Gaza: Starvation as a Weapon… The World’s Words Aren’t Enough
GAZA, Aug. 25 (YPA) – The scene unfolding in Gaza today is a horrifying drama, where humanitarian aid has become a battleground and negotiations a space for evasion, leaving besieged civilians as the primary victims.
In its legal and humanitarian context, this catastrophe amounts to a systematic war crime, especially as starvation has become a coercive, strategic tool used to break the will of the Palestinian people and subjugate them. These practices directly clash with international laws that have criminalized the use of starvation as a method of warfare.
Amid this reality, the situation in the UN Security Council is escalating, as it finds itself unable to pass binding resolutions due to looming political obstacles. Any serious action is being blocked, making efforts to turn the UN report into a binding resolution extremely difficult.
Starvation as a Weapon of War
Alongside the aerial bombardment that tears bodies apart and the deliberate restriction of aid as a weapon designed to subjugate and slowly eliminate the people, a silent yet devastating weapon is being used to subdue an entire population: starvation. Since the beginning of the aggression, the Israeli occupation has imposed a comprehensive land, sea, and air blockade on Gaza Strip, halting the entry of food, water, medicines, and fuel.
Although the Israeli occupation announced from the start of its aggression on Gaza that it would use food and water as a weapon of war, it has tried to deny the occurrence of famine by claiming to allow in limited aid that is woefully insufficient.
In a move described as a delayed international decision on a disaster created by the occupation, the global hunger monitoring body, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), declared on Friday that famine had occurred in Gaza Governorate, where more than half a million people are facing catastrophic levels of hunger and acute malnutrition.
After 686 days of the genocide carried out by the occupation, the UN’s announcement of a spreading famine in Gaza is a crucial step in describing the reality of what “Israel” is doing—using starvation as a tool of annihilation and a weapon of war. The important question remains: what comes next after this declaration, and can there be real actions to save over two million people from death by either bombing or starvation?
The UN-backed IPC report stated that more than half a million people in Gaza are facing conditions of hunger, destitution, and death. It predicted that famine would extend to Deir al-Balah (central) and Khan Younis (southern) by the end of the current month, calling for an end to the famine in Gaza at any cost and warning that acute malnutrition would rapidly worsen across the Strip until June 2026.
The report noted that an additional 1.07 million people (54% of the population) are in Phase 4 of acute food insecurity, classified as “Emergency.” Another 396,000 (20% of the population) are in Phase 3, an “Acute Food Insecurity Crisis.”
Reports from UNICEF and health organizations document that the food crisis has reached catastrophic levels, with children across the Strip at risk of famine. Reports indicate that one in six children under two in northern Gaza suffers from acute malnutrition, a figure that rises to 15.6% in the north, while it is 5% in the south. This proves that humanitarian access is the decisive factor in preventing famine, and that its prevention is a deliberate decision. This rapid and dangerous increase in wasting rates, which was rare before the war, reflects an unprecedented collapse of the food and health system.
Mass Casualties
Gaza’s Health Ministry confirmed that since the occupation turned the limited distribution points into “killing traps” on May 27, there have been 2,076 deaths, over 15,308 injuries, and 45 missing people. A so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation”—with Israeli-American ties and rejected by the UN—is being used as a tool to impose submission and killing under the guise of “humanitarian work.” The number of deaths from starvation and malnutrition has risen to 281, including 114 children.
In a related context, the organization Mercy Corps said the confirmation of famine is a “direct result of months of deliberate restrictions on aid and the destruction of food, health, and water systems.” It confirmed that it has enough aid for 160,000 people but has been prevented from entering.
For its part, Christian Aid International described what is happening as “unconscionable,” noting that families in Gaza are fainting and suffering from severe exhaustion due to hunger. The Oxfam organization held “Israel” responsible for rejecting all requests to deliver its aid, which includes high-calorie food parcels worth $2.5 million.
Action Aid described the situation as an “entirely engineered famine” and a “stain on the conscience of humanity.” The International Rescue Committee, in turn, stressed the need to open all border crossings and establish a permanent ceasefire to ensure the flow of aid, considering that aid alone will not stop the disaster “without a decisive political decision.”
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor also accused “Israel” of deliberately manufacturing the famine, confirming that the reality on the ground is far worse than what was stated in the UN report, and that over 1.5 million people are suffering from severe levels of hunger.
On the political front, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the famine as a “moral scandal and a man-made catastrophe,” holding “Israel” responsible for preventing the entry of food and medicine.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris called what is happening “disgusting and vile,” and confirmed that his country considers the events to be a genocide. He called on the European Union to impose sanctions on “Israel” and increase support for humanitarian aid programs.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the famine in Gaza as a “man-made catastrophe, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity.” He stressed that the current situation “cannot continue with impunity.”
He added that “a new word has been added to the hell of Gaza, which is famine. It is not just a lack of food, but a deliberate collapse of the systems necessary for human survival,” holding “Israel” as the occupying power fully responsible for ensuring the delivery of food and medical supplies, and renewing the call for an immediate ceasefire and the guarantee of unrestricted aid entry.
Popular Movements… A Driving Force for Change
Amid this political paralysis and diplomatic evasion, popular movements are emerging as a powerful and influential force. The protests sweeping capitals around the world, particularly in European countries and the United States, express anger and serve as an effective political and diplomatic pressure tool. They show that mass movements have a certain ability to bring about changes in the stances of decision-makers, which has begun to appear in the shifting political rhetoric of some countries like France, Britain, and Germany, among others.
This growing awareness among global public opinion, which has come to view the systematic starvation policy as an intolerable crime, represents a victory to be added to the record of the seventh of October’s triumphs. Especially as opinion polls in the United States, which show increasing demands for a political solution to the Palestinian issue and for the establishment of a Palestinian state, confirm that the American public is starting to see the issue from a different perspective. If this shift in public consciousness continues and escalates, it could serve as a decisive pressure card to force the key players to change course and move from evasion to radical solutions.
YPA