Gaza, 20 July 2025 – Al Mezan Center for Human Rights warns of the catastrophic consequences of Israel’s systematic use of starvation as a weapon of war against Gaza’s civilian population. This unlawful policy has escalated dramatically in recent weeks, with acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine posing an immediate, existential threat to the survival of over two million Palestinians in Gaza.

Civilians are being systematically killed – not by bombs alone, but through hunger, thirst, and the intentional denial of aid. Children, women, the elderly, and even young people are collapsing in the streets and displacement camps, their weakened bodies unable to withstand the prolonged deprivation of food and medical care.

These harrowing conditions signal an imminent and preventable mass killing. If Israel continues to enforce its starvation policy – and the international community remains silent – then the world is not merely failing Gaza’s civilians; it is actively complicit in a crime against humanity.

For nearly five months, Israeli authorities have kept Gaza’s border crossings closed, blocking the entry of life-saving humanitarian supplies. As a result, the population is facing unprecedented levels of food insecurity, malnutrition, and famine, with most families unable to meet their most basic needs.

At the same time, starving civilians are being attacked while attempting to reach the very aid distribution points established by Israeli forces. In Gaza today, searching for food is a life-threatening act– one that may cost people their lives as they try to survive.

The tightened siege and blockade have led to the disappearance of basic food items from Gaza’s markets, including sugar, cooking oil, rice, and all types of meat. Flour – a daily staple for every household – has become nearly impossible to find, with prices soaring to $70 per kilogram. The few remaining goods are unaffordable for the vast majority of families. As a result, starvation has become widespread, and visible signs of malnutrition are evident across the population, especially among children, the sick, and the elderly.

A Gazan father of five young children described the conditions amid the severe food shortage as follows:

“For months, I haven’t received any aid. We’ve eaten nothing but bread and lentils, just one meal a day. For the past three days, we’ve had nothing but some lentil soup. I’ve been going out every day over the past three days searching for flour. Yesterday, I found a vendor selling it for 300 shekels [$90] per kilo, but I only had 200 shekels [$60]. I returned home empty-handed.

On my way back, I felt dizzy and collapsed. Some people gave me water and a bit of salt to help me regain strength. I managed to walk a little farther but collapsed again at the door of my home. My neighbors helped me inside. My wife and children were crying. I cried too – because I brought them nothing. I’m not afraid for myself. I’m afraid my children will die of hunger.”

Alongside restrictions on food, Israel continues to block the entry of medical supplies. This has severely impeded the treatment of malnutrition, particularly due to the lack of therapeutic solutions, infant formula, and essential vitamins. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, an unprecedented number of starving citizens of all ages are arriving at emergency departments in a state of extreme exhaustion and physical collapse. The ministry has warned that hundreds of severely emaciated individuals are at risk of imminent death due to hunger.

Tens of thousands of children are suffering from advanced stages of malnutrition. Hospitals are unable to provide adequate care due to the severe shortage of therapeutic medications and medical supplies. According to the medical sources, 69 children have already died of malnutrition, and the total number of deaths caused by the lack of food and medicine has reached 620.

Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s Director of Communications, stated on 14 July 2025, that the agency has screened more than 242,000 children at its clinics and medical points across Gaza. It was confirmed that one in every ten children examined is suffering from malnutrition.

Most families in Gaza now rely on a single daily meal that lacks basic nutritional value. In some cases, people go entire days without eating. As hunger spreads, families are resorting to desperate coping mechanisms: fasting, reducing portion sizes, rationing bread for children, begging, and even scavenging for food in garbage bins.

Many civilians are risking their lives in desperate attempts to secure food from military-run distribution points or humanitarian aid convoys – efforts that frequently end in failure – or worse, in injury or death. On 19 July 2025, between dawn and midday, Nasser Medical Complex received the bodies of 32 civilians and treated dozens of others who were injured after Israeli forces attacked civilians waiting for aid at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centers in southern Gaza.

