<p>For over two months, Israel has maintained an uncompromising blockade on humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, a policy that has precipitated a man-made famine of catastrophic proportions. The implications are not merely moral and humanitarian, they are legal. This deliberate obstruction of life-saving aid to a besieged civilian population constitutes a war crime under international law, and the world’s inaction in the face of this atrocity risks complicity in what can only be described as a crime against humanity.</p>.<p>Israel exercises complete control over Gaza’s borders, including airspace, sea access and land crossings, particularly the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings. Even the Rafah crossing with Egypt is subject to Israeli coordination. This stranglehold has allowed Israel to dictate the movement — or, more accurately, the immobilisation — of vital goods such as food, medicine, fuel and sanitary products. Over the last seven months, relentless Israeli bombardment has flattened much of Gaza, displacing over a million people and rendering the enclave nearly uninhabitable. Now, the continuation of this siege denies its surviving residents even the basic means to live.</p>.<p>The consequences of this blockade are plain to see. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), nearly 3,000 aid trucks remain stranded at the borders, unable to enter due to Israeli restrictions. Meanwhile, hunger stalks the displaced population, with entire families forced to subsist on grass, animal feed, or nothing at all. Martin Griffiths, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, has categorically described Israel’s actions as a form of collective punishment — an act that is explicitly prohibited under international law.</p>.<p>Article 54 of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions forbids the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court classifies “intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” as a war crime when it involves depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival. Israel’s actions — blocking aid, destroying farmland and bakeries, and bombing humanitarian convoys — meet this threshold with chilling clarity.</p>.<p>The consequences of this siege are not merely theoretical, they are visible in the wasting bodies of Gaza’s children. The Palestinian NGO Network has raised urgent alarms that escalating malnutrition <br>will likely lead to a rise in child deaths. Gaza’s Health Ministry has already pleaded with the UN to formally declare a famine. </p>.<p>Even international efforts to circumvent the blockade have met with violence. Freedom Flotilla, an international coalition delivering humanitarian aid, reported that <br>its ship carrying medical supplies was bombed by Israeli drones in international waters near Malta — an act that violates international maritime law and further underscores<br>Israel’s determination to prevent even third-party humanitarian interventions.</p>.<p>In a deeply moving warning, Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, put the stakes in agonisingly human terms: “We are breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza. If we don’t do something about it, we are complicit in what is happening before our eyes. We are causing this: you, us and everyone who does nothing about it. It’s horrific. And the children of Gaza should not have to pay the price for the sins of those around them. This is abomination… We must ask ourselves: ‘How much blood is enough to satisfy whatever the political objectives a regime may have?’”</p>.<p>The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is currently deliberating on the legality of Israeli actions, including the use of starvation as a “weapon of war”. However, the ICJ’s opinion is non-binding and not expected for months. In the meantime, thousands will continue to suffer and die. In such an urgent crisis, legal procedures, however important, offer little solace to a starving child or a mother with no clean water for her baby.</p>.<p>It is imperative that the world — particularly Israel’s allies who claim to uphold democracy, human rights and the international rule of law — take immediate action. These nations have the leverage, influence and responsibility to demand an end to the blockade and ensure the unfettered delivery of aid into Gaza. Failing to act not only makes them morally complicit but also places them on the wrong side of history.</p>.<p>What is unfolding in Gaza is not a natural disaster but a <br>calculated policy of deprivation. It is a policy that weaponises hunger and punishes an entire population for the actions of a few.</p>.<p>The world is watching. The question is whether it will intervene to halt an atrocity in motion, or remain frozen in complicity, condemned by future generations for its silence in the face of starvation.</p>.<p>Let there be no doubt: The starvation of Gaza is a crime against humanity. And history will not forgive those who stood by and did nothing.</p>.<p><em>(The writer is an assistant professor with the Department of Professional Studies, Christ University, Bengaluru)</em></p>
<p>For over two months, Israel has maintained an uncompromising blockade on humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, a policy that has precipitated a man-made famine of catastrophic proportions. The implications are not merely moral and humanitarian, they are legal. This deliberate obstruction of life-saving aid to a besieged civilian population constitutes a war crime under international law, and the world’s inaction in the face of this atrocity risks complicity in what can only be described as a crime against humanity.</p>.<p>Israel exercises complete control over Gaza’s borders, including airspace, sea access and land crossings, particularly the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings. Even the Rafah crossing with Egypt is subject to Israeli coordination. This stranglehold has allowed Israel to dictate the movement — or, more accurately, the immobilisation — of vital goods such as food, medicine, fuel and sanitary products. Over the last seven months, relentless Israeli bombardment has flattened much of Gaza, displacing over a million people and rendering the enclave nearly uninhabitable. Now, the continuation of this siege denies its surviving residents even the basic means to live.</p>.<p>The consequences of this blockade are plain to see. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), nearly 3,000 aid trucks remain stranded at the borders, unable to enter due to Israeli restrictions. Meanwhile, hunger stalks the displaced population, with entire families forced to subsist on grass, animal feed, or nothing at all. Martin Griffiths, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, has categorically described Israel’s actions as a form of collective punishment — an act that is explicitly prohibited under international law.</p>.<p>Article 54 of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions forbids the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court classifies “intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” as a war crime when it involves depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival. Israel’s actions — blocking aid, destroying farmland and bakeries, and bombing humanitarian convoys — meet this threshold with chilling clarity.</p>.<p>The consequences of this siege are not merely theoretical, they are visible in the wasting bodies of Gaza’s children. The Palestinian NGO Network has raised urgent alarms that escalating malnutrition <br>will likely lead to a rise in child deaths. Gaza’s Health Ministry has already pleaded with the UN to formally declare a famine. </p>.<p>Even international efforts to circumvent the blockade have met with violence. Freedom Flotilla, an international coalition delivering humanitarian aid, reported that <br>its ship carrying medical supplies was bombed by Israeli drones in international waters near Malta — an act that violates international maritime law and further underscores<br>Israel’s determination to prevent even third-party humanitarian interventions.</p>.<p>In a deeply moving warning, Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, put the stakes in agonisingly human terms: “We are breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza. If we don’t do something about it, we are complicit in what is happening before our eyes. We are causing this: you, us and everyone who does nothing about it. It’s horrific. And the children of Gaza should not have to pay the price for the sins of those around them. This is abomination… We must ask ourselves: ‘How much blood is enough to satisfy whatever the political objectives a regime may have?’”</p>.<p>The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is currently deliberating on the legality of Israeli actions, including the use of starvation as a “weapon of war”. However, the ICJ’s opinion is non-binding and not expected for months. In the meantime, thousands will continue to suffer and die. In such an urgent crisis, legal procedures, however important, offer little solace to a starving child or a mother with no clean water for her baby.</p>.<p>It is imperative that the world — particularly Israel’s allies who claim to uphold democracy, human rights and the international rule of law — take immediate action. These nations have the leverage, influence and responsibility to demand an end to the blockade and ensure the unfettered delivery of aid into Gaza. Failing to act not only makes them morally complicit but also places them on the wrong side of history.</p>.<p>What is unfolding in Gaza is not a natural disaster but a <br>calculated policy of deprivation. It is a policy that weaponises hunger and punishes an entire population for the actions of a few.</p>.<p>The world is watching. The question is whether it will intervene to halt an atrocity in motion, or remain frozen in complicity, condemned by future generations for its silence in the face of starvation.</p>.<p>Let there be no doubt: The starvation of Gaza is a crime against humanity. And history will not forgive those who stood by and did nothing.</p>.<p><em>(The writer is an assistant professor with the Department of Professional Studies, Christ University, Bengaluru)</em></p>
