Amid the total collapse of the humanitarian system in the Gaza Strip, death is no longer confined to bombardment, disease, or displacement, hunger itself has become a primary weapon in an ongoing campaign of genocide.
With a tightened siege and border closures for more than 140 days, Palestinian civilians are subjected to a carefully managed, systematic starvation policy, executed on the ground through tools of violence and intimidation.
In this context, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini issued a stark warning about a new and dangerous initiative promoted under the name “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” describing it as nothing more than a “sadistic death trap.”
In a post on X, Lazzarini stated that what is called the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” is merely a deceptive façade, drawing starving crowds who are then indiscriminately targeted by sniper fire.
He added: “Snipers are shooting at the crowds as if they have a licence to kill,” describing the situation as “a mass chase amid total impunity.”
“Humanitarian assistance is not the work of mercenaries,” he stressed, adding that this so-called foundation is a distortion of genuine humanitarian work and operates in a treacherous environment that endangers civilians instead of saving them.
Lazzarini noted that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since the end of May while trying to obtain food, describing this as an unacceptable “new normal” and calling for this crime to stop immediately.
What is happening in Gaza is not a spontaneous shortage of resources, but a deliberate policy aimed at exterminating the population through starvation, a war crime and a crime against humanity under international law. Lazzarini confirmed that searching for food has become as deadly as bombardment, and that “doctors, nurses, journalists, and aid workers are fainting from hunger and exhaustion while carrying out their duties.”
With food prices rising 40-fold, according to UNRWA, trucks carrying food are being denied entry into Gaza, despite sufficient stockpiles in the agency’s warehouses near Gaza that could feed the population for more than three months.
Lazzarini previously stated that failure to compel Israel to open the crossings and allow humanitarian aid constitutes complicity in starving civilians, stressing that “this is all man-made, in a context of total impunity.”
The continuation of the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” model is part of the machinery of death, cloaking lethal practices in a false humanitarian veneer, and in clear breach of the Geneva Conventions, which explicitly prohibit starvation as a method of warfare.
The siege, starvation, and targeting of civilians as they attempt to secure daily sustenance fall squarely within the definition of genocide as set out in the 1948 Genocide Convention, “imposing living conditions calculated to bring about the physical destruction” of a national group, a description that applies precisely to the situation in Gaza.
Since 7 October 2023, Israel has waged a total war involving mass killings, destruction, displacement, and starvation, leaving more than 200,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them women and children, and over 9,000 missing. Approximately 1.5 million people are now homeless and deprived of life’s most basic necessities.
Despite clear orders from the International Court of Justice to halt these crimes, Israel continues its policies with explicit US support and international silence, facilitating the ongoing genocide, while Palestinians are left to face death alone, even as they queue for a sack of flour.
