This legal obligation, the ruling noted, “is indicated by the texts of the Qur’an, the Sunnah, consensus, the principles and foundations of Sharia and its objectives.”
A committee of the International Union of Muslim Scholars has issued a legal ruling (fatwa) regarding the “great crime” that Israel “and its allies” are committing against the Palestinian population in Gaza “by starving them to death.”
The ruling, issued by the Ijtihad and Fatwa Committee of the global body, called on Muslim nations and the broader Muslim community, as well as religious and humanitarian institutions to take immediate action to break Israel’s siege on Gaza, open the border crossings, and deliver food and medicine to the enclave.
الحمد لله بما يليق به من المحامد القائل: {وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ يَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ} [التوبة: 71]،
والقائل: {والذين كفروا بعضهم أولياء بعض إلا تفعلوه تكن فتنة في الأرض وفساد كبير} [الأنفال: 73]،… pic.twitter.com/Dy0TK8nScX
— الاتحاد العالمي لعلماء المسلمين (@iumsonline) July 22, 2025
“It is religiously obligatory for Islamic countries and their governments to move quickly to rescue their besieged brothers, deliver food and medicine, open the crossings, and use all diplomatic, political, legal, and economic means,” the ruling stated. “Whoever among the countries and rulers fails to do so must bear responsibility before God, participate in the sin of killing every soul in Gaza, and bear great burdens and injustices before his Lord.”
No ‘Greater Wrong than Genocide’
This legal obligation, the ruling noted, “is indicated by the texts of the Qur’an, the Sunnah, consensus, the principles and foundations of Sharia and its objectives.”
The committee said that according to Islamic Law (the Sharia) it is obligatory “to prevent corruption on earth, oppression and aggression.”
The Israeli military announced on Tuesday morning that it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen towards Israel, triggering air raid sirens in multiple areas at dawn.https://t.co/Bp9u7PPvWF pic.twitter.com/djbxW8yj04
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) July 22, 2025
“What is happening in Gaza is corruption itself, and it is oppression and aggression in its most obvious form,” it stated, adding “Is there a greater wrong than the genocide through starvation, systematic killing, displacement, torture, burning, and all kinds of slaughter carried out by the Zionist entity?”
The committee stressed that Muslims and the entire world “have seen the injustice and abandonment of the people of Gaza and the genocide by starvation practiced” by Israel.
It stressed that “among the greatest objectives, principles and rules of Sharia, on which the people of Islam do not differ, is the prevention and removal of harm and the preservation of the five necessities: religion, life, honour, reason and wealth,” all of which applies to Gaza.
Specific Call to Egypt
The committee appealed directly to Egypt to open the Rafah crossing for humanitarian aid to be delivered, saying this is “one of the legal duties commanded by Islam, and it is the right of a neighbor over his neighbors.”
It also urged the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar “to move with his weight and his institution to do what his religious duty dictates to his brothers in the face of this catastrophe of hostility, oppression, and corruption on earth.”
Medical sources in Gaza hospitals reported four deaths since dawn on Tuesday, including two children, due to malnutrition and dehydration. pic.twitter.com/iPSJHhuDWq
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) July 22, 2025
Citing the “legal obligations of people of knowledge to explain the truth to the people,” the committee reminded “all scholarly institutions and all scholars of this great responsibility to fulfill their religious duty and take action using all legitimate means possible, mobilizing the nation and its people, and pressuring its leaders and rulers to take action to lift the siege and deliver food to the people of Gaza.”
It also called for peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins in front of the United Nations and the embassies of “the United States, the European Union countries, China and Russia” to pressure them in assisting to break Israel’s blockade and open the border crossings.
“This is a humanitarian crime that is rejected by their countries and all international humanitarian conventions,” the ruling stated.
Legal Advocacy
The ruling urged Arab tribes and Muslim tribes “to pressure their countries” to break this “unjust siege” saying tribal leaders in neighboring countries “have a legitimate responsibility to save their brothers from genocide and starvation and to deliver food and medical aid to them.”
Addressing international humanitarian and human rights organizations, the committee urged them “to undertake legal and humanitarian advocacy” against Israel, in particular, the “crime of genocide by starvation that it is now practicing against more than two million children, women, elderly people, and the weak.”
Dozens of starving Palestinians are ambushed and gunned down daily by Israeli occupation forces near the American aid centers.
Hospitals in Gaza, depleted of fuel, can no longer cope with the large number of casualties and the critical condition of the wounded. pic.twitter.com/wvY0L5ClwT
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 22, 2025
The committee also singled out “all preachers, media figures, writers, thinkers, and influencers on social media”, saying they have an obligation to run an ongoing media campaign to pressure and raise awareness about the ongoing catastrophe “until food is delivered to the people of Gaza and they are saved from the criminal genocide.”
Relief Convoys
It said that among the obligatory action to take “is the formation of relief convoys to break the unjust siege on the people of Gaza by land and sea.”
“We also call upon the activists and free people of the world to participate in this, as this is not only a religious obligation, but also a human and legal right guaranteed by Islam, applicable international laws and treaties,” the ruling stated.
A growing alliance of 25 countries demands an immediate ceasefire and condemns Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians and expansion of illegal settlements.https://t.co/ltvfaV3gZZ pic.twitter.com/9YP0Wdz9bQ
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) July 21, 2025
It also noted that it is “religiously obligatory” for the countries neighboring Gaza to contribute to this and facilitate the arrival of these convoys in order to pressure Israel to open the crossings.
Rising 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 59,000, wounding more than 142,000, with over 14,000 still missing.
Breaking | Multiple injuries were reported among civil defense workers in an Israeli strike that bombed a residential building near an ambulance vehicle in the Al-Mukhabarat area, northwest of Gaza City. pic.twitter.com/1C4O1ro2LY
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 22, 2025
Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.
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.
(AJA, PC)
