Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, has accused Israeli authorities of committing crimes tantamount to Nazi crimes by deliberately starving civilians in Gaza and killing children, as part of an ongoing campaign of genocide that has lasted over nine months.
Commenting on the death of a disabled Palestinian man from starvation, Albanese said: “Our generation was raised to believe that Nazism represented the ultimate evil, and it did, and that colonial crimes should never be forgotten. Yet today, there is a state starving millions and shooting children for pleasure, under the protection of democracies and dictatorships alike. This is a new abyss of brutality.” She added: “How will we survive this?”
Her remarks followed the announcement of the death of Mohammed Al-Sawafeeri, a disabled Palestinian who died from malnutrition due to the starvation policy imposed on the Strip for months, a policy that has become a key feature of Israel’s comprehensive assault on Gaza since 7 October 2023.
Earlier, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that the death toll from starvation and malnutrition had risen to 86 people, including 76 children, since Israel’s complete blockade in March, which saw all crossings sealed and humanitarian and medical aid barred from entering.
The ministry described this deliberate starvation policy as a “silent massacre” against the population, noting that starvation is being used as a tool of mass killing, in blatant violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits the use of siege and starvation as methods of warfare, particularly against civilians.
The situation in Gaza cannot be separated from the broader war Israel has waged on the territory since 7 October 2023, involving direct killing through bombardment, systematic destruction of infrastructure, mass forced displacement, and now starvation as a weapon of genocide.
Despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice ordering Israel to take immediate measures to prevent genocide, the reality on the ground shows an escalating campaign of military operations and collective punitive measures against approximately 2.3 million people trapped in a narrow, besieged strip, deprived of food, medicine, and safe shelter.
This ongoing war has resulted in nearly 200,000 Palestinians killed or injured, most of them women and children, with over 9,000 missing—many believed to be under the rubble—alongside the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands and the total collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system and essential services.
The continued silence of the international community and the complicity of some major powers do not alter the reality: a genocide is unfolding before the eyes of the world, posing a profound moral and legal test for humanity.
