Mass starvation is spreading across the occupied Gaza Strip amidst an unprecedented man-made humanitarian catastrophe as Israel continues to deliberately restrict the entry of supplies critical for the survival of the civilian population. Unarmed volunteers have been blocked or detained by the Israeli navy while carrying out solidarity missions, attempting to deliver food and medical supplies to people in Gaza facing starvation. Sign the petition and urge governments to press Israel to lift its illegal blockade immediately and unconditionally.
What’s the problem?
For 18 years, Israel has imposed an illegal blockade on the occupied Gaza Strip. Since October 2023, it has tightened the blockade, restricting food, fuel, and medical supplies, deepening a humanitarian crisis as part of a calculated plan to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza.
Genocide is a crime and must end now.
Israeli naval forces have intercepted and boarded civilian vessels in international waters that were part of peaceful solidarity initiatives by volunteers carrying humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, where killings, starvation, forcible displacement, and devastation have reached catastrophic levels, especially for children.
Through its suffocating illegal blockade, Israel has consistently and deliberately restricted the entry of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid to the occupied Gaza Strip. Israel’s blockade is a key means through which it is inflicting genocide on Palestinians in Gaza and also amounts a form of collective punishment.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) stated on 29 July that famine thresholds had been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza, concluding that the worst-case scenario for famine is already playing out and the number of people, including children, dying from starvation will continue to increase.
The impact on children, people with disabilities and chronic illnesses, pregnant and breastfeeding women has already been devastating.
These acts are illegal, inhumane, cruel and deadly. More and more people are facing starvation and death as a result of malnutrition.
The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to allow unimpeded flow of aid in January, March and May 2024 to protect Palestinians in Gaza from genocide. Also, as the occupying power, Israel is obligated to ensure the survival and welfare of Gaza’s civilian population, not to strangle it.
This man-made catastrophe is enabled by the longstanding impunity the international community has been granting Israel for decades. The blockade on Gaza is not about security, it is genocidal.
Condemnation is not enough. States must act now to stop Israel’s genocide against Palestinians and facilitate the unhindered entry and distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
