20 August 2024

On Tuesday, 20 August 2024, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) issues a factsheet titled: “Israel’s Policy of Starvation During its Genocidal Campaign: Impact on Women and Girls in Northern Gaza Strip.”

This factsheet is product of PCHR’s Woman Rights Unit based on large efforts by the Unit in shelters for displaced people across the Gaza Strip. The factsheet sheds light on the impact of Israel’s starvation policy during its genocidal campaign on women and girls in the northern Gaza Strip and outlines the social, physical and mental health effects of this policy on their daily life.   Its also aims to raise global awareness on this cause and elevate the voices of women and girls to claim their fundamental rights amid the Israeli-imposed dire circumstances.

This factsheet addresses the Israeli officials’ outspoken intent to deprive the people of Gaza of food, water and fuel and it was reflected in the siege Israel has imposed on the Gaza strip to starve its population. The Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) have closed all crossings with the Gaza Strip and ordered the residents of northern Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south while starting their invasion in northern Gaza Strip and separating the two northern governorates from the central and southern governorates. Moreover, the residents of northern Gaza Strip consumed all food they had stocked, and markets ran out of foodstuffs amid Israel’s blocking aid and simultaneously destroying food production systems such as markets, bakeries and industrial facilities. 

Moreover, the only limited number of aid trucks allowed to enter the Strip has been used as ambushes to kill and injure civilians, who wait for humanitarian aid in areas near the Israeli checkpoints. Meanwhile, the Israeli authorities continue to proliferate false and misleading allegations about the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).  As a result, many countries have suspended their funding to UNRWA, including the United States (US), thereby aggravating the food crisis in Gaza.

The factsheet also presents a legal analysis of Israel’s commission of war crime and crime of genocide by using starvation as a method of war. Intentionally starving civilians by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival constitutes a war crime during international armed conflicts under Article 8 (2) (b) (25) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and Article 54 (1) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. These articles prohibit starvation as a method of warfare against civilians, amounting to a crime of genocide if it were undertaken with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded that the Israeli authorities are responsible for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare in the Gaza Strip. The Commission determined that Israel’s imposed a “total siege” which amounts to collective punishment against the civilian population. Top Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and Energy Minister Israel Katz, have made public statements expressing their genocidal intent to use starvation as a method of warfare against the population of the Gaza Strip. These statements are reflected in the Israeli military operations, thereby constituting a crime of genocide against the Gaza Strip population. 

The factsheet outlines the severe repercussions of starvation policy for the women in northern Gaza Strip due to their responsibilities as mothers. Women in these areas reduce their food intake to give it to other household members making them lose a lot of weight. Families suffer from acute food insecurity, rendering it hard for women to face famine and in the same time secure food for her children.

Moreover, pregnant and breastfeeding women in the northern Gaza Strip are facing acute levels of food insecurity that has affected the mothers and babies’ health. Food insecurity also makes it impossible to meet their needs and thereby increasing high health risks such as weight loss, anemia and breastfeeding problems in addition to premature births seriously risking the mother and baby’s lives. 

Women, breadwinners of their families, are facing additional pressures after losing their male breadwinners in the aggression. They find it difficult to feed their families amid the constraints of work and social discrimination. Although Some women had to work in low-paying jobs, they were still unable to meet their family needs, thereby increasing women and children’s suffering.