This week, world leaders condemned Israel for ‘drip feeding’ aid into Gaza, while humanitarian groups warned that widespread man-made famine – caused by the ongoing Israeli blockade – has reached critical levels. At least 115 people have already died due to famine and malnutrition, with impacted doctors and aid workers collapsing on the job.
People are starving to death in Gaza while 6,000 trucks filled with food, medical supplies, and other essential aid sit idle on the Egyptian border, known as at the Rafah crossing. The trucks are barred from entering the Strip due to an ongoing illegal blockade imposed by Israeli authorities.
At the same time, Israeli forces have conducted controlled demolition on thousands of buildings across Gaza. Entire towns made up of schools, apartment blocks, and other vital infrastructure have been levelled in the past few weeks – places tens of thousands of Gazans once called home.
In a joint statement signed by thirty foreign ministers on the 21st of July, government leaders condemned Israel’s ‘inhumane killing of civilians, including children’ and described the suffering of civilians in Gaza as ‘reach[ing] new depths.’ The statement urged Israel to comply with its obligations to international humanitarian law, stating ‘the war in Gaza must end now.’
Though activists and everyday people have labelled Israel’s activity in Gaza a genocide for more than a year now – making the clear distinction from a war between two functioning militaries – most global leaders have been reluctant to call it so.
On the contrary, legal experts, genocide scholars, historians (some of them Israeli), and humanitarian organisations including Amnesty International and Médecins Sans Frontières have stated that Israel is indeed committing genocide in Gaza and is now using starvation as a tool to achieve its aim.
How has this been allowed to happen? And who will stop it?
Starvation and weaponization of aid as a tool of war
At the end of May, Israel announced it was opening aid distribution centers for people in Gaza to obtain food. The aid programme is run by the notorious Israel- and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial organization for which there are very few available details.
In a sadistic twist, the aid centers were placed miles from areas where Gazans had been forced to relocate under Israeli instruction. After walking to these aid sites for hours, sometimes days, on empty stomachs and with little water in the blazing heat, people are forced to join a queue about 1km from the distribution point. A strong Israeli military presence – vehicles, sniper nests, drones, and outposts – control the area.
Gazans wait for hovering drones to sound a ‘go signal,’ which should mean they are allowed to approach safely – but the danger does not end here. With the entire population of Gaza desperate and starving, these aid sites quickly become chaotic, now labelled as apocalyptic ‘death traps’.
There have been reports of crushing, fighting, and theft amongst Gazans desperately seeking food, but perhaps more disturbingly, video evidence and reports from humanitarian workers on the ground have confirmed that Gazans are being shot by Israeli snipers as they attempt to obtain aid.
As of July 21st, the UN human rights office reported at least 1,054 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to access food aid in Gaza. Of this figure, 766 were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites and 288 near UN and other humanitarian organisations’ aid convoys.
Those who make it out alive often return home with very little, some completely empty handed. They describe the experience as gruelling and humiliating.
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper has published quotes from unnamed Israeli soldiers who say they were ordered to shoot at the crowds of Palestinians and use unnecessary lethal force – even against those who did not appear to pose a threat.
One soldier told Haaretz, ‘We fired machineguns from tanks and threw grenades. There was one incident where a group of civilians was hit while advancing under the cover of fog.’
Asked to describe the situation at aid distribution sites, another soldier told the Israeli newspaper, ‘It’s a killing field.’
‘I don’t know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it’s man-made, and that’s very clear,’ World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said from Geneva during a virtual press conference. ‘This is because of [the] blockade.’
Image credit: Al Jazeera
Systematic and unchecked destruction of society
It seems unthinkable that a humanitarian crisis of this scale could be created by a single government, let alone a close ally of the United Kingdom and United States.
Yet, despite overwhelming (and constantly growing) evidence that it is taking place, world leaders continue to take little action beyond signing empty joint statements.
This has not only allowed for the suffering of innocent people in Gaza to reach extreme levels, but it has essentially granted Israeli leaders the ability to act ‘brazenly, continuously and with total impunity’. With no one stepping in, Israeli leaders and armed forces have continued to plot and carry out documented and systematic genocidal atrocities without intervention.
Derek Summerfield, a United Kingdom-based psychiatrist who specializes on the effects of war and atrocity, told Al Jazeera:
‘Israeli policy has left Gaza uninhabitable. It’s destroyed the idea of a society and every institution that might serve it, from universities to hospitals to mosques. It’s become a sociocidal war. People have been left with nothing, and are feeling they can’t go on.’
