B’Tselem: Israel is committing the war crime of starvation in the Gaza Strip
Today, (Monday, 22.2.2024) Israeli human rights group B’Tselem is issuing a new position paper, Manufacturing Famine. The organization concludes, based on various reports from international bodies about the situation in Gaza and on testimonies gathered by B’Tselem’s field researchers, that for months, Israel has been committing the crime of starvation under international law in the Gaza Strip.
The severe hunger that has developed over recent months in the Gaza Strip is not a result of fate, but the product of a deliberate and conscious Israeli policy. It has been openly declared by decision makers, including a member of the Israeli war cabinet, from the very beginning of the war. In the document, B’Tselem reviews the current scale of the hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip, its short and long term impacts, Israel’s conduct with respect to this issue and the legal implications of this conduct. We rely on the most recent figures and data available.
Reducing masses to begging for food and using starvation as a method warfare requires utter dehumanization. Sadly, the dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli society has accelerated in recent months.