'War-Crime Starvation Strategy': Israel Blocks All Humanitarian Aid into Gaza

𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙖𝙛𝙖𝙝 𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 2, 2025 𝙞𝙣 𝙍𝙖𝙛𝙖𝙝, 𝙀𝙜𝙮𝙥𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙂𝙖𝙯𝙖 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙, 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙄𝙨𝙧𝙖𝙚𝙡𝙞 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝘽𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙣 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙖𝙝𝙪'𝙨 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙃𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙐𝙎-𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙡, 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙎𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙖𝙮. Photo by Ali Moustafa/Getty Images

Israel has reneged on the existing ceasefire agreement they had agreed to with Hamas. The first phase of the ceasefire expired Saturday and Israel announced on Sunday it is halting all humanitarian aid and fuel deliveries to Gaza and closing the border between Israel and Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he made the decision "in full coordination with President Trump and his people."

In a statement Hamas called the suspension of aid a “war crime” and a violation of the ceasefire agreement. It said Netanyahu’s “decision to suspend humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the [ceasefire] agreement”.

Stephen Zunes, the director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of San Francisco, says the US’s apparent proposal favoring Israel follows a well-established pattern seen since the beginning of the war.

“This is typical,” he told Al Jazeera. “Hamas and Israel will agree to something. Then Israel will try to revise it in its favor. Then the US will put forward a new proposal that is in Israel’s favor and then the US will blame Hamas for not accepting that proposal.”

Israel’s decision to block all aid going into the Gaza Strip is a war crime under international law, a human rights expert says.

Kenneth Roth – former head of Human Rights Watch who is now a visiting professor at Princeton University – said Israel as an occupying power has an “absolute duty” to facilitate humanitarian aid under the Geneva Conventions.

“Israel’s latest threat to cut off all aid is a resumption of the war-crime starvation strategy” that led to the arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court, he said.

Doctors Without Borders said Israel's decision is “outrageous and will have devastating consequences”, said the group’s emergency coordinator Caroline Seguin.

“Humanitarian aid should never be used as a tool of war,” added the charity, known by its French acronym MSF, in a statement. “Regardless of negotiations between warring parties, people in Gaza still need an immediate and massive scale-up of humanitarian supplies.”

Jeremy Corbyn, who once led the UK Labour Party, said that Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid was a “resumption of genocide”, before adding that the current British government – led by Labour – was “complicit."

AP reports:

𝗙𝗮𝘆𝘇𝗮 𝗡𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿, 𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗻 𝗝𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘆𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗴𝗲𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽, 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

“𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗼𝘀,” 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱. “𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲.”

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 48,388 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It says more than half of those killed were women and children.

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Tom Fletcher
@UNReliefChief

Israel’s decision to halt aid into Gaza is alarming.

International humanitarian law is clear: We must be allowed access to deliver vital lifesaving aid.

We can’t roll back the progress of the past 42 days. We need to get aid in and the hostages out.

The ceasefire must hold.

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Jeremy Corbyn
@jeremycorbyn

Israel has chosen to mark the first days of Ramadan by blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Still, our government refuses to implement sanctions and defend international law.

There is no other way of putting it: this is a resumption of genocide — and our government is complicit.

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Kenneth Roth
@KenRoth

Israel's new cutoff of humanitarian aid to Gaza as a tactic to pressure Hamas is a resumption of the war-crime starvation strategy that led the International Criminal Court to file charges against Netanyahu and Gallant.

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Doctors w/o Borders
@MSF_USA

Humanitarian aid should never be used as a tool of war.