1200 Elderly Die in Israeli Starvation Policy

Approximately 1,200 elderly Palestinians have died in the past two months due to Israel’s starvation policy, malnutrition, and lack of medical care, all of which have intensified in recent days.

The actual death toll may be significantly higher, noting an unprecedented surge in daily fatalities over the past two weeks. Hundreds of elderly people have been arriving each day at hospitals and primary care centres in states of extreme exhaustion, seeking nutritional fluids.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip officially recorded 55 deaths from starvation and malnutrition within a single week, bringing the documented total to 122, including 83 children. The report noted that this figure excludes many deaths caused by the broader consequences of starvation and lack of medical care.

    Over the past period, as the starvation intensified, we had almost nothing left to eat. My mother was the most affected due to her age and chronic illnesses. Within days, she lost a significant amount of weight, became visibly weak and emaciated, and fainted several times   

Muhammad, the son of 77-year-old Tamam Deeb Shaaban

Euro-Med Monitor’s field team documented the deaths of dozens of elderly people in displacement camps due to starvation, malnutrition, or lack of treatment. Many of these deaths were recorded as natural causes, owing to the absence of a clear reporting mechanism within the ministry and the tendency of families to bury their loved ones immediately.

In reality, these deaths result from deliberate starvation policies and the systematic dismantling of the health system, forming a pattern of intentional killing prohibited under international humanitarian and criminal law.

These conditions involve crimes of deliberate starvation, the infliction of severe suffering, and the systematic denial of healthcare, all taking place under a comprehensive blockade within the context of an ongoing genocide that has persisted for nearly 22 months.

The rising death toll stems from a deliberate Israeli policy of using starvation and denial of medical care as weapons to kill civilians, enforced through a stifling blockade that has intensified since 7 October 2023 and entered a more severe phase on 2 March. This blockade targets the most vulnerable, turning the humanitarian catastrophe into a central instrument in the execution of genocide.

Euro-Med Monitor’s field team has documented harrowing testimonies from elderly individuals whose health deteriorated as a result of starvation and denial of medical care.

In a testimony to Euro-Med Monitor, Muhammad, the son of 77-year-old Tamam Deeb Shaaban, said: “Over the past period, as the starvation intensified, we had almost nothing left to eat. My mother was the most affected due to her age and chronic illnesses. Within days, she lost a significant amount of weight, became visibly weak and emaciated, and fainted several times.”

“As the blockade persisted and food and adequate healthcare remained unavailable, her condition worsened significantly. Two weeks ago, we transferred her to Wafaa Rehabilitation Hospital for medical care and IV fluids, but the damage to her body was severe. She suffered multiple complications, the last being a stroke, and passed away this morning, Saturday,” Muhammed added. “I am overwhelmed with profound grief and a deep sense of helplessness, knowing that my mother died from entirely preventable causes, had anyone in this world intervened to stop the crime of starvation.”

Palestinian Muhammad Abu Daqqa told the Euro-Med Monitor team: “We were displaced weeks ago under bombardment from Abasan al-Kabira to Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, along with my 74-year-old mother, Fatima. She suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes, and limited mobility, and there is no suitable medication for her. We ran out of flour more than six days ago, and there are no alternatives.”

He continued, “We have now gone over 30 hours without a single meal. When we were given a kilo of flour, there was nothing to eat it with. My mother needs nutritious food because of her condition, but it is simply not available. I had to take her to the hospital for an IV after she lost consciousness from extreme hunger.”

Aisha al-Najjar, 33, told Euro-Med Monitor that, driven by the pressure of starvation, especially her 76-year-old mother’s suffering, she decided to go to the aid distribution centre in Rafah last Thursday after hearing it was designated for women.

“I was shocked upon arrival to be met with gunfire from the occupation forces, who killed two women near me. I returned without receiving any aid,” she said. “Sometimes an entire day passes without us eating anything, which severely affects the health of my elderly, ill mother, and we are unable to provide her with medication for her chronic conditions.”

Israeli authorities continue to control the volume and mechanisms of aid distribution, using it as part of a starvation strategy that turns aid into death traps and a violation of human dignity.

Israel’s announcement that it destroyed thousands of tons of aid after it spoiled from sitting for prolonged periods on Gaza’s outskirts, while deaths from starvation are recorded daily, is a stain of shame not only on Israel but on the entire international community. The world watches in silence, or at best issues timid statements that do nothing to feed a single hungry child or elderly person.

The starvation is worsened by the intense bombardment of homes and shelters, combined with forced displacement. As families flee death and the fear of being targeted, they lose their few remaining belongings and limited stocks of canned food.

