Israel Uses Starvation as a War Weapon, Human Rights Watch Claims

Israel – The Human Rights Watch (HRW) claims that the Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime. 

Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival.

Since Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, high-ranking Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Energy Minister Israel Katz have made public statements expressing their aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of food, water and fuel. 

Other Israeli officials have publicly stated that humanitarian aid to Gaza would be conditioned either on the release of hostages unlawfully held by Hamas or Hamas’ destruction.

“For over two months, Israel has been depriving Gaza's population of food and water, a policy spurred on or endorsed by high-ranking Israeli officials and reflecting an intent to starve civilians as a method of warfare,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. 

“World leaders should be speaking out against this abhorrent war crime, which has devastating effects on Gaza’s population,"

Earlier, Human Rights Watch interviewed 11 displaced Palestinians in Gaza between November 24 and December 4. 

They described their profound hardships in securing basic necessities. “We had no food, no electricity, no internet, nothing at all,” said one man who had left northern Gaza. 

“We don’t know how we survived.”

In southern Gaza, those interviewed described the scarcity of potable water, the lack of food leading to empty shops and lengthy lines, and exorbitant prices. 

“You are on a constant search for things needed to survive,” said a father of two. 

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reported on December 6 that 9 out of 10 households in northern Gaza and 2 out of 3 households in southern Gaza had spent at least one full day and night without food.

International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, prohibits the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court provides that intentionally starving civilians by “depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies” is a war crime. 

Criminal intent does not require the attacker’s admission but can also be inferred from the totality of the circumstances of the military campaign.

In addition, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza, as well as its more than 16-year closure, amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population, a war crime. 

As the occupying power in Gaza under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel has the duty to ensure that the civilian population gets food and medical supplies.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel's indiscriminate air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed more than 18,800 people, most of them women and children, according to the Palestinian territory's health ministry.

Nearly the entire population of the region was forced to flee as a result of Israeli military bombardment, which was launched on the same day that Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking hundreds more hostage.

There have been international calls to prosecute Israeli officials for genocide in Gaza, given the disproportionate use of force, heavy loss of life, and fear of expulsion of Palestinians from the territory.