Israel continues to use starvation as weapon to commit genocide in the Gaza Strip. The whole Palestinian territory is in dire humanitarian conditions created by Israel throughout the last two years. In spite of huge waves of popular protests worldwide, Israel continues to prevent the entry of aid supplies to Gaza. Israel not only targets Muslims but also Christians. Israeli forces even deliberately targeted churches in the region.
Furthermore, not only the Gaza Strip but also the West Bank have been targeted. Within the last two years, more than 2,000 attacks were committed by Israel’s invaders. In other words, Israel’s insistence on war is not about the return of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas but about its long-term strategy of de-Palestinization of the Palestinian lands.
Many regional or universal international organizations and nation-states have rejected and criticized the use of starvation as an instrument of war against Palestinian civilians.
All U.N.-related agencies have repeatedly declared that the world public opinion cannot remain indifferent to the ongoing genocide, the use of starvation as a weapon and targeting innocent Palestinians. The U.N.’s top executive, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has been calling on world leaders to take action against the genocide. Just recently, he called on the international community to reject the use of hunger as a weapon of war. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that malnutrition has reached “alarming levels.”
Many nongovernmental international organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW), gathered evidence from the ground and published reports about the genocide. For example, Amnesty International recently published a report documenting the genocide. In the words of Amnesty Secretary-General Agnes Callamard, “Israel’s genocide has continued unabated in Gaza.” Similarly, HRW defined Israel’s committed crimes in Gaza as “crimes of extermination” and “acts of genocide.”
Even the Israeli NGOs have published reports claiming that Israel was committing genocide. For instance, B’Tselem, one of Israel’s best-known rights groups, and Physicians for Human Rights announced that the war in Gaza constitutes genocide against Palestinians. Both organizations agree that their government commits genocide. In addition, the heads of five leading Israeli universities called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the starvation in Gaza.
In spite of worldwide popular protests against the ongoing genocide in Gaza, many influential governments still continue to back the genocidal state of Israel and the Israeli government. Especially the Western governments have been deliberately and systematically supporting Israel since the very beginning of the latest wave of violence.
However, people around the world generally support the innocent Palestinians. Let’s not forget that the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, former minister of defense, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine. Furthermore, Israel faces a genocide case at the ICJ for its crimes against Gaza. The ICJ demanded that the Israeli occupation end; it accordingly demanded the evacuation of the recently invaded territories. The ICJ found the case lodged by South Africa against Israel as reasonable that the Israeli attacks had violated the U.N. Genocide Convention.
The international community has to take firm measures to compel Israel to end its unilateral attacks, invasion, and genocide. Members of the Israeli government must be held accountable for their committed crimes. Israel must be prevented from driving Palestinians from their lands.
Before everything else, the world must put pressure on Israel to end the food shortages in Gaza. Especially the Western governments must take measures to stop Netanyahu, the Hitler of the 21st century. Otherwise, some Western officials, who were Netanyahu’s accomplices, will also be held accountable for their continuous support for the genocide. As mentioned by Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time Formula 1 champion, the whole world should rise and shout out that “we can no longer stay silent.”
