Several United Nations agencies on July 28 condemned [15] the use of starvation as a weapon of war, as malnutrition rates in Gaza spike under Israeli siege. During the UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Secretary-General António Guterres stressed: "Hunger fuels instability and undermines peace. We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war."
Guterres' statement follows Israel's decision to permit a one-week scale-up of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. UN agencies welcomed the easing of aid restrictions and so-called "humanitarian pauses" in the ongoing bombardment; however, as emphasized [16] by UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher: "This is progress, but vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis."
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA [18]) confirmed [19] that one out of five children is currently malnourished in Gaza. The agency also claimed that the death toll from starvation has risen to over 100 as of July 28, urging: "Opening all the crossings and flooding Gaza with assistance is the only way to avert further deepening of starvation among the people of Gaza. What's needed is at least 500/600 trucks of basics every day."
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to insist [20]: "There is no starvation in Gaza, no policy of starvation in Gaza." (Jurist [21])
Over the past days, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have parachuted 25 tons of aid into Gaza. Germany and France also announced airdrop missions. However, this approach is being protested by aid organizations. "Using airdrops for the delivery of humanitarian aid is a futile initiative that smacks of cynicism," said Jean Guy Vataux, the emergency coordinator in Gaza for Doctors Without Borders (MSF). He said airdrops were "notoriously ineffective and dangerous."
The Israeli military body that facilitates the entry of aid to Gaza, COGAT [22], said 220 aid trucks crossed into the Gaza Strip on July 30, taking advantage of the "humanitarian pauses" in bombing of designated areas of the Strip to allow aid shipments. (DW [23], CBS [24])
Food scarcity experts at the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) on July 29 said [25]that "the worst-case scenario of Famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” and reported “widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths," with the famine threshold reached in most areas. Famine is Phase 5 of the IPC designation system. The IPC now says that two out of three Phase 5 thresholds have been reached in Gaza: plummeting food consumption and acute malnutrition.
A famine has not been officially declared by the IPC as the third criteria, deaths from malnutrition, cannot be demonstrated. However, the Gaza health ministry says that the total number of malnutrition deaths since the start of the conflict in October 2023 has now reached 154—including 89 children. Several such deaths were reported over the past days. Reports of "hunger-related deaths" from Gaza hospitals (if not "malnutrition deaths") are indeed noted in the latest IPC Alert [26]. (Jurist [27], UN News [28], BBC News [29])
Under customary international humanitarian law [30], Additional Protocols I [31] and II [32] of the Geneva Conventions, and international criminal law [33], the use of starvation of civilian populations as a method of warfare is expressly prohibited. (Jurist [21])
Gaza health authorities said July 31 that at least 91 people were killed near aid distribution sites across the Strip over the previous 48 hours. More than 1,000 people have now been killed while seeking food aid, primarily shot by Israeli soldiers at sites run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF [34]). (The Guardian [35], ABC News [36])
To encourage the international community to adopt a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the UN is currently holding a high-level conference [37]. With several states participating, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed that France is set to recognize [38] the statehood of Palestine in September. The UK has also issued warnings [39] that, should the ongoing Israeli actions in Gaza persist, it would consider recognizing the Palestinian state. (Jurist [21])
See our last report on genocide accusations [40] against Israel.
