"Starvation is not a side effect of war—it is a weapon, when food becomes a tool to kill."
Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council -
Since October 2023, Gaza has become a graveyard of children and a starvation camp for the innocent. Israel has not merely waged war on Hamas—it has executed a policy of extermination by siege, famine, and forced hunger. This weaponisation of food is not an unintended consequence of war, but a deliberate strategy—a war crime that amounts to genocide under international law.
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, under Article 8(2)(b)(xxv), classifies “using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” as a war crime. The Genocide Convention goes further: “Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” is genocide. By both legal and moral standards, what Israel is doing in Gaza through starvation is genocide.
From the earliest days of the assault on Gaza in October 2023, Israel imposed a “total siege”—cutting off food, water, fuel, and humanitarian aid. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s chilling declaration, “We are fighting human animals… There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel,” set the tone for an operation whose goal was annihilation, not just combat.
As of July 2024, Gaza’s population—especially in the north—faces famine-level hunger, with more than 30 children confirmed dead from starvation. These are not numbers. These are infants whose lives were extinguished because Israel blocked food. Starvation has become an organized policy of terror.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), famine conditions exist when at least 20% of households face extreme food shortages, at least 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition, and at least 2 people per 10,000 die daily from starvation or malnutrition. Gaza meets all three criteria. The IPC’s March 2024 report warned that famine is “imminent”, and likely already underway in northern Gaza¹.
Aid trucks—once lifelines—have been reduced to political tools. In May 2024, Israel bombed a food distribution centre, killing at least 15 and injuring scores. In several cases, Israeli forces shot at civilians waiting for flour or food aid, including the horrifying incident in February where over 100 Palestinians were killed near a food convoy in Gaza City².
Even humanitarian workers have not been spared. Seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers were killed by Israeli drone strikes in April, despite having coordinated movements with the Israeli military³. The result? Humanitarian groups began suspending operations—fearing for the safety of their workers. Aid is not merely delayed—it is actively obstructed.
The destruction of agriculture, bakeries, food depots, and irrigation infrastructure has further crippled Gaza’s ability to survive. Over 80% of Gaza’s bakeries have been bombed or forced to shut due to lack of fuel or flour⁴. Fields have been razed. Fishing is impossible due to the blockade and airstrikes. Israel has not just denied food—it has destroyed the means to grow it.
The victims are overwhelmingly children. UNICEF reports that nearly 90% of children under five in Gaza face severe food poverty, surviving on two or fewer food groups per day. Milk and baby formula are virtually absent. Mothers are forced to feed infants sugar water or stale bread. Malnutrition stunts cognitive development irreversibly—and in Gaza, it is being inflicted at scale.
Pregnant women miscarry from dehydration. Children scream from hunger and eat grass, animal feed, or sand. In several reports, mothers have stopped lactating due to prolonged starvation and trauma, unable to feed their newborns⁵.
This is not collateral damage. It is the destruction of a generation.
The global response has been feeble. The United States continues to supply weapons and veto UN resolutions calling for a ceasefire. It launched a symbolic effort to build a temporary pier to bring in aid—yet this has functioned more as a photo-op than a pipeline. Meanwhile, Egypt and Jordan have accused Israel of blocking over 90% of aid trucks at border crossings, including vital food supplies⁶.
European governments, while expressing concern, have taken little action. There have been no sanctions, no embargos, no legal consequences. By shielding Israel diplomatically and militarily, the West is complicit in this genocide of hunger.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), in its January 2024 ruling on South Africa’s genocide case, warned Israel to prevent acts of genocide—including by enabling aid delivery. Israel has ignored the ruling with impunity. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has since issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, for crimes including starvation⁷.
Israel claims its war is against Hamas—but hunger does not distinguish between combatants and children. Starvation is collective punishment, illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention. It is intended to break the will of an entire people. It is ethnic cleansing through deprivation.
And yet, amid the horror, Gaza refuses to die quietly. Families share their meagre rations. Communities cook together. Children draw pictures of food they dream of. These small acts of dignity are a resistance to the genocidal ambitions of their oppressor.
The world must not wait for another thousand children to starve. It is time to move beyond words and towards accountability:
- Sanction Israel’s government and military-industrial complex.
- Suspend arms sales to Israel from all complicit countries.
- Isolate Israel in international forums, including trade and sports.
- Mobilize grassroots pressure to demand humanitarian access.
- Push the ICC and ICJ to expedite trials and enforce arrest warrants.
The deliberate starvation of Palestinians in Gaza is not just a war crime. It is a test of our humanity. If we let this happen, we forfeit our claim to civilization.
Let the world remember: genocide begins with silence. But it ends only when people everywhere rise—not just to mourn, but to resist.
Ranjan Solomon has been active in the Palestinian solidarity movement since 1987. A political analyst and human rights defender, he writes and campaigns globally for justice in the Global South, with a focus on settler-colonialism, occupation, and state violence. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.
Cover Photograph: United Nations