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Human Rights Watch
ISRAEL: STARVATION USED AS WEAPON OF WAR IN GAZA
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December 18, 2023 12:00AM EST
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ISRAEL: STARVATION USED AS WEAPON OF WAR IN GAZA
Evidence Indicates Civilians Deliberately Denied Access to Food, Water
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Click to expand Image
People line up for bread at a partially collapsed but still operational
bakehouse in Nuseirat refugee camp in Deir al Balah, Gaza, November 4, 2023. ©
2023 Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images
* The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of
warfare in the Gaza Strip, which is a war crime.
* Israeli officials have made public statements expressing their aim to deprive
civilians in Gaza of food, water, and fuel – statements reflected in Israeli
forces’ military operations.
* The Israeli government should not attack objects necessary for the survival
of the civilian population, lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, and restore
electricity and water.
(Jerusalem) – The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a
method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime, Human Rights
Watch said today. Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of
water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance,
apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of
objects indispensable to their survival.
Since Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, high-ranking
Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security
Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Energy Minister Israel Katz have made public
statements expressing their aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of food, water and
fuel – statements reflecting a policy being carried out by Israeli forces. Other
Israeli officials have publicly stated that humanitarian aid to Gaza would be
conditioned either on the release of hostages unlawfully held by Hamas or Hamas’
destruction.
“For over two months, Israel has been depriving Gaza's population of food and
water, a policy spurred on or endorsed by high-ranking Israeli officials and
reflecting an intent to starve civilians as a method of warfare,” said Omar
Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. “World leaders
should be speaking out against this abhorrent war crime, which has devastating
effects on Gaza’s population.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 11 displaced Palestinians in Gaza between
November 24 and December 4. They described their profound hardships in securing
basic necessities. “We had no food, no electricity, no internet, nothing at
all,” said one man who had left northern Gaza. “We don’t know how we survived.”
In southern Gaza, those interviewed described the scarcity of potable water, the
lack of food leading to empty shops and lengthy lines, and exorbitant prices.
“You are on a constant search for things needed to survive,” said a father of
two. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reported on December 6 that 9
out of 10 households in northern Gaza and 2 out of 3 households in southern Gaza
had spent at least one full day and night without food.
International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, prohibits the starvation of
civilians as a method of warfare. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court provides that intentionally starving civilians by “depriving them of
objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief
supplies” is a war crime. Criminal intent does not require the attacker’s
admission but can also be inferred from the totality of the circumstances of the
military campaign.
In addition, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza, as well as its more than
16-year closure, amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population, a
war crime. As the occupying power in Gaza under the Fourth Geneva Convention,
Israel has the duty to ensure that the civilian population gets food and medical
supplies.
On November 17, the WFP warned of the “immediate possibility” of starvation,
highlighting that supplies of food and water were practically non-existent. On
December 3, it reported a “high risk of famine,” indicating that Gaza’s food
system was on the brink of collapse. And on December 6, it declared that 48
percent of households in northern Gaza and 38 percent of displaced people in
southern Gaza had experienced “severe levels of hunger.”
On November 3, the Norwegian Refugee Council announced that Gaza was grappling
with “catastrophic water, sanitation, and hygiene needs.” Wastewater and
desalination facilities were shut down in mid-October due to fuel and
electricity shortages and have been largely inoperable since, according to the
Palestinian Water Authority. Even before October 7, according to the UN, Gaza
had virtually no potable water.
Prior to the current hostilities, 1.2 million of Gaza’s 2.2 million people were
estimated to be facing acute food insecurity, and over 80 percent were reliant
on humanitarian aid. Israel maintains overarching control over Gaza, including
over the movement of people and goods, territorial waters, airspace, the
infrastructure upon which Gaza relies, as well as the registry of the
population. This leaves Gaza’s population, which Israel has subjected to an
unlawful closure for 16 years, almost entirely dependent on Israel for access to
fuel, electricity, medicine, food, and other essential commodities.