The aforementioned acts represent some of the most serious crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which classifies “wilful killing” as causing death through means such as starvation and denial of medical care. These acts qualify as war crimes and crimes against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on civilians, which clearly describes Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s actions also meet the legal criteria for genocide, including killing and inflicting serious physical or mental harm on members of a protected group and deliberately imposing living conditions intended to bring about the group’s physical destruction, in whole or in part. This is a crime that Israel has been committing continuously for nearly 22 months against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.

The humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave has now reached catastrophic levels. Hunger currently affects not only the most vulnerable but every segment of society, amid the near-total collapse of essential services and the absence of basic necessities such as food, healthcare, and shelter.

The unlawful Israeli blockade, which existed prior to the start of the genocide in October 2023 but has worsened since then, along with systematic restrictions on humanitarian aid and the deliberate destruction of the Gaza Strip’s health system, particularly over the past 70 days, has caused irreversible destruction. The Strip’s population of over two million people faces widespread health consequences.

All states, individually and collectively, must assume their legal responsibilities and act urgently to halt the genocide. This includes taking all effective measures to protect Palestinian civilians, and to immediately lift the illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip—the only viable path to halting the worsening humanitarian crisis and ensuring the unimpeded entry of life-saving aid.

Any further delay in lifting the siege constitutes a continuation of grave violations of international humanitarian law, worsening the catastrophic and uncontainable consequences. Until the international community compels Israel and its more powerful allies to change course, the over two million civilians in the Gaza Strip are being held hostage—starved, dehydrated, and denied medical care, in direct violation of their fundamental rights to life and dignity.

The international community must impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel and its closest allies for the aforesaid systematic and serious violations of international law. These sanctions include a complete arms embargo, including the ban of exports, dual-use goods, and military cooperation; suspension of all forms of political, financial, and military support; freezing the assets of Israeli officials implicated in crimes against Palestinians; imposing travel bans on all those responsible; and suspending trade privileges and bilateral agreements that provide Israel with economic advantages enabling its continued crimes.

The international community must immediately fulfil its legal and moral obligations by addressing the root cause of the Palestinian people’s suffering and oppression, which has persisted for 77 years: the apartheid regime imposed on Palestinians by the Israeli settler-colonial enterprise. To ensure Palestinians’ rights to freedom, dignity, and self-determination under international law, the international community must act to end Israel’s illegal occupation.

Euro-Med Monitor reiterates that Israel must be compelled to lift its illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip, all perpetrators of crimes committed against Palestinians in the Strip must be held accountable, and justice and reparations for Palestinian victims there must be guaranteed.

  • CrossFireArabia

    CrossFireArabia

    Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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    Hiding The Evidence: Israel Removes Mass Debris Via 100 Trucks Daily

    Euromed stated that Israel is seeking to hide the evidence of genocide in Gaza Strip by removing the rubble and wreckage of destroyed buildings and the remains of missing persons underneath them through transport via 100 trucks daily.

    In a press statement reported by the Sanad News Agency, Monday, the European-Mediternean human rights organization explained that the Israeli occupation is unilaterally carrying out a systematic operation to remove the rubble in areas under its military control and is transport it out of the Gaza Strip to obliterate evidence the criminal evidence it carried out in Gaza since 7 October, 2023.

    Euromed,  officially named he Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, has indicated that initial estimates suggest Israel wants to remove about 10 million tons of rubble in the so-called Yellow Line areas which is under Israeli military control.

    Euromed emphasized that its estimates that are 400 Israeli vehicles involved the removal of the rubble, besides the 100 trucks who are transporting the debris to unknown locations inside Israel.

    It pointed out that the rubble that is being removed and transported focuses on sites where murders have taken places and where mass graves exist. It warned that “removing it separates physical evidence from its spatial context.”

    Euromed added: The remains of some 8,500 missing persons are being crushed and mixed with rubble due to the use of crushers without forensic investigation. Meanwhile, the removed rubble contains property and essential building materials, and removing it without compensating its owners constitutes confiscation and looting, which is prohibited under international law.

    The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called on the international community to intervene urgently, halt the rubble removal, and send international investigation teams to inspect and document the sites of destruction.

    The amount of rubble and debris accumulated in the Gaza Strip by the first half of 2026 is estimated at approximately 60 million tons (other UN estimates put the figure at 68 million tons), following the complete or partial destruction of more than 80% of buildings and infrastructure.

    Official statistics issued by the Government Media Office in Gaza indicate that more than 80% of buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged, while the area is covered by approximately 60 to 70 million tons of rubble.

