Gaza is facing an escalating humanitarian catastrophe as starvation now threatens the lives of approximately 650,000 children under the age of five. This is unfolding amid what has been described as a deliberate policy of starvation imposed by the Israeli occupation, while international silence amounts to complicity, if not partnership in the crime.
After 133 days of complete closure of crossings, famine has become a grim reality for Palestinians. More than 1.25 million people in Gaza are suffering from catastrophic hunger, while 96% of the population face severe food insecurity. Fatalities are being recorded daily, particularly among children and infants, due to acute shortages of food and essential medical supplements.
The crisis is not limited to hunger alone. The population is also deprived of clean water and basic sanitation. Overcrowded shelters offer no protection from disease, particularly in the high summer heat, while Gaza’s healthcare system has collapsed following direct attacks on hospitals and the prevention of the entry of medicines and medical supplies.
In an official statement, the Gaza authorities held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the worsening conditions, describing the situation as one of the most extreme examples of collective punishment in modern times. The Israeli army has prevented the entry of flour, infant formula, and nutritional and medical supplements as part of a systematic policy aimed at depriving the population of food and medicine, turning hunger into a tool of mass killing.
Repeated warnings have stressed that the situation in Gaza is no longer merely a humanitarian crisis but amounts to genocide. The deaths have not only resulted from bombardment but also from hunger, displacement, and the denial of the right to life itself.
Since 7 October 2023, the Israeli occupation forces have continued their campaign in Gaza, resulting in more than 195,000 people killed or injured, most of them children and women. More than 10,000 remain missing. Widespread destruction has left homes, infrastructure, and facilities in ruins, displacing hundreds of thousands.
Despite this, the international system appears either unable or unwilling to act. No effective mechanisms have been implemented to halt the ongoing violations, despite court orders and repeated appeals for a ceasefire. Children in Gaza continue to face imminent death from starvation, as the major powers have failed to stop the violence and left civilians exposed to a total conflict that targets every aspect of life.
This is not a passing tragedy. It is a documented crime against humanity that exposes the selectivity at the heart of the global system and raises urgent moral and legal questions for all humanity. When children die of hunger, when medicine is denied to the sick, when hospitals are bombed, and when an entire population is besieged without cause, silence is no longer neutrality; it is complicity.