After the imposition of a “total blockade” on Gaza on October 9, Israeli
authorities resumed piping water to some parts of southern Gaza on October 15
and, as of October 21, allowed limited humanitarian aid to arrive through the
Rafah crossing with Egypt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on
October 18 that Israel would not allow humanitarian assistance “in the form of
food and medicines” into Gaza through its crossings “as long as our hostages are
not returned.”
The government continued to block the entry of fuel until November 15, despite
warnings about the serious consequences of doing so, leading to the shutdown of
bakeries, hospitals, sewage pumping stations, water desalination plants, and
wells. These facilities, which have been left unusable, are indispensable to the
civilian population’s survival. Although limited amounts of fuel were
subsequently allowed in, on December 4, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the
Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lynn Hastings, called it “utterly insufficient.”
On December 6, Israel’s war cabinet approved a “minimal” increase in fuel
supplies to southern Gaza.
On December 1, immediately after the seven-day ceasefire, the Israeli military
resumed bombing Gaza and expanded its ground offensive, stating that its
military operations in the south would carry “no less strength” than in the
north. While United States officials said that they urged Israel to allow fuel
and humanitarian aid to enter Gaza at the same levels observed during the
ceasefire, the Defense Ministry’s coordinator of government activities in the
territories said on December 1 that it halted all aid entry. Limited aid
deliveries resumed on December 2, but still at grossly insufficient levels,
according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Alongside the crushing blockade, the Israeli military’s extensive airstrikes in
the strip have resulted in widespread damage or destruction to objects necessary
for the survival of the civilian population.
UN experts said on November 16 that the significant damage “threatens to make
the continuation of Palestinian life in Gaza impossible.” Notably, Israeli
forces’ bombing of Gaza’s last operational wheat mill on November 15 ensures
that locally produced flour will be unavailable in Gaza for the foreseeable
future, as highlighted by OCHA. Additionally, the UN Office for Project Services
(UNOPS) said that the decimation of road networks had made it more difficult for
humanitarian organizations to deliver aid to those who need it.
“Bakeries and grain mills have been destroyed, agriculture, water and sanitation
facilities,” Scott Paul, a senior humanitarian policy adviser for Oxfam America,
told the Associated Press on November 23.
Israel’s military actions in Gaza have also had a devastating impact on Gaza’s
agricultural sector. The sustained bombardment, coupled with fuel and water
shortages, alongside the displacement of more than 1.6 million people to
southern Gaza, has made farming nearly impossible, according to Oxfam. In a
report from November 28, OCHA said that livestock in the north are facing
starvation due to the shortage of fodder and water, and that crops are
increasingly abandoned and damaged due to lack of fuel to pump irrigation water.
Existing problems, such as water scarcity and restricted access to farming land
near the border fence, have compounded the difficulties faced by local farmers,
many of whom are displaced. On November 28, the Palestinian Central Bureau of
Statistics said that Gaza is suffering from at least a US$1.6 million daily loss
in farm production.
On November 28, the Palestine Food Security Sector, led by the WFP and the Food
and Agriculture Organization, reported that over a third of agricultural land in
the north had been damaged in the hostilities. Satellite imagery reviewed by
Human Rights Watch indicates that since the start of the Israeli military's
ground offensive on October 27, agricultural land, including orchards,
greenhouses, and farmland in northern Gaza, has been razed, apparently by
Israeli forces.
The Israeli government should immediately cease using starvation of civilians as
a method of warfare, Human Rights Watch said. It should abide by the prohibition
on attacks on objects necessary for the survival of the civilian population and
lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip. The government should restore water and
electricity access, and allow desperately needed food, medical aid, and fuel
into Gaza, including via its crossing at Kerem Shalom.
Concerned governments should call on Israel to end these abuses. The United
States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and other countries should also
suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel as long as its forces
continue to commit widespread and serious abuses amounting to war crimes against
civilians with impunity.
