Experts: Israel Accused of Employing Starvation Tactics in Gaza

Last month, Reham Shaheen’s four-year-old daughter cried all day from hunger, eventually falling asleep while waiting for her only meal of the day to finish cooking. Shaheen has been stranded in Jordan since the Israel-Hamas war began, separated from her home, husband, and three children who are in Gaza. Shaheen revealed to TIME in a voice note on Friday that she spent two days without eating, consumed with worry for her daughter’s lack of food.

Shaheen’s family receives flour from the U.N., but it is not enough to feed the 24 people sharing one tent in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. They struggle to find canned food or obtain goods from the market, where prices have skyrocketed and they must endure long lines to receive small amounts of food. The dire situation has led to children and adults arriving at hospitals with severe malnutrition, losing weight rapidly at the first sign of infection.

Professor Nick Maynard, a senior surgeon from Oxford University Hospital and the clinical lead of an emergency medical team, stated that the reality on the ground in Gaza is much worse than what he had initially thought. Maynard conveyed this message to TIME from Gaza, where drones could be heard in the background.

International agencies have repeatedly warned that Gaza is on the brink of starvation. The U.N. has reported that one in four people in Gaza are starving, and in some areas, nine out of ten families go a day and night without food. A report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification in December predicted that by February, all two million people in Gaza would face crisis levels of acute food insecurity, with at least one in four households experiencing famine-like conditions.

Shortly after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a complete blockade on the Gaza Strip, stating that there would be no electricity, food, or fuel. The Israeli government’s actions and statements have led some human rights groups and legal experts to argue that starvation is being used as a weapon of war in Gaza, which is a violation of international law.

In response to these accusations, Col. Elad Goren, the head of the civil department of COGAT (the Israeli agency that facilitates aid in Gaza), denied the narrative of a blockade and claimed that Israel is providing significant aid to Gaza. However, U.N. officials and spokespersons have disputed these claims, stating that there is a significant drop in the number of trucks carrying aid entering Gaza and that the level of life-saving assistance is far below the survival needs of the civilian population.

The U.N. has called for a humanitarian ceasefire and the unrestricted flow of supplies into Gaza to prevent famine. Israel has been urged to facilitate the entry and delivery of adequate aid. Failure to do so may have serious consequences under international law. Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using starvation as a war crime based on Israeli officials’ statements, interviews with people in Gaza, and evidence of infrastructure destruction.

Starvation as a means or result of war is not uncommon, with previous examples in Biafra, Nigeria; Sarajevo, Bosnia; Syria; and the Tigray region of Ethiopia. However, experts argue that the destruction of essential resources in Gaza surpasses any other man-made famine in the last 75 years. Legal experts and advocates assert that if there are warnings of starvation and a course of conduct that leads to civilians starving, those in charge can be held responsible for war crimes.

While starvation as a war crime has never been prosecuted, there is sufficient circumstantial evidence to prove it. The World Peace Foundation at Tufts University states that Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, despite knowing the outcome, qualifies as recklessness and a crime against humanity. The use of starvation as a weapon of war is a grave violation of international law, and urgent action is needed to address the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza.