Evidence Israel Uses Starvation to ‘Inflict Genocide’ in Gaza – Amnesty

July 3, 2025 News
Evidence gathered by Amnesty International demonstrates how Israel has continued to use starvation of civilians as a weapon of war. (Photo: screen grab)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Amnesty cited “heartbreaking testimonies” gathered from medical staff, parents of children hospitalized for malnutrition and displaced Palestinians.

Evidence gathered by Amnesty International demonstrates how, over a month since the introduction of its militarized aid distribution system, Israel has continued to use starvation of civilians as a weapon of war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the organization said on Thursday.

“While the eyes of the world were diverted to the recent hostilities between Israel and Iran, Israel’s genocide has continued unabated in Gaza, including through the infliction of conditions of life that have created a deadly mix of hunger and disease pushing the population past breaking point,” Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said in a statement.

Amnesty cited “heartbreaking testimonies” gathered from medical staff, parents of children hospitalized for malnutrition, and displaced Palestinians struggling to survive, which “paint a horrifying picture of acute levels of starvation and desperation in Gaza.”

Their accounts provide further evidence of “the catastrophic suffering” caused by Israel’s ongoing restrictions on life-saving aid and “its deadly militarized aid scheme coupled with mass forced displacement, relentless bombardment and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure,” the organization said.

‘Deadly, Dehumanizing’ Aid Scheme

In the month following Israel’s imposition of “a militarized” aid scheme run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured either near militarized distribution sites or en route to humanitarian aid convoys, the statement noted.

“This devastating daily loss of life as desperate Palestinians try to collect aid is the consequence of their deliberate targeting by Israeli forces and the foreseeable consequence of irresponsible and lethal methods of distribution,” Callamard said.

Gaza: Bureaucratizing Genocide, Administering Hunger through Aid

Amnesty said that by continuing to prevent UN and other key humanitarian organizations from distributing certain essential items, like food parcels, fuel and shelter, within Gaza and by maintaining “a deadly, dehumanizing and ineffective militarized” aid scheme, Israeli authorities “have turned aid-seeking into a booby trap for desperate starved Palestinians.”

Chaos ‘Deliberately Fueled’

“They have also deliberately fueled chaos and compounded suffering instead of alleviating it,” the statement noted, adding that the aid delivered “is also way below the humanitarian needs” of a population that has been experiencing almost daily bombings for the last 20 months.

“As the occupying power, Israel has a legal obligation to ensure Palestinians in Gaza have access to food, medicine and other supplies essential for their survival. Instead, it has brazenly defied binding orders issued by the International Court of Justice in January, March and May 2024, to allow the unimpeded flow of aid to Gaza. Israel has continued to restrict the entry of aid and impose its suffocating cruel blockade and even a full siege lasting nearly eighty days,” Callamard stated.

Devastating Impact on Children

Since October 2023, at least 66 children have died as a direct result of malnutrition-related conditions, Amnesty said.

This figure, the organization added, does not include the many more children who have died as a result of preventable diseases exacerbated by malnutrition.

Over 2,700 Children under Five Diagnosed with Acute Malnutrition – UN

Gaza’s decimated health sector, already overwhelmed with the volume of injuries, is struggling to deal with the influx of infants and children hospitalized for malnutrition, Amnesty noted.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),the statement noted, as of June 15, 2025, a total of 18,741, children were hospitalized for acute malnutrition since the beginning of the year.

The vast majority of children suffering from malnutrition, however, cannot reach any hospital due to access challenges posed by displacement orders and heavy bombardment and ongoing military operations, the statement noted.

‘Harrowing Picture’

Amnesty said that accounts from healthcare workers and displaced individuals “paint an even more harrowing picture.”

Dr. Susan Maarouf, a nutritional expert at the Nutrition unit in the Patient Friend Benevolent Society hospital in Gaza City, told Amnesty that in June 2024 the hospital opened a dedicated department for children aged six months to and five years to manage cases of severe malnutrition.

Massacre and Starvation in Gaza: Scores Killed, Infant Dies of Hunger

“Back then, Gaza City and the North Gaza governorate were hit by malnutrition [as a result of the tight blockade],” she said. “But this year for us the situation began to drastically get worse again in April. Since then, out of approximately 200-250 children we have screened daily for malnutrition. Nearly 15% showed signs associated with severe or moderate malnutrition.”

Doctors have also warned that the lives of newborn babies are at risk amid acute shortages of baby formula milk, especially for children with lactose-intolerance or other allergies.

One doctor told Amnesty that “There is a milk crisis in Gaza overall. Also, we notice that new mothers, because they themselves are not eating properly or because of the panic, trauma and anxiety, are unable to breastfeed.”

The doctor noted that to secure baby formula at all “is a struggle,” adding “But if your child has allergies, it’s almost impossible to find special formula in any of Gaza’s hospitals for infants the failure to secure special baby formula can be a death sentence.”

GHF a ‘Tool of Israel’s Genocide’

Amnesty emphasized that while Israeli authorities continue to impose their unlawful blockade on the entry of aid and commercial supplies into the occupied Gaza Strip, hundreds of aid trucks remain stuck outside Gaza, waiting for an Israeli permit to enter.

The organization noted that all the evidence gathered, including testimonies which Amnesty International is receiving from victims and witnesses, “suggest that the GHF was designed so as to placate international concerns while constituting another tool of Israel’s genocide.”

“Not only has the international community failed to stop this genocide, but it has also allowed Israel to constantly reinvent new ways to destroy Palestinian lives in Gaza and trample on their human dignity,” Callamard stated.

“States must cease their inertia and live up to their legal obligations. They must exercise all necessary pressure to ensure Israel lifts immediately and unconditionally its awful blockade and ends the genocide in Gaza,” she added.

Call for Sanctions

Callamard also emphasized that states must end any form of contribution to Israel’s unlawful conduct or risk complicity in atrocity crimes.

“This requires immediately suspending all military support to Israel, banning trade and investment that contribute to Israel’s genocide or other grave violations of international law,” she stated.

‘Deadly’ Gaza Aid Scheme: Over 130 NGOs Urge GHF Shutdown

Callamard called for targeted sanctions, through international and regional mechanisms, “against those Israeli officials most implicated in international crimes and cooperate with the International Criminal Court, including by implementing its arrest warrants.”

Israel Condemns Amnesty

Amnesty said that according to figures obtained from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the under-five mortality rate for 2024 in Gaza was recorded at 32.7 deaths per 1,000 live births, representing a sharp increase compared to the 13.6 rate reported in 2022.

Maternal mortality has also more than doubled from an estimated 19 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022 to 43 deaths per 100,000 in 2024, it added.

Israel has strongly condemned Amnesty International after the rights group accused it of using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry reportedly claimed Amnesty was echoing Hamas propaganda and sarcastically suggested renaming the organization “Amnesty Hamas.”

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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2 Comments

    • Another comment from a zionist scumbag with an IQ of a chair.
      First, Zionists and Gazans are not “neighbours”; Gazans are mostly refugees who were ethnically cleansed from their lands in 1948 and 1967. One cannot simply be neighbours with invaders who stole one’s land and home. Second,nobody is asking you, zionists, to “give” them food. Instead, open the crossings and allow food and aid sent from the entire world to enter Gaza. Zionsts closed shelters in each others faces when Iran’s missiles were raining over “israel”. If that is how low you treat each other, you can’t be expected to give anything to the “neighbours” you are intentially starving by killing their fishermen and farmers.

      Reply

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