    See Full Report Below:

    The Israeli forces, along with Israeli civilian contractors, are conducting a wide and organised operation to process and clear the rubble from neighbourhoods and facilities they have destroyed in the Gaza Strip and relocate it from areas under their military control to outside the Strip.

    This is occurring without any official record of the quantities removed or independent oversight, and before international and local investigative committees have had the chance to survey, examine, and document the sites. This risks destroying crucial evidence of genocide and the remains of victims still unaccounted for under the rubble.

    These operations are not part of organised humanitarian efforts to rescue the missing, open roads, or prepare for reconstruction. Instead, Israel is acting unilaterally within closed areas under its military control by demolishing remaining buildings and then crushing, mixing, and transporting the rubble before forensic teams, evidence experts, and unexploded ordnance specialists can examine, document, and preserve the sites, along with the evidence and human remains.

    The Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment, published jointly by the World Bank, the United Nations, and the European Union in April 2026, estimated that approximately 68 million tonnes of rubble are spread across the Gaza Strip, based on damage reports up to October 2025. This figure does not necessarily account for damage caused by later demolition and destruction operations.

    According to its initial field data, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor estimates that at least 10 million tonnes of rubble have been removed, crushed, or moved from their original sites within the areas under Israel’s unlawful military control, which encompass about 66 per cent of the Gaza Strip.

    Approximately 400 heavy pieces of excavation, demolition, crushing, and transport machinery, operated by Israeli civilian companies under military protection, are active across eastern and southern Gaza. They demolish remaining structures, crush rubble from destroyed neighbourhoods, and load the debris onto trucks for transportation away from the original sites.

    In recent weeks, Euro-Med Monitor tracked nearly 100 Israeli trucks daily leaving the Gaza Strip with debris. These trucks carry rubble to undisclosed sites within Israel and further south of the occupied West Bank. The Israeli authorities have not provided details on the quantities removed, the routes taken, the destination sites, or how the material is utilised. They also have not permitted independent oversight of the sorting, weighing, or transport processes. This lack of transparency makes it very difficult to trace the transported material, identify evidence, or recover any human remains that might be present.

    The systematic removal of rubble at this pace conceals the evidence of appalling crimes Israel committed in Gaza, especially those related to genocide, such as summary executions and killing unarmed civilians. These sites need careful examination and thorough criminal investigation before any intervention that might change or erase their features.

    The debris scattered throughout the Gaza Strip includes possible locations of unlawful killings and bombings that targeted entire families, as well as sites believed to contain mass graves or bodies buried within destroyed homes, hospitals, shelters, and civilian facilities.

    These sites hold evidence critical for identifying the weapon, attack sequence, victim and attacker positions, firing ranges, cause and manner of death, as well as fragments, projectiles, spent cartridges, biological traces, and personal belongings.

    Crushing, mixing, and transporting rubble can erase evidence, location details, and connections within the crime scene. This process also disrupts the chain of custody, potentially making it impossible to trace where evidence was collected or to link it to a particular incident or victim. This damage cannot be reversed by aerial photographs or subsequent testimony, as investigating international crimes also requires tangible evidence that can be examined, compared, and legally verified.

    These operations pose a direct risk to the remains of thousands of missing persons, estimated by Gaza’s Civil Defence to be around 8,500 in July 2026. Using crushers and heavy machinery without prior forensic and humanitarian surveys could crush or scatter the remains, mix them with rubble, and separate them from belongings and documents vital for victim identification. This process may also lead to transporting the remains to unknown locations that may become impossible to access later.

    This conduct infringes on the families’ right to know the fate of their missing relatives and to recover and bury their remains with dignity. It also contradicts international standards that call for searching for the deceased, collecting and safeguarding information about them, and ensuring proper identification and recording. Additionally, removing sites before investigation breaches the guidelines outlined in the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death. This protocol emphasises securing and documenting the scene, gathering evidence while preserving its chain of custody, and recovering and examining remains with scientific methods that uphold the victims’ dignity and their family’s rights.

    The debris in the Gaza Strip comprises more than just rubble; it includes private and public property, essential building materials like steel, stone, and concrete that can be recycled and reused, as well as other valuable assets necessary for Palestinians to reconstruct their homes, roads, and infrastructure. It may also contain property documents, official records, and personal belongings that are part of individuals’ and families’ rights and memories.

    Removing rubble from the Gaza Strip and commercially exploiting it without the owners’ consent or compensation may, depending on the circumstances and intent of the seizure, constitute unlawful confiscation or pillage. Such acts are prohibited under international humanitarian law, especially Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the relevant provisions of the Rome Statute.

