Starvation spectres loom over Gaza. For weeks, kitchens run by aid organisations such as the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the World Food Programme (WFP) were the only dependable sources of food in the war-ravaged territory. Although these kitchens could only meet around 25 per cent of the daily nutritional needs of roughly half the population, according to UNFP data, they remained a crucial lifeline. That lifeline was severed in early March, when Israel imposed a total ban on the entry of humanitarian aid — just days before a fragile ceasefire, in effect since January 19, collapsed amid renewed Israeli strikes. This is the longest period so far during which Gaza has been completely cut off from aid since the war began following Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023. Thousands of Palestinians are facing severe hunger and malnutrition, further compounded by a shortage of clean water.
Israeli officials have signaled a policy of using starvation as leverage to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages. Such tactics are, of course, a clear violation of international law — under the Geneva Conventions, occupying powers are obliged to ensure that food and essential supplies reach civilian populations. This blockade of aid has become so normalised that even modest proposals to resume it are met with fierce resistance. When Israel’s Defence Minister proposed a “civilian-based distribution infrastructure”, he faced immediate backlash. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has said, “There is no need to bring in aid [to Gaza]. They have enough. Hamas’s food stores should be bombed.” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has gone further, saying that starvation is “justified and moral” if it secures the release of hostages. Hamas, on the other hand, has declared it will no longer engage in negotiations unless Israel ends what it terms a “hunger war”. Millions of displaced Palestinians remain trapped in a man-made calamity with no end in sight.
