The rights group said that “harrowing” new testimonies gathered throughout April reveal the catastrophic human cost of Israel’s two-month-long total siege.
Amnesty International has called on Israel to immediately end its devastating siege on the occupied Gaza Strip, which “constitutes a genocidal act, a blatant form of unlawful collective punishment, and the war crime of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”
The demand marks two months since Israel reimposed a ban on the entry of aid and commercial goods into the Strip on March 2, 2025.
For the past two months, Israel has completely cut off the supply of humanitarian aid and items indispensable to the survival of civilians in a clear effort to collectively punish over two million civilians and to make Gaza unlivable.
This is genocide in action.…
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) May 2, 2025
“By blocking the entry of supplies critical for the survival of the population, Israel continues its policy of deliberately imposing conditions of life on Palestinians in Gaza calculated to bring about their physical destruction; this constitutes an act of genocide,” Amnesty said in a statement on Friday.
‘Harrowing Testimonies’
The rights group said that “harrowing” new testimonies gathered throughout April reveal the catastrophic human cost of Israel’s two-month-long total siege, “where starvation and denial of life-saving essentials are being used as weapons of war in flagrant violation of international law.”
“The extent of human suffering in Gaza for the past 19 months has been unimaginable, and it is a direct consequence of Israel’s ongoing genocide. Apart from a brief respite during the temporary truce, Israel has relentlessly and mercilessly turned Gaza into an inferno of death and destruction,” Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy, and Campaigns at Amnesty International, said in the statement.
“For the past two months, Israel has completely cut off the supply of humanitarian aid and other items indispensable to the survival of civilians in a clear and calculated effort to collectively punish over two million civilians and to make Gaza unlivable. This is genocide in action.”
Highlighting the public hearings by the International Court of Justice this week to examine Israel’s humanitarian obligations in Gaza, Amnesty reiterated the critical urgency of allowing UNRWA, other UN agencies and humanitarian organizations, to carry out their life-saving work across the Occupied Palestine Territories without obstructions.
ICJ Orders Flouted
Israel’s refusal to allow aid into Gaza also flouts repeated ICJ orders to ensure Palestinians have access to sufficient humanitarian assistance and basic services, the rights body said.
Amnesty pointed out that in addition to blocking entry of all aid, Israel’s decision to cut power to Gaza’s main desalination plant on 9 March has further crippled access to clean water.
A severe humanitarian crisis unfolds in Gaza: children cry out from hunger, mothers scavenge for food from the ground amid intense crowding to secure basic sustenance. pic.twitter.com/1SskqHU8ty
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) May 2, 2025
The collapse of the ceasefire, it added, with Israel’s resumption of attacks on March 18, which have killed at least 2,325 people, including 820 children, “shattered any semblance of hope for Palestinians in Gaza.”
Amnesty conducted interviews with 35 internally displaced individuals seeking shelter in Gaza City and six residents of Beit Lahia, “which paint a grim picture of a population teetering on the brink of survival.”
A Palestinian child in Gaza painfully shares: “The smallest ones are dying from hunger. There’s no flour left… we ate the last amount of flour and barley, but the children had nothing… they died of hunger.” With the blockade and food shortages tightening, Gaza’s children… pic.twitter.com/6OYF3SOh3b
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 1, 2025
One fisherman described the deadly gamble he is forced to take due to the risk of being shot at by the Israeli military while at sea:
“When I go fishing, I know that the danger of not returning home to my family is great… but we have no other option. My family’s survival depends on the money we can get out of selling the fish in the market – and it may cost you your life,” the fisherman said.
Food Scarcity
Amnesty also highlighted that the severe food scarcity was being exploited with most Palestinians in Gaza now relying on overcrowded community kitchens, where displaced people endure hours-long waits for minimal sustenance, often just a single meal per day.
“We don’t ask if food is nutritious or not, if it’s fresh or good; that’s a luxury, we just want to fill the stomachs of our children. I don’t want my child to die hungry,” one displaced parent said.