“The Israeli government is compounding its collective punishment of Palestinian
civilians and the blocking of humanitarian aid by its cruel use of starvation as
a weapon of war,” Shakir said. “The deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza
calls for an urgent and effective response from the international community.”
BACKGROUND
The Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7 killed at least 1,200
Israelis and foreign nationals, with more than 200 people taken hostage, acts
amounting to war crimes. The resulting Israeli bombardment and ground offensive
resulted in more than 18,700 Palestinians killed, including more than 7,700
children, according to Gaza authorities.
UN experts stated on November 16 that half of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure had
been destroyed. OCHA reported that as of December 10, over half of Gaza’s
housing units had been damaged or destroyed, as provided by the Ministry of
Public Works and Housing in Gaza as well as hospitals, schools, mosques,
bakeries, water pipes, sewage, and electricity networks. On November 4 and 5
alone, according to OCHA, seven water facilities across the Gaza Strip were
directly hit and sustained major damage, including water reservoirs in Gaza
City, the Jabalia refugee camp, and Rafah.
The Israeli military’s repeated, apparently unlawful attacks on medical
facilities, personnel, and transport are further destroying Gaza’s healthcare
sector, thereby affecting the population’s ability to access life-saving
treatment, including to prevent diseases, wasting, and deaths linked to
malnutrition, exacerbating the dire ramifications of starvation. “We will see
more people dying from disease than from bombardment if we are not able to put
back together this health system,” the World Health Organization's Margaret
Harris said on November 28.
HUMANITARIAN CONSEQUENCES
On October 13, Israeli authorities issued an order for more than a million
people to evacuate northern Gaza within 24 hours – an order that was impossible
to comply with. Since then, and as conditions in the north worsened, hundreds of
thousands have been displaced to Rafah and Khan Younis governorates in the
south, where it has become increasingly difficult to secure the means to
survive. Under international humanitarian law, evacuations must be carried out
under conditions that ensure those displaced have access to unimpeded
humanitarian aid, including sufficient food and work, otherwise they may amount
to forcible displacement. Evacuations that would increase the likelihood of
starvation are prohibited.
The humanitarian consequences of Israel’s military actions in Gaza have been
severe. During the first eight weeks of hostilities, northern Gaza was the focus
of the Israeli military’s intense air and, later, ground offensive. Except for
the seven-day ceasefire that began on November 24, during which UN convoys
brought in limited quantities of flour and high-energy biscuits, aid access to
the north had been largely severed. Between November 7 and at least November 15,
none of the bakeries in the north were operational due to the lack of fuel,
water, wheat flour, and structural damage, according to OCHA.
According to the WFP, there is a serious risk of starvation and famine in
Gaza. UN officials have said that 1.9 million people, over 85 percent of Gaza's
population, are internally displaced, adding that the conditions in an
ever-shrinking southern area of the Gaza strip could become “even more hellish.”
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths stated on December 5 that the Israeli military
campaign in southern Gaza had led to “apocalyptic” conditions, making meaningful
humanitarian operations impossible.
As of December 6, the only water desalination plant in northern Gaza was
nonfunctional and the pipeline supplying water to the north from Israel remained
closed, increasing the risk of dehydration and waterborne diseases arising from
the consumption of water from unsafe sources. Hospitals have been particularly
hard hit, with only 1 of 24 hospitals in northern Gaza functional and able to
admit new patients, although services are limited, as of December 14.
Across Gaza, the humanitarian crisis deepened with a persistent electricity
blackout since October 11 as well as several communications shutdowns that
denied people access to reliable safety information, emergency medical services,
and severely hindered humanitarian operations, with OCHA saying on November 18
that the telecommunications blackout between November 16 and 18, the fourth such
blackout since October 7, “brought the already challenging delivery of
humanitarian assistance to an almost complete halt, including life-saving
assistance to people injured or trapped under the rubble as a result of
airstrikes and clashes.” Another telecommunications blackout took place on
December 14.
Since the beginning of the Israeli military’s ground offensive on October 27,
satellite imagery reviewed by Human Rights Watch indicates that orchards,
greenhouses, and farmland in northern Gaza have been razed, apparently by
Israeli forces, compounding concerns of dire food insecurity and loss of
livelihood. Satellite imagery indicates that the razing of agricultural land
continued in northern Gaza during the seven-day ceasefire, which began on
November 24 and ended on December 1, when the Israeli military was in direct
control of the area.
While the Israeli government allowed a steady and slightly increased stream of
humanitarian aid, including cooking gas for the first time since October 7, to
enter the Gaza Strip during the seven-day ceasefire that ended on December 1, it
deliberately hindered the entry of relief supplies at the scale needed for over
a month prior, while it imposed a siege affecting the entire civilian
population. This contributed to a catastrophic humanitarian situation of
far-reaching consequences with over 80 percent of the population internally
displaced, many of whom have been sheltering in overcrowded, unhealthy and
unsanitary conditions at UN shelters in the south. The aid that entered during
the ceasefire “barely registers against the huge needs of 1.7 million displaced
people,” said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on November 27.
Some 200 trucks, including four tankers carrying up to 130,000 liters of fuel
and four tankers of cooking gas, entered Gaza each day of the ceasefire. In
comparison, an average of 500 trucks of food and goods entered Gaza each day
before the conflict and 600,000 liters of fuel are needed in Gaza per day just
to operate water and desalinization plants. As the bombardment resumed and
Israeli forces advanced south, aid access was again severely hindered. On
December 5, for the third consecutive day, OCHA reported that only Rafah
governorate in Gaza received limited aid distributions. In the adjacent Khan
Younis governorate, it said aid distribution largely stopped due to the
intensity of hostilities.
ACCOUNTS FROM CIVILIANS IN GAZA
Human Rights Watch spoke to 11 civilians who evacuated northern Gaza to the
perceived safety of the south due to heavy bombardment, fear of imminent
airstrikes, or because Israel ordered them to evacuate. Several said they were
displaced a number of times before reaching the south, as they struggled to find
suitable shelters and safety along their journey. In the south, they found
overcrowded shelters, empty markets and soaring prices, and long lines for
limited supplies of bread and drinking water. To protect their identities, Human
Rights Watch is using pseudonyms for all those interviewed.
“I have to walk three kilometers to get one gallon [of water],” said 30-year-old
Marwan, who fled to the south with his pregnant wife and two children on
November 9. “And there is no food. If we are able to find food, it is canned
food. Not all of us are eating well.”
“We don’t have enough of anything,” said 36-year-old Hana, who fled her home in
the north to Khan Younis in the south with her father, his wife and her brother
on October 11. She said that in the south they don’t always have access to clean
water, forcing them to drink nonpotable, salty, water.
Bathing has become a luxury, she said, due to the lack of means to heat water,
requiring them to scavenge for wood. In desperate situations, she said, they
even resort to burning old clothes for cooking. The process of making bread
poses its own challenges, given the scarcity of ingredients that they cannot
afford. “We make bad bread because we don’t have all the ingredients and we
cannot afford it,” she said.
Majed, 34, who fled with his wife and four surviving children to the south on or
around November 10 said that while the situation in the south was dire, it was
incomparable to what he and his family had to endure while staying in the north.
They had been in an area near al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City for just over a
month after their house was bombed on October 13, killing Majed’s 6-year-old
son:
“In those 33 days we didn’t have bread because there was no flour,” he said.
“There was no water – we were buying water, sometimes for [US]$10 a cup. It
wasn’t always drinkable. Sometimes, [the water we drank] was from the bathroom
and sometimes from the sea. The markets around the area were empty. There wasn’t
even canned food.”
Taher, 32, who fled south with his family on November 11, described similar
conditions in Gaza city in the first weeks of November. “The city was out of
everything, of food and water,” he said. “If you find canned food, the prices
were so high. We decided to eat just once a day to survive. We were running out
of money. We decided to just have the necessities, to have less of everything.”
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND EVIDENCE OF DELIBERATE ACTION
Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited under article 54(1)
of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions (Protocol I) and
article 14 of the Second Additional Protocol (Protocol II). Although Israel is
not a party to Protocols I or II, the prohibition is recognized as reflective of
customary international humanitarian law in both international and
noninternational armed conflicts. Parties to a conflict may not “provoke
[starvation] deliberately” or deliberately cause “the population to suffer
hunger, particularly by depriving it of its sources of food or of supplies.”
Warring parties are also prohibited from attacking objects indispensable to the
survival of the civilian population, such as food and medical supplies,
agricultural areas, and drinking water installations. They are obligated to
facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to all civilians in need,
and to not deliberately block humanitarian aid or restrict the freedom of
movement of humanitarian relief personnel. In each of its four previous wars in
Gaza since 2008, Israel maintained the flow of drinking water and electricity
into Gaza and opened the Israeli crossings for humanitarian delivery.
Evidence of intent to deliberately use starvation as a method of warfare can be
demonstrated by public statements of officials involved in military operations.
The following high-ranking Israeli officials could be expected to play a
significant role in determining policy with respect to allowing or blocking food
and other necessities to the civilian population.
On October 9, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “We are imposing a complete
siege on [Gaza]. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel – everything is
closed. We are fighting human animals and we must act accordingly.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a tweet on October 17, “So
long as Hamas does not release the hostages – the only thing that should enter
Gaza is hundreds of tons of air force explosives – not an ounce of humanitarian
aid.”
Energy Minister Israel Katz, who reported that he ordered the cuts to
electricity and water, said on October 11:
> “For years, we have given Gaza electricity, water, and fuel. Instead of a
> thank you, they sent thousands of human animals to butcher, murder, rape and
> kidnap babies, women and elderly people. This is why we have decided to cut
> off the supply of water, electricity and fuel, and now, the local power plant
> has collapsed, and there is no electricity in Gaza. We will keep holding a
> tight siege until the Hamas threat is lifted from Israel and the world. What
> has been will be no more.”
Katz said on October 12:
> “Humanitarian aid to Gaza? Not a switch will be flicked on, not a valve will
> be opened, not a fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages come home.
> Humanitarian for humanitarian. Let no one lecture us about morality.”
He said on October 16:
> “I supported the agreement between PM [Prime Minister] Netanyahu and President
> Biden to supply water to the southern Gaza Strip because it aligned with
> Israeli interests too. I am vehemently opposed to lifting the blockade and
> letting goods into Gaza for humanitarian reasons. Our commitment is to the
> families of the murdered and to the kidnapped hostages – not Hamas murderers
> and the people who helped them.”
On November 4, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared that no fuel must
enter Gaza “under any circumstances.” He later called Israel’s war cabinet’s
decision to permit small amounts to enter the strip “a grave mistake” and said
that it “stop this scandal immediately and prevent fuel from coming into the
Strip,” as reported by the Jerusalem Post.
In a video posted online on November 4, Col. Yogev Bar-Shesht, deputy head of
the Civil Administration, said in an interview from inside Gaza, “Whoever
returns here, if they return here after, will find scorched earth. No houses, no
agriculture, no nothing. They have no future.”
On November 24, in a televised interview with CNN, Mark Regev, senior adviser to
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that Israel was depriving Gaza
of fuel since October 7 to strengthen Israel’s position when it came to
negotiating with Hamas on release of hostages. “Had we done so [allowed the fuel
in] … we would never have gotten our hostages out,” he said.
On December 1, the Defense Ministry’s coordinator of government activities in
the territories, Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, said that the entry of fuel and aid to
Gaza was halted after Hamas violated the conditions of the ceasefire agreement.
His office confirmed his statement in response to a Times of Israel query,
stating: “After the Hamas terror organization violated the agreement and in
addition fired at Israel, the entry of humanitarian aid was stopped in the
manner stipulated in the agreement.”
