Human Rights Watch (HRW) has charged Israel with employing civilian starvation as a war tactic, a claim the Israeli Foreign Ministry denounces as biased. The Ministry implicates HRW in silence over the Hamas massacre that initiated the Gaza conflict, labeling the organization as anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli.
According to HRW, Israel, in its role as an occupying power, bears responsibility for supplying the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip with essentials like water, food, and fuel. However, Israeli forces are reportedly obstructing these supplies, including water, fuel, and humanitarian aid. HRW cites interviews with displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who struggle to meet their basic needs.
Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Joav Galant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have openly expressed a desire to restrict essentials from the Gaza Strip. Israel's position is that Hamas, the governing power in the Gaza Strip, misdirects or outright steals aid supplies and allegedly uses armed force to secure them.
Due to these restrictions, only a fraction of the daily aid supplies formerly entering the Gaza Strip are now reaching its population. Following the Hamas massacre, Israel imposed a two-week seal on the coastal area, preventing any aid from entering.
Human Rights Watch condemns the 16-year-long blockade of the Gaza Strip, which the global rights organization views as a war crime and collective punishment of the civilian population. This blockade began after Hamas seized power in 2007, with both Israel and Egypt supporting it due to security concerns.
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An analytical deep dive into the situation:
- According to Human Rights Watch, Israel has adopted starvation as a means of warfare in the Gaza Strip, a clear violation of international humanitarian law.
- Israel's actions have resulted in severe restrictions on humanitarian aid, including water, food, and electricity, leaving over 90% of children in Gaza suffering from health issues like malnutrition and anemia.
- The 16-year blockade by Israel and Egypt has led to a catastrophic decline in living conditions, with more than half of Gaza's population suffering from hunger and over 90% unable to eat every day.
- The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israel must allow aid flow, but the number of aid trucks entering Gaza has decreased by 40%, exacerbating the food security crisis.
- The use of starvation as a method of warfare is recognized as a war crime, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their involvement.
- The blockade has led to significant economic devastation, with extreme poverty rising from 61% to about 81%, infrastructure damage to homes, hospitals, schools, and utilities, and a predicted 11 to 16-year setback in human development within the region.
