Elham Shamali

What you see today on the streets of Gaza are emaciated, exhausted bodies, miserable pale faces, and bewildered eyes—not asking when Israel’s bloody war will end, but rather what might fill the stomachs of those starving under an unprecedented siege. Gaza—once rich in agriculture and famous for feeding the world with its oranges—is now home to 2.2 million Palestinians suffering from catastrophic food insecurity. A campaign of starvation has descended upon the Strip as part of a broader campaign of genocide, obliterating Gaza’s agricultural resources through relentless Israeli bombardment.

The war has ravaged vital infrastructure, destroying water wells—now a distant dream for many. Around 90% of the population struggles daily to access drinkable water, as Israel implements a scorched-earth strategy. This strategy, in place since the blockade began years ago, seeks to transform Gaza into an unlivable zone, facilitating Israel’s plans for the forced displacement of its people and to break a resilience that has captivated the world, even as the international community fails to stop the assault.

The use of starvation as a weapon marks the most dangerous phase of the genocidal war that began on October 7, 2023. It is a form of collective punishment, aimed at forcing surrender after Israel failed to achieve its goals militarily, despite committing horrific massacres. Israeli political leaders have united behind a media narrative promoting starvation: “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, no medicine.” This manufactured famine, orchestrated by the occupying power, constitutes a crime against humanity, in violation of international law.

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees every person the right to an adequate standard of living—including food, medical care, and essential services. Yet the people of Gaza are being subjected to deliberate and deadly starvation. This represents a severe breach of Article 2 of the Genocide Convention. Moreover, UN Security Council Resolution 2417 (2018) explicitly prohibits the use of starvation as a method of warfare and condemns the starvation of civilians.

The situation has worsened dramatically over the past 60 days. Gaza is now facing one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent history due to the severe shortage of humanitarian aid. Relief agencies, including UNRWA, have depleted their supplies. Palestinians are crying out to the international community to save them from hunger and the deprivation of medicine. This starvation policy is not new—it is an extension of the longstanding blockade that reached its peak on March 2, 2025, when Israel began denying humanitarian aid in violation of a ceasefire agreement.

As a result, more than 80% of Gaza’s population now faces food insecurity, and over 3,500 children are at imminent risk of death due to malnutrition. Gaza has entered Phase 5 of food insecurity—the most severe classification—according to the global standard used by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, Oxfam, and the World Food Programme. This stage signifies total collapse of the food system and a near impossibility of accessing daily sustenance.

International proposals to address the crisis, including the recent U.S. initiative to establish a Gaza humanitarian fund to manage aid distribution, do not confront the root crime of starvation. Rather, they aim to institutionalize the occupation under a humanitarian guise—politicizing the right to food and reducing Gaza to a dependent humanitarian zone, stripped of political legitimacy or national sovereignty. This American plan offers only temporary relief for a population enduring an 18-month-long genocidal war. It is designed to keep people barely alive, not to solve the disgrace of manufactured starvation.

Currently, around 3,000 aid trucks from UNRWA and other humanitarian organizations remain stalled at closed border crossings due to Israeli restrictions. The U.S. proposal may, in fact, signal a step toward phasing out UNRWA and managing the famine politically, using humanitarian suffering to pressure and extract concessions from the Palestinian people.

Humanity now faces a test of conscience: will the world act before Gaza descends further into starvation? Can we afford to wait two more weeks for a U.S. plan to normalize aid while 50% of displaced families already have no flour? This is a slow death campaign—one where children beg their parents for a piece of bread every morning and night.