Gaza has transcended the metaphor of an “open-air prison.” It is now a necropolis of international law, where Israel weaponizes hunger to achieve strategic territorial expansion. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warns that famine is imminent in northern Gaza, with 95% of the population facing acute food insecurity is not collateral damage but policy:
= Systematic Sabotage of Survival Infrastructure: Israel has destroyed 70% of Gaza’s cropland, 95% of cattle herds, and critical water facilities . Prior to October 2023, Gaza produced most of its vegetables, eggs, and poultry; today, agriculture is functionally extinct.
= Blockade as Policy: Senior Israeli officials openly endorse starvation. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for opening “gates of hell… deadly as possible,” while Likud MK Moshe Saada declared: “Yes, I will starve the residents of Gaza-this is our obligation”
= Aid Suppression: Only 713 aid trucks reached northern Gaza in over five months-equivalent to one truck per 10,000 people daily . Israel routinely blocks flour convoys, bombs bakeries, and snipers target civilians at food queues, killing 118 in the “Flour Massacre” alone .
II. The Greater Israel Agenda: Ethnic Cleansing via Starvation
Israel’s starvation campaign aligns with a century-old territorial ambition: Eretz Yisrael HaShlema (Greater Israel). Rooted in biblical narratives (Genesis 15:18), this vision seeks dominion from the Nile to the Euphrates-encompassing Gaza, the West Bank, and parts of Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria . Key mechanisms:
= Forced Displacement as Prelude to Annexation: 90% of Gaza’s population is displaced into barren zones like Al-Mawasi. Netanyahu’s cabinet discusses “voluntary emigration,” while settler groups await IDF signals to colonize Gaza .
= Legalizing Erasure: The 2018 Nation-State Law enshrines Jewish settlement as a “national value,” while banning UNRWA to strip Palestinians of refugee status and land rights . Finance Minister Smotrich plans to settle 500,000 Israelis in the West Bank, declaring Palestinians “have no land rights” .
= Cartographic Aggression: In 2025, Israel’s Foreign Ministry published a map of “Greater Israel” including Jordanian, Lebanese, and Syrian territory, sparking regional fury. Saudi Arabia condemned it as “expansionist,” while Qatar called it a “blatant violation of international norms”
III. International Complicity and Resistance
The Muslim World: Rhetoric vs. Action
= Arab states condemned Israel’s map (Jordan: “undermines Palestinian statehood”) but continue normalized trade .
= Critical Leverage: Gulf states could condition oil sales to Israel’s allies on ending the blockade. Saudi Arabia’s proposed aid conference (Cairo, Dec 2025) must link funding to unfettered access .
United Nations: Paralyzed but Potent
= Security Council Failures: Russia and China vetoed a U.S. resolution for a “sustained ceasefire,” calling it a “green light for Rafah invasion”.
= Accountability Tools:
o Enforce the ICJ’s ruling for Israel to halt military operations .
o Suspend Israel’s UNGA voting rights under Resolution 76/7 for blocking aid.
o Investigate starvation as a war crime at the ICC, expanding warrants for Smotrich and Ben-Gvir .
The U.S. and the West: Enablers of Famine
= Military Aid Fuels Starvation: The U.S. provides $8.7 billion/year in military aid including bombs destroying Gaza’s food systems .
= Policy Shift Needed:
o Halt arms transfers per the U.S. Arms Export Control Act (ban on aid to human rights violators).
o Review EU-Israel Association Agreement, as demanded by the Netherlands.
Russia and China: Strategic Counterweights
= Diplomatic Pressure: Both vetoed U.S. resolutions to shield Israel. They must back the E-10 draft resolution by non-permanent SC members demanding an immediate ceasefire.
= Humanitarian Corridors: Use regional influence to establish land routes from Egypt/Jordan, bypassing Israeli inspections.
Global South: Moral Leadership
= South Africa’s ICJ Case: Accuses Israel of genocide via starvation. Requires bolstering with evidence from UNCTAD (Gaza’s economy shrank 81%) .
= India’s Hypocrisy: While receiving Israeli surveillance tech to occupy Kashmir, India voices support for Palestine. Must end security ties with Israel to retain Non-Aligned Movement credibility .
IV. Gaza’s Defiance: “We Dream of Dignity, Not Crumbs”
Amid the ruins, Palestinians forge resistance:
= Community Kitchens: Feeding thousands with lentils foraged under bombardment.
= Graffiti as Testimony: “We don’t want aid and bullets together” scrawled on Rafah’s walls.
= Cultural Resilience: Artists echo Irish punk group Kneecap, rapping: “If we must die, let it be for bread, not silence.”
V. Conclusion: Stopping the Machinery of Erasure
Gaza’s starvation is not a “tragedy”-it is a premeditated war crime clearing land for Greater Israel. To prevent genocide:
1. Impose Sanctions: Global travel bans/freezes on assets of Netanyahu, Gallant, and Smotrich.
2. Enforce Aid: NATO-protected convoys from Egypt, overriding Israeli blockades.
3. Prosecute Starvation: ICC to expand charges to include settler leaders planning Gaza colonization.
“When a loaf of bread costs a bullet, the world’s silence is a death warrant.”
Ghada al-Kafarna, Gaza mother surviving on lentils
The time for symbolic solidarity is over. Gaza needs bullets stopped, not bread dropped.