CrossFireArabia
The imminent threat of famine in the Gaza Strip is deeply alarming, particularly considering the ongoing illegal and comprehensive blockade imposed by Israel for the past 45 days now. This marks the longest uninterrupted restriction on humanitarian aid and essential goods since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in the Strip over 18 months ago.
Euro-Med Monitor’s field team in the Gaza Strip has observed alarming indicators pointing to a severe food crisis that may soon reach the level of famine. The ongoing Israeli blockade has caused a severe and persistent shortage of essential food items necessary for survival, including grains, proteins, and fats. Much of the enclave’s remaining agricultural and food infrastructure has either been bombed or otherwise destroyed, and/or is currently under Israeli military control. As a result, people have been forced to sell their most basic belongings just to secure food, signalling the onset of a breakdown in their ability to endure the hunger.
Families in the Gaza Strip have been forced to cut the number of their daily meals, resulting in noticeable weight loss among residents. In the near-total absence of fresh and nutritious food, most people now rely almost entirely on the enclave’s limited supply of canned goods, while many others have become fully dependent on food banks for their daily meals. However, these food banks have come under intensified Israeli military attacks in recent weeks, further depriving residents of access to even the most basic food necessities.
Israeli forces have deliberately targeted over 37 aid distribution centres and 28 food banks, as part of a systematic policy to starve civilians and exacerbate their suffering. To those outside of the Gaza Strip, this policy should be evident in the scores of published images of Palestinians forced to stand in long lines near these facilities, desperate to obtain a modest meal of rice or soup. Such scenes are unprecedented in the Strip and reflect the horrific humanitarian collapse caused by the Israeli blockade and deliberate targeting of basic survival resources.
Following the closure of all bakeries operating in the Gaza Strip,Euro-Med Monitor’s field team—enduring the same severe humanitarian conditions as the general population—carried out field visits and documented an almost complete absence of bread in the enclave’s markets.
Additionally, both red and white meats, whether fresh or frozen, are unavailable. The few vegetables that can be found are sold at extremely high prices, far beyond the reach of most residents, particularly after 18 months of disruption to people’s livelihoods and income sources. This deteriorating food security crisis israpidly pushing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip towards imminent famine.
The starvation imposed by Israel on civilians in the Gaza Strip represents one of the most severe and inhumane forms of genocide, as well as a grave violation of human dignity. It extends beyond the mere denial of food, as it also seeks to dismantle the population’s ability to survive by destroying livelihoods, obstructing humanitarian aid, targeting sources of food production, and deliberately disrupting essential supply chains.
The most devastating impacts of this policy fall on women and, tragically, on children. Women and children make up over two-thirds of the Gaza Strip’s population. Children are suffering slow and painful deaths due to severe malnutrition, weakened immune systems, and stunted growth, all driven by the acute shortage of food and medical care. Meanwhile, pregnant and breastfeeding women face life-threatening risks—for themselves and their foetuses or infants—due to the absence of essential nutrition and the total collapse of the healthcare system.
Over one million children in the Gaza Strip are suffering from severe malnutrition, amid widespread food insecurity, the collapse of the Strip’s health infrastructure, an acute shortage of clean drinking water, and the complete absence of even the mostbasic necessities for a dignified life.
The consequences of this policy extend far beyond the present, threatening the very future of Palestinians as a national group. By creating a generation at risk of long-term physical, psychological, and cognitive disabilities, Israel reveals a deliberate and destructive intent—one that aligns with the defining characteristics of genocide under international law.
Currently, 2.3 million people are displaced within the besieged Gaza Strip, enduring severe food insecurity amid relentless daily Israeli bombardment and attacks targeting civilians and essential infrastructure. The risk of famine is an imminent catastrophe, unless immediate action is taken.
The international community bears direct responsibility for the escalating famine in the Gaza Strip, which has resulted from Israel’s deliberate use of starvation as a weapon—a systematic tactic in its campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people, aimed at erasing them as a national group.
Without international intervention, the crisis will soon reach apoint of no return, with daily deaths now expected because of the severe food shortage and people’s weakened immunity. This is occurring under the continued blockade, the systematic denial of humanitarian aid, and the widespread destruction of critical infrastructure, while the absence of effective international intervention allows the humanitarian collapse to accelerate unchecked.
Israel must be held accountable for using starvation as a weapon against civilians, which is a war crime under international humanitarian law and a serious violation of its obligations as an occupying power. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor emphasises that this tactic is part of a broader campaign to destroy the Palestinian community, constituting genocide under international law.
The international community, the United Nations, and States Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention must act urgently to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip and guarantee the safe, consistent delivery of food and medical aid, as the onset of famine is already taking lives and eroding the basic conditions for survival. Immediate action is also needed to stop the Israeli policies of slow killing and forced displacement of Palestinians in the Strip; this action must include launching a comprehensive humanitarian response to provide residents not only with food, but other essentials such as clean water, temporary shelter, and healthcare.
UN agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) must strengthen their mandates and swiftly scale up interventions by issuing emergency reports, holding press briefings, advocating for humanitarian corridors, and ensuring protection for all civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip by Israe land its allies.
