Forcibly Denying Food Supplies to Inhabitants of Gaza for the Purpose of Completing the Demographic Alteration of the Region
In the enclave of Gaza, a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions is unfolding. Amidst mounting allegations, there is substantial evidence indicating that Israel’s blockade and military actions are directly responsible for the widespread starvation, with serious accusations that Israel is intentionally using starvation as a weapon of war.
Recent reports by the United Nations reveal that Gaza is facing famine conditions, characterised by plummeting food consumption and acute malnutrition. Over 20,000 children have been treated for acute malnutrition, and starvation-related deaths are on the rise. The crisis escalated after Israel imposed a full blockade in March 2025, intended to pressure Hamas but resulting in severe humanitarian consequences, including many Gazans going days without food.
Human Rights Watch and other groups report that Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on civilians seeking food at aid distribution points, operated under a system controlled and coordinated with Israeli military oversight. These actions have led to hundreds of deaths and injuries. These acts, along with the blockade, are described as deliberate tactics amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity (extermination), and acts of genocide.
Amnesty International and humanitarian agencies confirm that the Israeli siege has starved millions in Gaza, with many Palestinians killed or injured while accessing scarce aid. Aid workers themselves face life-threatening conditions trying to feed the population. These agencies call for lifting the blockade, restoring humanitarian access through an independent UN-led mechanism, and achieving a ceasefire.
While direct intent to facilitate ethnic cleansing and land theft is a complex legal and political determination, the facts show Israel’s blockade and military measures are causing mass starvation and suffering. Several organizations explicitly state these actions align with the use of starvation as a weapon of war and constitute grave breaches of international law, which under some interpretations can be components of ethnic cleansing or genocidal policy.
Israeli officials have openly discussed the intentional starvation of Gaza’s population and the ethnic cleansing of the region. An Israeli think tank drew up a strategy for the "relocation and final settlement" of the entire Gaza population, while Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir tweeted that a halt of humanitarian aid would encourage migration and settlement in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu stated that the government’s goal is to wipe out Gaza and make it all Jewish.
As the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, Western governments are beginning to speak out against the mass atrocity, far too little and far too late. It remains to be seen whether Israel and the United States will respond to the outcry by suggesting that Palestinians need to be evacuated out of Gaza to rescue them from the deliberately manufactured humanitarian crisis. However, the evidence clearly demonstrates that Israel’s policies and military conduct have led to widespread starvation, suffering, and death, with many human rights experts and organizations considering these measures intentional and criminal, fitting criteria of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
[1] United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) [2] Al Jazeera [3] Human Rights Watch [4] Amnesty International, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP), and others.
- The starvation and malnutrition in Gaza, a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions, have been linked to Israel's blockade and military actions, which have been described as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and potential acts of genocide by organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, UNICEF, WFP, and others.
- Despite the mounting evidence suggesting that Israel's policies and military conduct in Gaza, particularly the blockade, are intentionally causing widespread starvation, suffering, and death, Israeli officials have publicly discussed strategies for ethnic cleansing and the relocation of the entire Gaza population.