A recent World Food Programme (WFP) assessment reveals that nearly one in three people in Gaza are going days without eating, putting an increasing number of civilians at risk of starvation – especially following repeated waves of displacement. Since 18 March 2025, more than 700,000 people have been forcibly displaced, as approximately 85 percent of Gaza is now classified as an active militarized zone.

On 16 July 2025, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, warned: "Food is running out, and those seeking it risk being shot. People are dying while trying to feed their families. Starvation rates among children reached their highest levels in June, with more than 5,800 girls and boys diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition.

Israel has also decimated Gaza’s ability to produce food. Nearly 92% of agricultural land has been destroyed or rendered unusable, along with 1,218 agricultural wells. The area of cultivated land has shrunk dramatically from 93,000 dunums to just 4,000. Meanwhile, 100% of fishery resources have been lost due to repeated attacks on fishing areas and restrictions on access to the sea.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report published on 6 June 2025, 100% of Gaza’s population – approximately 2.1 million people – are facing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above). Of these, 470,000 people (about 22% of the population) are classified in IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe), the most severe level of hunger.

A Gazan mother of two, who is suffering from acute malnutrition, stated:

“I am a mother of two children aged 3 and 7. We haven’t had flour in weeks. We survive on a few meals of lentils, rice, and pasta. Even the charity soup kitchens in our area have shut down. My husband goes out in search of aid, but he always returns empty-handed, because they’re being shot at. Prices are unbearable, and we have no source of income. We’ve registered multiple times to receive the nutritional supplements being distributed, but they are only given to pregnant women and children. The last time people gathered to wait for these supplements, the area was bombed. Now, we’re afraid to approach the aid organizations.”

Al Mezan strongly condemns Israel’s deliberate use of starvation as a method of war and a tool of mass killing against the population of Gaza. Al Mezan further affirms that the systematic denial of food, water, and medicine; the targeting of civilians while they wait for humanitarian aid; and the creation of conditions that force people to perish from hunger reflect an unprecedented moral collapse. The international community bears direct responsibility for this situation due to its deafening silence and continued failure to act.

The international community cannot remain silent. Continued failure to act not only enables Israel to escalate its crimes but also undermines the credibility of the international legal system. Immediate and concrete measures must be taken to halt Israel’s use of starvation campaign, protect civilians, and ensure full accountability for those responsible.

What is happening in Gaza represents a profound test of the moral, humanitarian, and legal values the international community claims to uphold. History will judge this moment. When did it become acceptable to negotiate over access to food, water, and medicine?

Humanitarian aid must never be conditional. It must never be tied to political or security considerations. Aid should be delivered immediately, safely, and in a coordinated manner through United Nations agencies – particularly UNRWA – to ensure neutrality, integrity, and respect for the dignity of civilians. Starvation is not a bargaining chip. It is a method of genocide that must be stopped immediately.

Al Mezan urgently calls on all states, the United Nations and its relevant bodies – foremost among them the Security Council, the Human Rights Council, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court – as well as the European Union and all people of conscience, to take immediate and decisive action to save what remains of life in Gaza. There is no longer any space for statements or symbolic condemnations. The world must act.

Al Mezan stresses that time is running out. Every delay in international intervention amounts to implicit acceptance of the mass killing unfolding under siege and starvation. The escalation of the catastrophe is now measured in hours – not days.

This demands immediate and decisive action: an immediate ceasefire, the lifting of the siege and blockade, the guaranteed and sustained entry of humanitarian aid at scale, and the urgent activation of international accountability mechanisms to prevent those responsible from evading justice.

It also requires the enforcement of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for their role in using starvation as a weapon of war and a means of genocide against the civilian population in Gaza.

Finally, Al Mezan calls on all free voices around the world – from activists and human rights defenders to every individual who believes in justice, freedom, and dignity – to take urgent action to help stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza. We urge you to raise your voices, mobilize, and stand in solidarity to save the lives of innocent people who are being killed simply because they are Palestinians living in Gaza.