For over a year, the world has been witnessing the genocide of Gaza’s population unfold before their eyes, primarily through their phones. Never before has a population been driven to starvation at such a rapid pace. The Israeli starvation campaign began on October 9, 2023. However, to comprehend how famine could develop so rapidly within a population of 2.3 million, one must first understand the years of systematic control and blockade imposed on Gaza by Israeli authorities prior to October 9. As Michael Fakhri explains, famine is frequently portrayed in the international system as a humanitarian crisis, though this framing fails to adequately explain how it can be addressed or prevented. Instead of using the term humanitarian crisis, he advocates for understanding starvation as a weapon of war and therefore a crime and subject to international criminal law. He states that “starvation is political, international, structural, and long-lasting; it is always intentional through acts or omissions”. For the first time in history, the ICC plans to charge the perpetrators with the crime of starvation, having requested an arrest warrant against Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

For decades, Gaza’s food system has been systematically dismantled. Since 2014, through frequent bombardments, the leveling and clearance of agricultural land, and the repeated aerial spraying of herbicides and other chemicals, Israel has rendered vast areas of Gaza’s farmland infertile. Through the deprivation of fertile land and access to clean drinking water, more than half of the population in Gaza was already food insecure prior to October 9. In Section D, the report emphasizes the use of starvation as a tactic of genocide, extermination and torture. Starvation is used as a tool to inflict unlivable conditions for a group, making it a key element in understanding the genocidal intent of the Israeli government. The report clearly states that “Israel’s starvation campaign fulfilled the actus reus and mens rea of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and thereby triggered all States’ obligation to prevent genocide”. Unfortunately, in many cases of blockades or sieges, the inhumane tactic of starvation is increasingly employed as part of the assault. However, as previously mentioned, due to the decade-long occupation and blockade of the Gaza Strip, this famine is unprecedented in both its scale and speed. By December, the entire population of Gaza was suffering from hunger, and famine had spread across the region.The horrors of the situation cannot be fully captured in a standard UN report through words alone. Therefore, in collaboration with Lebanese artist Omar Khouri, the UN Special Rapporteur has created a short comic series depicting three powerful examples of what the starvation campaign in Gaza feels like for Palestinians.

On Friday, October 18, Michael Fakhri will present this report at the United Nations Headquarters in New York starting at 14:00, urging the General Assembly to recognize: