Is Israel committing war crimes in Gaza?
Ever since the conflict broke out in Gaza on 7 October, some Western media and countries, particularly the United States, have been trying to manufacture sympathy and support for Israel, both political and financial, by positioning the country as the victim, making its onslaught on Gaza merely a case of self-defence.
However, that the narrative is far from the truth is quite evident from Israel's apparent use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, a case of war crime.
As outlined in a United Nations-backed report published on Thursday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger and the risk of famine is increasing each day.
Even though trucks transporting aid from Egypt have delivered some food, water and medicine, the quantity of food is just 10% of what is needed for the territory's inhabitants, most of whom are displaced.
The report by 23 UN and non-governmental agencies say that the entire population in Gaza is in a food crisis with 5,76,600 people at catastrophic or starvation levels.
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It also revealed that in the "most likely scenario", the entire population of the Gaza Strip would be at "crisis or worse" levels of hunger by 7 February after four months of war.
"This is the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given area or country," the report said.
As a result of this, people in Gaza are close to large outbreaks of disease, because their immune systems have become quite weak in the absence of enough nourishment.
And for this tragic situation, the blame lies squarely on Israel.
Since 7 October, Israeli forces have been deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel in Gaza while deliberately blocking humanitarian assistance, razing agricultural areas and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival.
They have also been bombing and demolishing food stores, factories, bakeries, water stations, and tanks throughout the entire enclave.
In the meantime, 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.
Ironically, this is exactly opposite of what Asa Kasher, an Israeli philosopher and the lead author of the Israeli Defence Forces' code of ethics, told journalists on Tuesday, "You don't even have to kill a terrorist if he comes towards you with his hands raised."
Instead, the Israelis are not only attacking and killing civilians in Gaza indiscriminately, they are trying to starve them to death, a historical tactic in the arsenal of war strategies.
In sieges — the predominant form of warfare for much of history — those conducting attacks aimed to compel defenders to surrender by purposefully inducing starvation among civilian populations.
Michael Walzer, in his famed work "Just and Unjust Wars," argued that civilian deaths are "expected to force the hand of the civilian or military leadership."
"The goal is surrender; the means is not the defeat of the enemy army, but the fearful spectacle of the civilian dead," he wrote.
Similar action by Israeli forces is a violation of the international humanitarian law, which 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 wilfully impeding relief supplies" is a war crime.
Moreover, the continuing blockade of Gaza by Israel, along with its closure persisting for more than 16 years, amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population, a war crime. As the occupying power in Gaza under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel is obligated to guarantee access to food and medical supplies for the civilian population.
As of Thursday, the death toll in Gaza surpassed 20,000, and if Israeli barbarism persists, the toll may escalate manifold due to ongoing starvation in the coming weeks.
Surprisingly, however, no big international organisations bar Oxfam and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have so far called out the Israelis for such a heinous war crime, making us wonder what the word "humanity" really stands for.