    These actions are part of a broader pattern that has involved bulldozing sites believed to contain mass graves, storming and damaging hospitals and medical facilities after they were suspected of being sites of grave crimes, ongoing demolition of buildings in military-controlled zones, and targeting Palestinian journalists. Additionally, international investigators and independent media have been prevented from accessing the most heavily destroyed areas.

    This deliberate removal of evidence occurs when the International Criminal Court (ICC) is still investigating crimes in Palestine, alongside other cases under universal jurisdiction in national courts. Destroying crime scenes before investigations are finished hampers legal accountability and complicates efforts by international investigators and prosecutors to establish facts, as vital evidence may be lost once removed from the Gaza Strip.

    Moreover, Article 70(1)(c) of the Rome Statute considers “destroying, tampering with or interfering with the collection of evidence” as criminal acts that hinder the ICC’s justice mission when done deliberately. The ICC Prosecutor should investigate these actions as deliberate interference with evidence collection related to the ongoing investigation into the Situation in the State of Palestine, which also includes unlawful destruction, seizure, or pillage of property.

    The large-scale crushing and removal of rubble not only destroys evidence but also erases land boundaries, house foundations, street networks, and neighbourhood features. This process strips Palestinians of the physical markers of ownership and their connection to the land, making it more difficult for them to return and rebuild their communities as they once were.

    Transforming forcibly depopulated Palestinian towns and neighbourhoods into levelled, open spaces under Israeli control is a concrete act that deepens the displacement and ethnic cleansing. This process is inseparable from Israeli settler colonialism, which involves uprooting Palestinians, erasing signs of their presence, and redefining the land without them. This sets the stage for Israel’s efforts to re-establish settlements in Gaza and displace Palestinian residents, advancing a new phase of colonisation and the ongoing denial of land and the right of return.

    The international community, including the Security Council, the UN General Assembly, and states parties to the Rome Statute, must urgently intervene to halt the systematic removal and transport of rubble from the Gaza Strip. They should also advocate for independent international forensic and criminal investigation teams to be granted access to assess and document the destruction sites before any further removal or transport occurs, ensuring that physical evidence is preserved to hold those responsible for genocide accountable.

    Euro-Med Monitor urges the international community to push Israel to immediately and fully stop all rubble removal and transport activities. This includes requiring detailed disclosures of transported materials, weighing logs, truck routes, ultimate destinations, company and contractor names, beneficiary parties, payment information, machinery and truck registration numbers, and tracking data, as well as transparency regarding any sale, recycling, or commercial use of materials extracted from Gaza.

    Furthermore, removing rubble or recyclable materials from the Gaza Strip should be prohibited until a transparent Palestinian and international system for managing these materials is put in place. This system should ensure that any unlawfully transported materials are either returned or their full value is compensated to the owners. Additionally, rubble suitable for reuse should be allocated to local reconstruction projects that benefit the Palestinian population and protect individual and public property rights.

    States where the implicated companies or machinery manufacturers are based should mandate a halt to any actions that could lead to property demolition, evidence removal, or rubble seizure. They must also preserve all relevant contracts, correspondence, and operational data, and carry out independent investigations into the accountability of their directors and staff. Euro-Med Monitor urges targeted measures against individuals and companies found to have known about and taken part in these illegal activities, such as exclusion from public contracts, freezing assets, and criminal prosecution.

    Any efforts to remove rubble or rebuild in the Gaza Strip must be led by Palestinians, involving local residents, property owners, and families of the missing. These initiatives should ensure the protection of evidence, recovery of remains, clearance of unexploded ordnance, sorting of hazardous materials, local reuse of rubble, preservation of property maps and urban fabric, and prevent reconstruction from being used to cement control or alter the enclave’s geographic or demographic makeup.

    Euro-Med Monitor affirms that a ceasefire or political agreements do not erase crimes or their evidence. Reconstruction and rubble removal should happen alongside preserving evidence, discovering the fate of the missing, recovering property, holding perpetrators accountable, and ensuring victims’ rights to truth, justice, and reparation.

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    Israeli Bullet Rips a Child’s Hand in a Gaza Classroom

    CROSSFIREARABIA – A bulled fired by an Israeli soldier pierced through the hand of a pupil in-the-sixth grade and lodged into his wrist. The incident occurred on Monday while the pupil was sitting in class in school in Gaza City according to the Education Ministry. It said the boys name was Khaled Al Ashram from Al Sawafir School in the west of Gaza City. “The bulled pierced the small hand of the child while he was sitting at a school desk holding his open,” a Ministry statement emphasized. In its statement the Ministry included a photo showing the hand of the child pierced by the bullet and covered in blood according to Anadolu.

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