From [HERE] In early April 2024, an Israeli airstrike on a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy that was on its way to deliver humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip killed seven of the organization’s workers. WCK, a key agency in humanitarian relief efforts in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war, halted operations following the incident. Several other organizations also announced they would be suspending operations in the Gaza Strip due to fear for their workers’ lives. The killing of the aid workers, six of whom were foreign nationals, drew sharp criticism of Israel from senior officials in the international community, chiefly, US President Joe Biden. In a special statement released by the White House, President Biden asserted that Israel was not doing enough to avoid harming civilians and aid workers trying to deliver “desperately needed” help to the hungry population in Gaza Strip, and that this was not a “stand-alone incident.” All of this comes in the wake of the provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice at the end of January, instructing Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Responding to international pressure, Israeli officials, including the IDF Spokesperson and the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) pledged to work towards improving humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, released figures on this subject and even announced Erez Crossing would reopen and the numbers of trucks permitted to enter Gaza increase. The IDF Spokesperson went so far as announcing “expansion of efforts to facilitate humanitarian aid into Gaza” to the foreign press.

It is too soon to determine how the shift in Israel’s policy will affect reality on the ground. Yet it is clearly too little, too late, and attests to Israel being chiefly responsible for the humanitarian crisis that has, since the war began about six months ago, spiraled into the catastrophe we are witnessing now. For months, Israel refused to let humanitarian aid in through the land crossings in its territory, thereby limiting the amount of aid that could enter. Even when, following international pressure, Israel did agree to allow aid in through its territory, the amounts were a far cry from the needs of the population, and Israel even stooped so low as to try and present a false image that there was no serious nutritional crisis in Gaza. The current change in policy cannot absolve Israel of its responsibility for the hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip, and it is doubtful whether the “new measures” it recently announced – whose effect on the ground, to the extent they actually exist, it is to early to analyze – can meet the current needs of the civilian population there.

In this document, we review the current scale of the hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip, its short and long term impacts, Israel’s conduct with respect to this issue and the legal implications of this conduct. We rely on the most recent figures and data available.

Based on various reports from international bodies about the situation in Gaza and on testimonies gathered by B'Tselem's field researchers, we unfortunately conclude that for months, Israel has been committing the crime of starvation under international law in the Gaza Strip. [MORE]