Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on an arrest warrant for war crimes, declared in July that: "No one is starving in Gaza.” This statement stands in stark contrast to the reality reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Gaza Ministry of Health, both documenting thousands of deaths and alarming levels of malnutrition.

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied the use of starvation as a weapon of war, insisting, "There is no starvation policy in Gaza, and no one is dying of starvation. We are allowing humanitarian aid to reach Gaza throughout the war; otherwise, the people of Gaza would not exist.”

His assertions are not only a moral failure; they also deny a crime clearly defined under international law. The deliberate use of starvation as a tool of war is clearly a war crime under international humanitarian law. In this commentary, I addressed Israel's human-made starvation from the perspective of international law.

What witnesses, evidence show

All credible international organizations confirm that the situation in Gaza is drastically different from Israel’s claims. Upon mounting evidence of widespread starvation in Gaza, the U.N.-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported that Gaza faced acute food insecurity and malnutrition since April. In July, it warned that famine conditions were unfolding.

The death toll from Israel’s assault on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, has surpassed 60,000. Alongside mass casualties from bombardments, children are dying from hunger. Patient’s Friends Hospital, Gaza’s main malnutrition treatment center, reported deaths of children with no preexisting conditions. Adults with chronic illnesses such as diabetes or kidney disease are succumbing faster due to hunger.

The World Health Organization (WHO) also announced that acute malnutrition rates in northern Gaza had tripled, reaching nearly one-fifth of children under the age of five. Rates have also doubled in central and southern Gaza. U.N. Women's Agency reports that 1 million women and girls in Gaza are facing mass starvation, violence and abuse.

Experts have been warning of a famine in Gaza for months, but a lack of data has prevented an official declaration of a famine due to Israel's restrictions on access to the region. The World Food Programme stated: "Women and girls in Gaza face the unenviable choice of starving to death in their tents or being killed while searching for food and water.”

Palestinians want a full return to the U.N.-led aid distribution system, instead of the Israeli-backed system that began in May in the form of a surreal Squid Game. The U.N. and its partners emphasize that the most efficient way to deliver aid to Gaza is by land and the aid is already at the gates. Israel has deliberately disrupted the distribution system of the U.N. and international aid agencies, which was essentially functioning smoothly for decades. What we are seeing in Gaza is a human-made, deliberate and systematic strategy of starvation to force people to choose between displacement or death.

What international law says

The Rome Statute is one of the clearest sources on the use of starvation as a tactic of war. Adopted in 1998, the Statute defines starvation as a war crime: Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) defines "The crime of starvation," and it describes it as "intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions.”

Accordingly, if a state, while fighting hostile forces, deliberately denies civilians access to the most basic necessities for survival, such as food, water and medicine, this clearly constitutes a war crime. In addition to being considered collective punishment, this practice is also associated with additional war crimes, from civilian cruelty to ethnic cleansing, depending on its severity and the people affected. This provision is not only a legal norm, but also a moral and humanitarian one. Wars are fought against soldiers, not against babies, mothers, the elderly or the sick. Even wars have rules.

The Fourth Geneva Convention reinforces these obligations. Article 55 requires the occupying power to ensure food and medical supplies, importing them if local resources are insufficient. The convention further obliges occupying powers to maintain public health, hygiene and medical services. Israel’s blockade of Gaza for 17 years, tightened into a total siege after Oct. 7, has cut off water, electricity, fuel and food. These actions, combined with total blockade, constitute deliberate violations of the Geneva Convention. These conditions constitute a grave, persistent and deliberate violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The U.N. Security Council’s Resolution 2417 (2018) explicitly condemns the use of starvation as a weapon of war. The resolution states that parties that use starvation against civilians as a method of warfare are acting in violation of international law and must be held accountable. Originally drafted to address Syria, Yemen and South Sudan, this resolution now applies with chilling clarity to Gaza.

Israel’s international obligations

Even though Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute or the Fourth Geneva Convention, the prohibitions against starvation are binding under customary international law. No state can claim exemption from fundamental humanitarian norms, nor can it escape accountability for violations of fundamental norms of the law of war, such as "protecting civilians," "proportionality" and "ensuring humanitarian access."

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s May 2024 arrest request for Netanyahu included charges of "starvation and obstruction of humanitarian aid,” underscoring that these crimes are prosecutable at the highest international level.

Israel, as an illegal occupier, is legally obligated to allow unhindered delivery of food and medicine. By refusing, it engages in state terrorism on a scale unseen since World War II. Starvation of civilians is not only a war crime but also a crime against humanity.

Similar methods of evil

Israel’s tactics echo other notorious cases where starvation was used as a weapon. During the Bosnian war (1992-1995), Serbian forces starved Sarajevo, later deemed a war crime by the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia. Syria’s toppled Assad regime also besieged areas like Eastern Ghouta, denying food and medicine.

Gaza resembles each of these cases, with one difference: Israel openly defends its siege and starvation policies as deliberate state strategy. The scale has reached levels unprecedented since World War II.

Respected Israeli human rights groups, including B’tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, now describe Gaza as a case of genocide, declaring that their own state is committing atrocities in real time. The U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) similarly reports that Israel has starved 2.3 million Palestinians at a pace never before seen in modern history. The organization also reports that Israel's warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties. Moreover, Amnesty International has concluded that Israel’s tactics constitute genocide through starvation.

Lies in age of social media

What unfolds in Gaza is not only genocide but the most thoroughly documented genocide in human history, witnessed live through social media by billions of people.

Yet, the facts we see with our own eyes are constantly denied by the Zionist regime. "Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth” is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Israel's tactics are identical to the Nazi propaganda technique. The Nazis were skilled propagandists who used sophisticated advertising techniques and the most current technology of the time. By copying the Nazis' tactics verbatim, Zionists aim to dominate mainstream media and the global entertainment industry, especially Hollywood. They want to control the distribution of "the truth.” Lies upon lies upon lies. Denying the livestreamed truth, even if it is obvious. This is what Israel understands from diplomacy.

Repeating lies is not only an insult to the intelligence of the world's people, who watch all crimes livestreamed, but also a deliberate tactic. The truth is, what's happening in Gaza today isn't just a humanitarian crisis; it's a moment where international criminal law is tested. And history has shown that no matter how much the truth is denied, justice always comes, even if it's late. Those who try to tame hunger will ultimately be forced to face the day of reckoning that hunger brings.