Israels Food Restrictions in Gaza Spark International Concern Over Humanitarian Crisis

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Gaza’s Hunger Crisis: A Calculated Strategy

In 2023, Israel launched a military operation in Gaza, which led to a significant increase in hunger-related deaths. According to health officials in Gaza, only four deaths were officially attributed to starvation in the first three months of the conflict. However, by 2024, that number had risen to 49.

The situation worsened in 2025, with the death toll from starvation reaching 422 in a single year, representing a staggering 760 percent increase over the previous 12 months. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, stated that the global standard for famine analysis, known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), is often “conservative.”

Fakhri noted that the crisis in Gaza met the strict technical criteria for famine and that the health ministry reported that 40.63 percent of the victims were elderly, while 34.74 percent were children. The number of cases among children under five spiked from 2,754 in January to 14,383 in August.

Legal experts have confirmed that what occurred in Gaza was not just “food insecurity” but met the strict technical criteria for famine. They pointed out that the human rights community typically responds more quickly to such situations and does not focus on measuring pain, suffering, and death.

Palestinians in Gaza and other parts of the occupied Palestinian territory have accused consecutive Israeli governments of using food and aid as a weapon of war. A Palestinian commentator and researcher on Israeli affairs, Suleiman Basharat, attributed this strategy to the blockade of Gaza imposed by Israel in 2007.

The blockade led to a significant reduction in aid deliveries, with an average of 19 trucks per day allowed into the Strip during the conflict, compared to 500 trucks needed to sustain the population. Senior Israeli ministers had declared their intentions clear at the start of the conflict, including former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s statement that Israel was imposing a “complete siege” on Gaza.

The situation in Gaza has continued to deteriorate, with reports of water shortages and agricultural destruction. The Israeli army had destroyed 90 percent of agricultural land and 2,500 chicken farms by August 2025.

Source: Al Jazeera