Israel using starvation as weapon of war: HRW

The group accused the Israeli army of “deliberately” blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while “wilfully impeding humanitarian assistance”.

It added that Israeli forces were “apparently” razing agricultural areas and depriving the civilian population of “objects indispensable to their survival”.

“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,” Omar Shakir, HRW’s Israel and Palestine director, stated.

“World leaders should be speaking out against this abhorrent war crime, which has devastating effects on Gaza’s population.”

Israel’s air and ground attacks on Gaza since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas have killed nearly 19,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured many more.

The war has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory’s housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.

The HRW called on Tel Aviv to immediately cease using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, and 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,” it stressed.

It also called on the US, UK, Canada, Germany, and other countries to “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”.