Svälten i Gaza fortsätter! -leker med maten

The Gaza genocide is defined by multiple international bodies as the ongoing, intentional, and systematic destruction of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip carried out by the State of Israel since October 7, 2023. This characterization is supported by findings from a UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and major human rights organizations like Amnesty International and B'Tselem, which cite evidence of genocidal intent and acts meeting the legal definition under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Key Findings and Acts:

Casualties: As of June 2026, recorded direct deaths exceed 72,900, with children comprising approximately 30% of those killed; over 21,000 children have been confirmed killed since the war began.
Genocidal Acts: The UN commission concluded Israel committed four of the five prohibited acts: killing, causing serious bodily and mental harm, inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group (including starvation and siege), and imposing measures to prevent births (such as destroying reproductive healthcare).
Intent: Investigations highlight explicit statements by Israeli political and military leaders dehumanizing Palestinians, alongside the systematic destruction of healthcare, educational, and civilian infrastructure.
Displacement and Destruction: More than 90% of Gaza's population has been forcibly displaced, and over 90% of homes have been damaged or destroyed, rendering large areas uninhabitable.
International Response and Litigation: The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the conflict. While the UN Commission and various state governments have called for an immediate end to the genocide and arms embargoes, the Israeli government firmly rejects these allegations, describing the UN report as a "libellous sham" and maintaining its actions are acts of self-defense against Hamas.

Famine was officially confirmed in the Gaza Strip on August 22, 2025, by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), marking the first time this threshold has been met in the Middle East region. The declaration indicated that 641,000 people in the Gaza Governorate were experiencing catastrophic hunger (IPC Phase 5), characterized by widespread starvation, destitution, and preventable deaths.

The famine was driven by an Israeli blockade during the Gaza war, which prevented essential food and humanitarian aid from entering the territory, alongside airstrikes that destroyed local food infrastructure such as bakeries and mills. UN agencies including the FAO, UNICEF, WFP, and WHO described the crisis as a "man-made disaster" and called for an immediate ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access to halt further mortality.

While the IPC analysis projected the famine would spread to other governorates like Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis, a subsequent report in December 2025 confirmed that no areas of the Strip were currently classified in famine following an October ceasefire and improved aid access. However, UN agencies warned that the gains were fragile, with 1.6 million people (77% of the population) still facing high levels of acute food insecurity and hundreds of thousands at risk of slipping back into famine without sustained support.

IPC does not comment publicly on political issues, but independent food security experts and people close to the process say those assertions are false. Changes to IPC’s assessments that critics are complaining about were made 6 years ago, long before the start of the latest Israel-Hamas war, they point out.