Palestinian Territory – Deaths among the elderly, children, and the sick in the Gaza Strip have increased alarmingly due to starvation, malnutrition, and lack of medical treatment, under living conditions created by Israel to exhaust the Palestinian population.
These conditions include intentional starvation, extreme suffering, and the systematic deprivation of healthcare, along with a total blockade—all part of an ongoing genocide campaign that has now entered its 19th consecutive month.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented the deaths of 26 Palestinians, including nine children, in just 24 hours. These deaths are the result of a deliberate Israeli policy that weaponises hunger and denial of treatment to kill Palestinian civilians. The tightened blockade, in place since 2 March, disproportionately targets the most vulnerable and turns the man-made humanitarian catastrophe into a central tool of extermination.
The absence of an effective system within Gaza's Ministry of Health to monitor these deaths means many are officially recorded as stemming from "natural causes", despite being directly caused by deliberate starvation policies
There has been a significant rise in deaths among elderly people, children, and chronically ill patients as a result of hunger and the collapse of healthcare services in the Gaza Strip. Israel has methodically dismantled the Strip's health system through a combination of siege and direct targeting, forcing hospitals like Gaza European Hospital, in the south, and the Indonesian Hospital, in the north, to shut down completely. All remaining medical facilities are barely operational.
The absence of an effective system within Gaza's Ministry of Health to monitor these deaths means many are officially recorded as stemming from "natural causes", despite being directly caused by deliberate starvation policies and the systematic collapse of the health system. Euro-Med Monitor notes that Israel's clear pattern of intentional killing is prohibited under international humanitarian and criminal law.
The Euro-Med Monitor field team collected harrowing testimonies from elderly individuals forcibly displaced, while starving, under Israeli evacuation orders. "I live in a tent near my destroyed home in Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis," said Abdel Salam Qudeih (76). "The army published a map ordering us to evacuate. I couldn't carry anything. I walked for three hours without having eaten for an entire day, until I reached Al-Mawasi in poor health. I couldn't even bring medicine for my chronic illness."
Artist Samir al-Kabariti, an elderly man from Gaza City's Shuja'iyya neighbourhood, was seen weeping as he fled in a wheelchair. "I haven't eaten for two or three days," he told Euro-Med Monitor. "I just want a piece of bread."
Widad al-Sumairi (73) fled from Al-Qarara, northeast of Khan Younis, with her son's family, walking several kilometres without taking anything with them. "We have no food left," she said. "For days, we've been eating half a small meal. The children are dehydrated. The displacement made our suffering worse. Why are we starving and displaced again and again? Someone, please help us."
There is no tangible evidence of the aid Israel claims to have allowed in. On the first day, just five trucks were reported to have entered. It remains unclear whether the trucks—carrying only nutritional supplements and burial shrouds—reached the Gaza Strip or if they are still stuck at Kerem Shalom crossing. According to the United Nations, the aid shipment is "a drop in the ocean" of what is needed to meet the population's urgent daily needs.
The situation is worsened by ongoing Israeli bombardment, which destroys homes, shelters, and meagre food supplies whenever people are forcibly displaced. Therefore, families are not only fleeing bombardment, but must face the threat of hunger with every new displacement.
The aforementioned acts represent some of the most serious crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which classifies "wilful killing" as causing death through means such as starvation and denial of medical care. These acts qualify as war crimes and crimes against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on civilians, which clearly describes Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's actions also meet the legal criteria for genocide, including killing and inflicting serious physical or mental harm on members of a protected group and deliberately imposing living conditions intended to bring about the group's physical destruction, in whole or in part.
This genocide has raged for over 19 months, with Israel plainly targeting the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. The humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave has now reached catastrophic levels. Hunger currently affects not only the most vulnerable, but every segment of society, amid the near-total collapse of essential services and the absence of basic necessities such as food, healthcare, and shelter.
The unlawful Israeli blockade, which existed prior to the start of the genocide in October 2023 but has worsened since then, along with systematic restrictions on humanitarian aid and the deliberate destruction of the Gaza Strip's health system—particularly over the past 70 days—has caused irreversible destruction. The Strip's population of over two million people faces widespread health consequences.
The current Israeli-United States mechanism being proposed for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip is nothing more than a new manoeuvre designed to prolong the ongoing, unlawful blockade. It seeks to repackage the crime of starvation using a misleading, so-called "humanitarian" framework, thereby falsely legitimising the continued use of starvation as a weapon of genocide.
All states, individually and collectively, must assume their legal responsibilities and act urgently to halt the genocide. This includes taking all effective measures to protect Palestinian civilians, and to immediately lift the illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip—the only viable path to halting the worsening humanitarian crisis and ensuring the unimpeded entry of life-saving aid.
Any further delay in lifting the siege constitutes a continuation of grave violations of international humanitarian law, worsening the catastrophic and uncontainable consequences. Until the international community compels Israel and its more powerful allies to change course, the over two million civilians in the Gaza Strip are being held hostage—starved, dehydrated, and denied medical care, in direct violation of their fundamental rights to life and dignity.
The international community must impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel and its closest allies for the aforesaid systematic and serious violations of international law. These sanctions include a complete arms embargo, including the ban of exports, dual-use goods, and military cooperation; suspension of all forms of political, financial, and military support; freezing the assets of Israeli officials implicated in crimes against Palestinians; imposing travel bans on all those responsible; and suspending trade privileges and bilateral agreements that provide Israel with economic advantages enabling its continued crimes.
Furthermore, the International Criminal Court (ICC) must expedite its investigations and issue arrest warrants for every Israeli official involved in international crimes committed in the Gaza Strip. These crimes must be formally recognised and treated as acts of genocide. States Parties to the Rome Statute are reminded of their legal obligation to fully cooperate with the Court, ensure the implementation of the arrest warrants, and bring the perpetrators to justice, i.e. end their continued impunity.
The international community must immediately fulfil its legal and moral obligations by addressing the root cause of the Palestinian people's suffering and oppression, which has persisted for 77 years: the apartheid regime imposed on Palestinians by the Israeli settler-colonial enterprise. To ensure Palestinians' rights to freedom, dignity, and self-determination under international law, the international community must act to end Israel's illegal occupation.
Euro-Med Monitor reiterates that Israel must be compelled to lift its illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip, all perpetrators of crimes committed against Palestinians in the Strip must be held accountable, and justice and reparations for Palestinian victims there must be guaranteed.
