The Ministry of Health in Gaza has announced two new deaths, one of them a child, within the past 24 hours as a result of famine and malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths caused by starvation to 455, including 151 children.
The ministry confirmed that the ongoing blockade and the prevention of essential humanitarian aid from entering are the direct cause of this catastrophe, constituting a systematic crime of starvation against civilians.
Meanwhile, the IOF has continued its heavy bombardment of various areas of the Strip, killing 41 Palestinians and wounding dozens more since dawn on Wednesday up to the time of this report. This brings the total toll of the assault to more than 66,000 killed and 168,000 injured since 7 October 2023, the vast majority of them women and children.
Legally, what is taking place in the Strip falls under the definition of genocide as set out in the 1948 Convention, whereby deliberate acts are committed to destroy a national group through mass killing, starvation, infliction of physical and psychological harm, and the imposition of living conditions intended to bring about the destruction of the population in whole or in part.
Furthermore, the use of starvation as a method of warfare constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in addition to being a flagrant violation of the Occupying Power’s obligations under the four Geneva Conventions, which prohibit targeting civilians or depriving them of the essentials of life.
The persistence of this bloody approach, in the face of international silence, exposes a grave failure of the UN system and leaves Palestinian civilians vulnerable to a slow-motion genocide carried out through relentless bombardment and prolonged blockade. The daily massacres, together with widespread famine and deprivation of medicine, water, and electricity, demonstrate that the aim goes beyond military action to the destruction of the very foundations of human life in Gaza.
What is happening is not merely an individual violation of international humanitarian law, but a fully-fledged crime amounting to genocide and crimes against humanity. With continued American support for the assault, it has become clear that the occupation is pressing ahead with a comprehensive project of destruction, while Palestinians are left alone to face the machinery of killing and starvation.
The pressing question remains: how long will the occupation be allowed to commit this major crime without accountability or deterrent intervention? And how long will international law remain paralysed in the face of the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our time?
