US, “Israel” Committing “Crime of Starvation”

A leading expert on the subject of famine says Israel and the US are committing the “war crime of starvation” in Gaza.

Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University and author of “Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine,” told the Democracy Now news program that unless Israel’s armed campaign is stopped, “Gaza will be in famine.”

De Waal says the war crime of starvation is defined as “using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies.”

This includes destroying food, foodstuffs, hospitals, medical care, sanitation, shelter, etc.

De Waal explains that “Israel is knowingly creating these conditions, because it has been warned, and warned repeatedly, and yet it has continued. And so that makes it culpable. And regardless of the intent, the crime is being committed.”

“And those who are arming Israel, supporting Israel and undermining the relief capacity, which is particularly the UNRWA, are complicit in this,” he added, referring to US military and diplomatic support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

The US has also spearheaded the effort to cut funding to UNRWA, the only relief organization capable of providing food aid to Gaza.

The US and other countries have cut funding to the relief group amid unfounded accusations by Israel that 12 UNRWA employees had participated in the 7 October attack on Israeli military bases and settlements by the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing.

The US and others went ahead with the funding cuts despite having been warned that famine in Gaza is looming, including through a recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling.

On 6 February, CNN interviewed several Palestinians in Gaza regarding their difficulty in finding food for themselves and their children.

Parents must spend much of their days searching for food despite the danger of being killed by Israeli bombardment.

Hanadi Gamal Saed El Jamara, a 38-year-old mother of seven kids, told CNN that she spends her days begging for food in the muddied streets of Gaza.

“They are weak now, they always have diarrhea, their faces are yellow,” Jamara said. “My 17-year-old daughter tells me she feels dizziness, my husband is not eating.”

The family is from northern Gaza but was displaced to a tent city in Rafah, on the Egypt border, due to the bombing.

“We are dying slowly,” reflected Jamara. “I think it’s even better to die from the bombs, at least we will be martyrs. But now we are dying out of hunger and thirst.”

Mohammed Hamouda, a physical therapist displaced to Rafah, told CNN how his colleague, Odeh Al-Haw, was killed trying to get water for his family.

Haw was waiting in line at a water station in Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza when he and dozens of others were struck by Israeli bombardment, Hamouda said.

“Unfortunately, many relatives and friends are still in the northern Gaza Strip, suffering a lot,” Hamouda, who has three children, said. “They eat grass and drink polluted water.”

Another woman, Gihan El Baz, says her children wake each day “screaming” for food.

“In the shelters, there is not enough food, the sun sets on us, and we haven’t even had any lunch,” El Baz, who lives with ten relatives inside a weather-worn tent in Rafah, told CNN.

“There are no drinks, no clean water, no clean bathrooms, the kid cries for a biscuit and we can’t even find any to give her.”