Israel may face separate case for war crime of starvation in Gaza — experts

While Israel already faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), experts have said the mass starvation it has enforced on millions of Palestinians in Gaza provides grounds for separate legal proceedings against the country and its leaders.

A new report this week by the Famine Review Committee said Gaza is facing "imminent famine," with 1.1 million – or half its population – at “catastrophic levels of hunger and starvation.”

It warned that if Israel keeps up its deadly blockade and actions, the number of Palestinians facing these conditions will nearly double by July.

International law specialist Michael Becker and famine expert Alex De Waal both believe that starvation in Gaza can lead to the prosecution of Israeli individuals at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

As Becker explained, starvation in international armed conflict “can constitute a war crime under Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute,” referring to the founding treaty and legal basis of the ICC.

The provision he mentioned relates to “intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies.”

Starvation also provides “the basis for certain crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute,” he said.

“Importantly, any evidence that Israel has impeded the delivery of humanitarian assistance with the goal of starving the civilian population – for whatever broader purpose – can also give rise to individual criminal liability under the Rome Statute,” Becker said.

“It will not be surprising if allegations of starvation feature prominently in any future action that the ICC prosecutor may take.”

De Waa l shared a similar assessment, saying any ICC action against Israeli individuals can be expected to rely on the enforcement of starvation in Gaza.

“If the ICC does identify individuals in Israel it wants to have arrested for war crimes, it’s quite likely they will be for starvation,” he said.

'No question'

De Waal also referred to the same Rome Statute article and pointed out its three key elements – intent, objects indispensable to survival, and willfully impeding relief supplies.

Regarding Israel’s intent, De Waal said the “majority opinion is they’re just deliberately committing certain acts knowing that starvation will be the outcome.”

“Clearly in a case like Gaza, where there’s been a very clear warning that starvation is going to happen, if you carry on committing these acts, you are then committing an act of starvation,” he asserted.

“The second key point is objects indispensable to survival. That’s not just food, that’s also medicine, water, cooking fuel, shelter … anything that is necessary for survival.”

On relief supplies being blocked, he said there is ample reporting on Israel’s obstruction of humanitarian aid.

“In my view, there’s no question the war crime of starvation has been committed,” said De Waal, the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University in the US.

‘Easiest’ to prove

Ahmed Benchemsi, an official of Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of the many global institutions to condemn Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, concurred with Becker and De Waal’s analysis.

He said Israeli forces are willfully and deliberately impeding humanitarian supplies to Gaza, including the delivery of water, food and fuel, while also “razing agricultural areas.”

“Basically, what they are doing is depriving the civilian population of everything that is indispensable to their survival,” Benchemsi, advocacy and communications director for HRW’s MENA Division, said.

“That is why we are saying that Israel is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in Gaza, and that is a textbook definition of a war crime.”

This is something that is “forbidden explicitly by the international laws of war,” he said.

“So, Israel, by doing this, is committing a war crime of epic proportion against the full population of two million people,” he said.

The ongoing Israeli war on Gaza has now killed nearly 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 74,200, while 85 percent of the population has been displaced.

“Collective punishment, willfully impeding access to lifesaving humanitarian aid, and starvation as a weapon of war. These are three distinct war crimes and Israel is committing all three of them,” he said.