Amnesty Accuses Israel of Deliberately Starving Palestinians in Gaza

By Faith Barbara N Ruhinda at 1349 EAT on Monday 18 August 2025

Amnesty International has accused Israel of implementing a “deliberate policy” of starvation in Gaza, as the United Nations and humanitarian agencies continue to warn of an impending famine in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

In a newly released report citing testimonies from displaced Palestinians and medical workers treating malnourished children, the rights group stated: “Israel is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip.”

Amnesty International has accused Israel of “systematically destroying the health, wellbeing, and social fabric of Palestinian life” in Gaza, as part of what it describes as an intentional and sustained campaign.

“It is the intended outcome of plans and policies that Israel has designed and implemented over the past 22 months to deliberately inflict on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction — which is part and parcel of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” the rights group said in its report.

Since launching its military offensive on October 7, 2023, Israel has killed nearly 62,000 Palestinians and devastated much of Gaza, according to local health authorities. Human rights organisations and campaigners have described the offensive as a war of vengeance, and some have labelled Israeli actions as genocidal.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes related to the conduct of the war in Gaza.

The report draws on interviews conducted in recent weeks with 19 displaced Palestinians sheltering in three makeshift camps across Gaza, as well as two medical professionals working at hospitals in Gaza City.

Among those quoted is Hadeel, a 28-year-old mother of two who is four months pregnant. “I fear miscarriage, but I also think about my baby. I panic just thinking about the potential impact of my own hunger on the baby’s health — its weight, whether it will have birth defects. And even if the baby is born healthy, what life awaits it amid displacement, bombs, and tents,” she said.

A 75-year-old woman told Amnesty International that the dire conditions have left her feeling hopeless. “I feel like I’ve become a burden on my family,” said Aziza. “I always think the young children — my grandchildren — are the ones who deserve to live. I feel like I’m a burden on them, on my son.”

Erika Guevara Rosas, senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns at Amnesty International, said in a statement: “As Israeli authorities threaten to launch a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza City, the testimonies we have collected are far more than accounts of suffering — they are a searing indictment of an international system that has granted Israel a license to torment Palestinians with near-total impunity for decades.”

Nearly one million Palestinians in Gaza City — many of whom have already been displaced multiple times over the past two years — now face the threat of further forced displacement, as Israel intensifies its attacks on the enclave’s main urban centre.

Rosas called for “an immediate, unconditional lifting of the blockade and a sustained ceasefire” to reverse what she described as “the devastating consequences of Israel’s inhumane policies and actions” in Gaza.

“The impact of Israel’s blockade and its ongoing genocide on civilians — particularly children, people with disabilities, those with chronic illnesses, older people, and pregnant or breastfeeding women — is catastrophic,” Rosas said. “It cannot be undone by simply increasing the number of aid trucks or restoring performative, ineffective, and dangerous airdrops of aid.”

At the time of publication, the Israeli military and Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not issued statements in response to Amnesty’s findings. Israel has consistently denied accusations of deliberately using starvation as a weapon of war, even as it continues to heavily restrict the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

More than 250 Palestinians — including at least 110 children — have died of malnutrition during the war, according to local health authorities. The Gaza Strip, home to 2.1 million people, has been under an Israeli land, air, and sea blockade since 2007. Since the start of the war, Israel has further tightened restrictions, at times halting aid entirely and now allowing only limited supplies to enter.

In a report issued last week, the Israeli military agency responsible for civil affairs in Palestinian territory denied the existence of widespread malnutrition in Gaza, despite growing international condemnation and repeated warnings from the United Nations and humanitarian organisations.

“Famine is unfolding before our eyes. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation,” the foreign ministers of nearly two dozen countries and the European Union’s top diplomat said in a joint statement last week.

In an earlier report published in April, Amnesty International accused Israel of committing a “livestreamed genocide” through the mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the creation of a man-made humanitarian catastrophe. At the time, Israeli officials dismissed the allegations as “blatant lies.”

Invest or Donate towards HICGI New Agency Global Media Establishment – Watch video here