21/7/2025

19/2025

ICHR Warns of Escalating Starvation Crimes in Gaza

and Calls for International Investigation and Accountability

 

The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) warns of the unprecedented escalation of the crime of mass starvation in the Gaza Strip, which constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law.

Warning comes amid growing reports of deaths among children, the elderly, and the sick due to a lack of food and medicine, and severe exhaustion caused by hunger affecting all age groups.

Based on documented information from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 71 children have died due to hunger and malnutrition. Over 1,021 people have been killed and around 6,511 injured, most of them while attempting to access humanitarian aid or secure their basic needs.

Evidence shows that Israeli occupation authorities have, for months, imposed severe restrictions on the entry of essential supplies into the Gaza Strip, including food, water, fuel, medicine, and baby essential needs. These authorities have systematically obstructed humanitarian relief convoys and nearly completely shut down border crossings, leading to a widespread collapse of the food and health systems.

 The ICHR has also documented the targeting by the Israeli military of civilian facilities, food warehouses, humanitarian workers, and individuals trying to protect the scarce aid. These actions have dangerously worsened the humanitarian crisis.

The ICHR considers this pattern of violations a full-fledged war crime under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and a serious breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which prohibits starvation as a method of warfare.

A year has passed since the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on July 19, 2024, which confirmed the illegality of the Israeli occupation and called for its end. It has also been a year and a half since the same court ordered the Israeli authorities to take measures, including the facilitation of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The ICHR stresses that the continuation of this situation constitutes a blatant challenge to international legitimacy, and holds the occupying power, legally responsible for the lives and safety of civilians in Gaza.

The ICHR calls for:

•       Immediate and unconditional opening of all border crossings, to allow the safe and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid, to be distributed through the United Nations, especially UNRWA, as well as Palestinian and international civil society organizations.

•       Swift establishment of an independent and transparent international investigation into the use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, and the referral of those responsible to the International Criminal Court.

•       Activation of international accountability mechanisms and pressure on all concerned parties to stop the violations and ensure the protection of civilians.

•       Immediate cessation of the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Mechanism”, which violates the principles of humanitarian work and acts as a death trap for starving aid seekers.

The ICHR holds the international community, including the United Nations, the Security Council, the European Union, and the states party to the Geneva Conventions, responsible for their failure to act swiftly to protect civilians. It urges them to take concrete and immediate steps based on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle to prevent further loss of life.