‘Weaponizing’ Food – Over 65,000 Gaza Children Hospitalized for Malnutrition
The crisis has had a particularly devastating impact on infants and breastfeeding and pregnant mothers. Amnesty cited the OCHA, saying 92 percent of infants aged 6-23 months and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are not meeting their nutrient requirements.
Limited Access to Water
Water scarcity, an endemic problem in Gaza due to Israel’s 17-year-long blockade, said Amnesty, has now become critical, with some resorting to drinking seawater.
Damaged infrastructure and fuel shortages have severely limited access to clean water. Residents in Beit Lahia said they had no water for domestic use for five consecutive days.
🚰Gaza’s water crisis has worsened, deepened by extensive damage to water facilities and restricted access to water infrastructure
Since 18 March, intensified Israeli military activity and waves of forced displacement have rendered large parts of Gaza unsafe or inaccessible,… pic.twitter.com/dogrxLO1k7
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) April 27, 2025
“I woke up thirsty, not even able to speak,” one resident said. “If we wanted to get just a few bottles of drinking water, I had to send my son to queue for water for hours and he had to walk long distances.
The resident added: “With the relentless bombardment and danger lurking everywhere, you don’t know. You may send your child to bring water only for him to return in a body bag. Every day is like this here.”
Healthcare System
Gaza’s healthcare system has largely collapsed under Israel’s military attacks and denial of humanitarian aid access, Amnesty said.
Doctors at the Al-Rantissi pediatric hospital in Gaza City, which only managed to reopen during the truce, report critical shortages of essential medical supplies and equipment.
‘Live-Streamed Genocide’: Amnesty Details Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza
“We are the only hospital in Gaza dedicated to providing dialysis for children… following the siege, we’ve been having shortages, including in AV fistulas which doctors need to prepare patients for dialysis treatment,” one doctor stated.
“We also notice the impact of the hunger on the children who come here to receive treatment: they are fading… you recommend that the parent give the child specific attention, specific food, and you know that what you are recommending is an impossibility,” the doctor added.
Another doctor highlighted the growing number of severely malnourished children, including infants lacking baby formula, and a critical shortage of life-saving medications like insulin.
Call to States
Amnesty rejected any attempts to weaponize aid, “use it for forced displacement, or create discriminatory aid distribution zones, all of which would violate international law.”
“Third states’ contemptible failure to live up to their legal responsibilities to prevent and bring an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as well as their obligation to ensure respect for international humanitarian law throughout the OPT, is deplorable,” said Rosas said.
China Says Gaza Humanitarian Crisis ‘Unprecendented’, Urges ICJ to Uphold Law
“These states’ decades of inaction helped establish pervasive impunity for Israel’s persistent violations and it is now exacting an unprecedent toll of death, destruction and suffering on Palestinians,” Rosas added.
She said states “must take action to render Israel’s violations against Palestinians politically, diplomatically and economically unsustainable – the siege on Gaza must end now.”
Rosas emphasized that states “must impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel and fully support and cooperate with the International Criminal Court.”
Staggering Death Toll
Since Israel’s reneging on the ceasefire on March 18, it has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip through a bloody and ongoing aerial bombardment.
On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 52,000, wounding more than 118,000, with over 14,000 still missing.
Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.
🚨 LIVE: Israel bombs Bureij camp, killing and wounding civilians in central Gaza. The Freedom Flotilla was also attacked by an Israeli drone in international waters near Malta.
Follow all the latest updates – Day 574 of the genocide in Gaza.https://t.co/JXdx4DfWwE— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 2, 2025
Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
This is what I found in the book “Tell Me No Lies”, edited by John Pilger, in the chapter Dachau, reported by Martha Gellhorn in 1945: “What had killed most of them was hunger; starvation was simply routine.” People hoped that people would see the Nazi death camps as warnings to be heeded, so it would never happen again. “For surely this war was made to abolish Dachau, and all the other places like Dachau, and everything that Dachau stood for, and to abolish it for ever.” However, the Israeli government appears to have taken them as working models.