Sociocidal is the word used to describe a conflict intended to destroy a society’s entire structures and sense of identity.
Growing extremism in Israeli society
With a genocide happening on their doorstep, it may be reasonable to think the Israeli population would call for an end to the killing.
While thousands have protested, they primarily call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop ‘destroying Israel as a Jewish and democratic state’ and to bring back the Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas. Protests for the human rights of Palestinians are ‘rare’ in Israel, with those in attendance in the minority.
In fact, a poll conducted by the Hebrew University center in Israel has revealed a growing extremism in Israeli society. Taken in the last week of May, the survey of 1,112 respondents showed that 64 percent of Israelis believe that ‘there are no innocents’ in Gaza.
The poll also found that 73 percent of voters for opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu Party and other right-wing, non-coalition parties share the same view.
In regard to ongoing ceasefire talks – which US President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew from – Edward Ahmed Mitchell, Deputy Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said:
‘Netanyahu and his cabinet of openly racist, genocidal fascists do not want to permanently stop the genocide in Gaza, even if carrying on means leaving more hostages to die in Israel’s indiscriminate bombing campaign or to starve to death alongside the Palestinian people.’
Damning statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a closed-door testimony to the Israeli Knesset in May were leaked back in May.
Netanyahu stated ‘We are destroying more and more homes. They have nowhere to return to. The only inevitable outcome will be the desire of Gazans to emigrate outside of the Gaza Strip.’
The Times of Israel newspaper recently reported that Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu publicly corroborated this plan, telling Haredi radio station Kol Barama that his government ‘is racing ahead to wipe out Gaza.’ He elaborated that Gaza will be cleared for Jewish settlement, and that ‘all Gaza will be Jewish.’
These statements align with journalistic interpretations of ‘Operation Gideon’s Chariots’ which is the name of Israel’s latest military phase in Gaza. Many believe – in line with how operations have been conducted over 21 months – that the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza is Israel’s ultimate goal.
When genocide is profitable
The complete reluctance to stop Israel’s brutal genocide in Gaza is not only fueled by the collective apathy, racism, religious discrimination, or political interests of world leaders. It is fueled by the greed of major global firms who are financially ‘profiting from genocide’ in Gaza.
A report by Francesca Albanese to the UN Human Rights Council released on July 3rd detailed the deep involvement of global companies in supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
It states, ‘While life in Gaza is being obliterated and the West Bank is under escalating assault, this report shows why Israel’s genocide continues: because it is lucrative for many.’
Titled ‘From economy of occupation to economy of genocide,’ the report details international corporate involvement in supplying weapons and supplying heavy machinery used to destroy Palestinian neighbourhoods in Gaza and the West Bank.
It also points to agricultural companies that sell produce from illegal settlements, as well as investment firms which are helping to fund the ongoing genocide.
Heavy equipment manufacturer such as Caterpillar and Volvo continue to supply the heavy machinery used in mass demolitions of homes, mosques and infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank.
Meanwhile, the report reveals that Israel has paid for the war and consequent deep budget deficits by selling treasury bonds. It argues that, by buying them, international finance has facilitated the war in continuing.
Many of the world’s largest banks, including BNP Paribas and Barclays, have also stepped in to boost market confidence by underwriting Israel’s international and domestic treasury bonds. Asset management firms including Pimco (owned by the German-based financial services company Allianz) and Vanguard as major buyers of Israeli treasury bonds.
A glimmer of hope has shone from South Africa, whose leaders filed a case in 2023 asking the International Court of Justice to declare that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The case argues that in its war against Hamas militants, Israel’s military actions go beyond targeting Hamas alone by attacking civilians, with strikes on schools, hospitals, camps and shelters.
States joining South Africa in support for the case for genocide are Algeria, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Ireland, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Palestine, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.
States joining Israel in opposition to the case for genocide are Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Paraguay, the United Kingdom, and United States.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 59,106 people in Gaza, including 17,400 children, and injured at least 142,511 more. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attack on October 7 of the same year, and more than 200 were taken captive.
If the ICJ cannot stop a genocide, then its legitimacy and credibility could be seriously called into question.
Deputy Editor & Content Partnership ManagerLondon, UK
I’m Jessica (She/Her). I’m the Deputy Editor & Content Partnership Manager at Thred. Originally from the island of Bermuda, I specialise in writing about ocean health and marine conservation, but you can also find me delving into pop culture, health and wellness, plus sustainability in the beauty and fashion industries. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.
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