13 April 2025
The Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) urgently draws attention to the deepening famine in the Gaza Strip, a catastrophe deliberately manufactured through the Israeli genocidal war. Since March 2, 2025, the Israeli occupation has prevented entry of all food or humanitarian aid into Gaza. On Monday, April 7, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reaffirmed the Israeli commitment to enforcing famine in Gaza, declaring that “not even a grain of wheat” would be allowed into Gaza. This is not policy failure; this is a calculated campaign of mass starvation.
Today, the people of Gaza are starving by design.
The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) has officially declared Gaza a famine zone, calling on the international community to do the same and urging immediate international intervention. PNGO warns of the catastrophic impact this famine is having – especially on children, women, and the elderly – as the Israeli occupation deliberately denies entry of food, medicine, fuel, and clean water. The Gaza Strip has entered an advanced stage of famine, with 345,000 people in IPC Phase 5 (catastrophe/famine) and 91% of the population facing crisis-level food insecurity or worse. This is a deliberate act of genocide, carried out with impunity and enabled by international silence.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reports that over 60,000 children are at risk of irreversible health complications due to acute malnutrition. Infants under six months lack access to clean water, breastmilk substitutes, and nutritional support, forcing families to resort to unsafe alternatives that heighten the risk of disease and infant death. Humanitarian agencies report that operational capacity for nutrition screening has dropped 30%, with ready-to-use infant formula nearly depleted and only 400 children currently receiving any. At least 15% of nutrition sites have been forced to shut down due to bombardment and displacement.
The Israeli occupation’s total blockade has pushed Gaza’s water access to the brink. Over one million people, including 400,000 children, now survive on just six liters of water per person per day, down from 16 during the supposed ceasefire. If fuel is not immediately restored, that figure could fall to under four liters. Waterborne diseases are already surging, made worse by the collapse of Gaza’s sanitation systems. Two of the three Israeli-run water pipelines into Gaza have been cut, one of them since January. The last remaining functional pipeline supplies only the Khan Younis area, and the Israeli occupation has refused permission to repair the others. The largest desalination plant in southern Gaza has slashed output by 85% due to lack of power.
Hospitals, already overwhelmed with casualties from relentless airstrikes, are now unable to prevent infection due to the total absence of basic hygiene supplies. Over 250 health care facilities are awaiting essential items (including medication, soap, disinfectants, and sterilization materials), all held just outside Gaza’s borders, while patients and health workers are left completely exposed.
Gaza’s agricultural sector has been methodically destroyed. UAWC and our partners in the Food Security Sector have documented the collapse of food production across all sectors, with farmlands bombed, greenhouses flattened, irrigation systems torn apart, herds killed, and fisheries paralyzed. Livestock are dying from untreated infections. Farmers cannot access their land due to constant aerial attacks and unexploded ordnance. Fishing boats lie in ruins, while fishers face assault or arrest if they attempt to reach the sea. The result is a total breakdown of Gaza’s ability to feed itself.
Environmental collapse is compounding the crisis. The Israeli destruction of infrastructure has left Gaza’s soil poisoned, its air polluted, and its waste systems in collapse. With more than 50 million tons of debris and human remains unrecovered, toxic exposure is a daily reality. Olive groves and agricultural fields – many cared for by generations – have been obliterated.
This is not humanitarian collapse; it is structural annihilation. The Israeli occupation continues to wield starvation as a weapon to break the will of Gaza’s besieged population and erase their future. Gaza’s famine is not accidental. This is the product of an intentional Israeli policy of genocide, uplifted and maintained by the United States, Germany, and other co-conspirators. Under Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, “intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” is a war crime.
UAWC affirms that Palestinian food sovereignty is inseparable from the struggle for justice and liberation. We join PNGO in calling on the international community to move beyond expressions of concern and confront the root causes of this famine: Israeli military occupation, settler colonialism, and the ongoing siege. This includes enforcing immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access; lifting the blockade; holding Israel accountable under international law and within the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice; and supporting the rebuilding of Gaza’s food systems under Palestinian leadership.
Let it be clear: this famine is not a crisis of logistics. It is a war crime. And it must end now.