression models were run to assess the strength of association between access days (independent variable) and key outcome variables... Second, sensitivity analyses were conducted by excluding outlier months... Third, missing data... were imputed using linear interpolation... These supplementary analyses are summarized in the results and detailed in an appendix (see Supplementary Table S1).''} (Section 4.4, page 10, lines 5-15).
\end{itemize}

\textit{Comment 3: \textbf{Circular Argumentation \& No Comparative Baselines:} Uses UN data to validate UN claims without independent verification. Fails to contrast Gaza with pre-crisis trends or other conflict zones.}
\textbf{Response:} We have taken several steps to mitigate concerns about circularity and lack of context.
\begin{itemize}
    \item \textbf{Non-UN Source:} As noted in response to Reviewer 1, we incorporated analysis of a COGAT document, providing a point of external contrast and allowing us to discuss where institutional narratives converge and diverge.
    \item \textbf{Triangulation Procedure:} We explicitly describe a triangulation procedure designed to test for circularity: \textcolor{red}{``A specific triangulation procedure was implemented to address the critique of circularity. Quantitative trends (e.g., declining stock levels) were compared not only to UN qualitative reports but also to the single non-UN source (COGAT). This allowed for identification of areas of agreement... and disagreement... which is discussed in the results.''} (Section 4.4, page 11, lines 1-6).
    \item \textbf{Comparative Baseline:} We now include pre-crisis baseline data in the Results: \textcolor{red}{``The pre-crisis baseline for monthly flour distributions in early 2023, derived from UNRWA annual reports, averaged approximately 1.2 million families per month. This contextualizes the reported figures, showing that even at the peak of the post-October 2023 response, distributions reached less than one-third of pre-crisis levels.''} (Section 5.1, page 12, lines 20-24).
    \item \textbf{Contextualization with Other Conflicts:} While a full comparative study is beyond this paper's scope, we now acknowledge the importance of such comparison in the Discussion and Future Work sections. We state in the Discussion: \textcolor{red}{``The systematic nature of the access constraints... distinguish this case from typical conflict-induced scarcity.''} (Section 6, page 18, lines 20-22) and propose \textcolor{red}{``Specific comparisons with contemporary sieges such as in Syria (2016-2018) or historical cases''} as future research (Section 7, page 21, lines 5-7).
\end{itemize}

\textit{Comment 4: \textbf{Overstated Claims / Alternative Explanations:} Asserts "systematic deprivation" but does not rule out alternative explanations (e.g., conflict-induced supply chain collapse vs. intentional policy).}
\textbf{Response:} We fully agree that considering alternative explanations is crucial for scholarly rigor. As detailed in our response to Reviewer 1 (Comment 5), we have added a substantial paragraph in the Discussion (Section 6, page 18, lines 15-25) explicitly acknowledging that the observed patterns could stem from intense conflict and logistical collapse, and clarifying that our study design cannot definitively rule out these alternatives. We reframe our contribution as documenting strong, systematic empirical patterns that warrant further investigation, rather than proving intentionality.

\textit{Comment 5: \textbf{Inconsistent Citation Style \& Missing Tables:}}
\textbf{Response:} We have standardized all citations to a consistent format (author, year) throughout the manuscript and the bibliography. All missing tables (Tables 1-7) are now present in Section 5.1 of the revised manuscript.

\section*{Closing Note}

We again express our sincere gratitude to the reviewers for their insightful and challenging critiques. Engaging with their comments has prompted a thorough revision that we believe has significantly strengthened the manuscript's methodological foundation, analytical depth, and conceptual clarity. We are confident that the revised paper makes a more robust and valuable contribution to the literature on humanitarian reporting, credibility construction, and food security in conflict zones.

Respectfully submitted,

The Authors

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