Other officials have since October 7 called for the limited entry of
humanitarian aid to Gaza, saying that doing so serves Israel’s military aims.
Prime Minister Netanyahu on December 5 answered a question about Israel
potentially losing leverage against Hamas if it allowed more humanitarian aid
into Gaza, saying: “The war efforts are supported by the humanitarian effort …
this is because we follow laws of war because we know that if there would be a
collapse – diseases, pandemics, and groundwater infections – it will stop the
fighting.”
Defense Minister Gallant said: “We’re required to allow the humanitarian minimum
to allow for the military pressure to continue.”
Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel's national security adviser, said at a news conference on
November 17: “If there is an epidemic, the fighting will be stopped. If there is
a humanitarian crisis and an international outcry, we will not be able to
continue the fighting under those conditions.”
On October 18, the Office of the Prime Minister announced that Israel would not
prevent humanitarian aid from entering Gaza from Egypt following pressure from
the US and other international allies:
“In light of President Biden’s demand, Israel will not thwart humanitarian
supplies from Egypt as long as it is only food, water and medicine for the
civilian population in the southern Gaza Strip.”
Destruction of Agricultural Products and Impacts on Food Production
During ground operations in northern Gaza, Israeli forces have apparently
destroyed agricultural products, exacerbating shortages of food with long-term
effects. This has included razing orchards, fields, and greenhouses.
October 15, 2023
November 24, 2023
JuxtaposeJS
October 15, 2023: © 2023 Planet Labs PBC November 24, 2023: © 2023 Planet Labs
PBC
Israel's military said it conducted military operations in the Beit Hanoun area,
including in an undisclosed agricultural area in Beit Hanoun, to clear tunnels
and other military objectives.
Fields and orchards north of Beit Hanoun, for example, were first damaged during
hostilities following Israel’s ground operations in late October. Bulldozers
carved new roads, clearing the way for Israeli military vehicles.
Since mid-November, after Israeli forces took control of the same area in
northeastern Gaza, satellite imagery shows that orchards, fields, and
greenhouses have been systematically razed, leaving sand and dirt. Human Rights
Watch contacted the Israel Defense Forces for comment on December 8 but has not
received a response.
November 11, 2023
November 24, 2023
JuxtaposeJS
November 11, 2023: © 2023 Planet Labs PBC November 24, 2023: © 2023 Planet Labs
PBC
Farmers in this area planted crops such as citrus fruit, potatoes, dragon fruit,
and prickly pear, contributing to the livelihoods of Palestinians in Gaza. Other
crops include tomatoes, cabbage, and strawberries. Some plots were razed in a
day. Trees that yield citrus fruit, as well as the cacti that yield dragon
fruit, take years of care to mature before they can yield fruit.
High resolution satellite imagery shows bulldozers were used to destroy fields
and orchards. Tracks are visible, as well as mounds of earth on the edges of the
former plots.
Satellite imagery from November 24, 2023 shows bulldozer marks on razed orchards
in an area north of Beit Hanoun. © 2023 Planet Labs PBC
Whether by deliberate razing, damage due to hostilities or the inability to
irrigate or work the land, farmland across northern Gaza has been drastically
reduced since the beginning of the Israeli ground operations.
Farms and farmers in southern Gaza have also been affected. Action Against
Hunger found that of 113 farmers from southern Gaza surveyed between October 19
and 31, 60 percent reported that their assets and/or crops have been damaged, 42
percent reported that they had no access to water to irrigate their farms, and
43 percent reported that they were unable to harvest their crops.
CORRECTION
12/18/2023: This news release has been updated to reflect the October date on
which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not allow
humanitarian assistance "in the form food and medicines" into Gaza through its
crossings "as long as [Israel's] hostages are not returned."
1/15/2024: This news release has been updated to reflect the correct attribution
for statistics provided regarding the damage and destruction to civilian
infrastructure in Gaza.
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