Starvation

There is starvation in times of peace, such as caused by drought and price hikes, and there is starvation as part of a strategy to bring about conditions in the life of people by force. However, in Gaza, it was imposed as a retaliatory measure by former "defense" minister Yoav Gallant, two days after Hamas' surprise attack on October 7, 2023. It is known as 'forced starvation,' but we consider this as weaponized starvation to cause starvation.

International law, specifically International Humanitarian Law (IHL), explicitly prohibits using the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, codifying it as a war crime in treaties like Additional Protocol I (Article 54) and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) (Article 8(2)(b)(xxv)), making it a serious offense in both international and non-international armed conflicts, punishable under national and international law. It involves intentionally denying civilians food, water, or indispensable objects for survival, with the specific aim to starve them out, and is now a rule of customary international law, meaning it binds all states.

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