After the brutal attack on Israel on October 7, lies about Israel that were already circulating before the war intensified, and as the battle continued, new ones emerged. One is that Israel is using famine as a weapon of war. But are people in Gaza suffering from intentional starvation, and if so, is Israel the cause of their lack of water and food? Let’s look at some claims, and then uncover the facts.
Claim #1 – Israel Destroyed Gaza’s Water Infrastructure
Hamas alleges Israel has destroyed Gaza's water infrastructure, which has resulted in limited availability of it—and the water they do have is salty or contaminated.
In reality, a water crisis existed in Gaza before the war started. There are no streams, lakes, or other bodies of water in the Gaza Strip, so its people rely on desalinization plants and Israeli pipelines (which were initially shut down at the onset of the war but quickly restarted and have continued to run since). Hamas claims Israel destroyed its northern pumping facility, but in truth, that pipeline was damaged in the October 7 attack—and Israel made great efforts to make repairs on its side and help the Palestinians fix it on theirs.
Claim #2 – Israel Is Starving Civilians
Palestinians also claim Israel is starving Gazan civilians as a method of warfare by blocking delivery of water, food, and fuel from getting into Gaza and destroying agricultural areas, making it impossible for them to survive. The media has grabbed ahold of this lie and ran with it, convincing the world Israel is using famine as a weapon of war.
But that narrative is also false. A June 2024 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee (FRC) of the Gaza Strip concluded that there is indeed a risk of famine in Gaza if inadequate dietary aid continues. However, in that same report, the IPC FRC determined there isn’t enough reliable information to declare a famine (and the evidence they do have indicates there is not).
The report acknowledged that the amount of food entering Gaza has only increased over the past few months, not decreased, and says that nearly 100 percent of daily caloric requirements were met from March to April of this year. Before the war, 70 trucks carrying food entered Gaza every day, but from the start of the war until late spring 2024, that number increased to an average of 124 per day. The Jerusalem Post reports more than 35,000 aid trucks have entered Gaza since the start of the war. Sadly, much of the aid, including food, piles up for days or weeks on the Gaza side of the border because looting makes distributing it too dangerous.
Though the FRC acknowledges there is a possibility of death by starvation, the reality of determining whether that will actually happen because of the current situation in Gaza is impossible when Hamas fakes death numbers, and water and food availability is increasing.
Furthermore, a June 2024 Jerusalem Post article cites two Columbia University professors, Awi Federguen and Ran Kivetz, whose research and analysis revealed that the people of Gaza are not starving. They say the amount of food being supplied to Gaza is “more than sufficient to feed all 2.2 million Gazans, according to what is considered a normal diet in North America.” Federguen and Kivetz concluded the International Criminal Court (ICC), the United Nations, and Hamas are blaming Israel “for a famine that never was, hoping to stop the war.”
Conclusion
Starving civilians as a weapon of warfare violates International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), it is considered a war crime. But Israel is not intentionally starving Palestinians—rather, the Jewish State has been delivering more food to Gaza than ever before. If the United Nations were distributing it properly and Hamas wasn’t hijacking it, the people in Gaza would have all the food they need. Undoubtedly, people are suffering in Gaza. But there is not a famine—and even if there were, we must place blame where it belongs: on Hamas.
Learn more about the realities of Gaza in the Israel Answers podcast episode Israel's War with Hamas and The 2023 War with Hamas Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
—By Susan Michael, ICEJ USA Director, creator of Israel Answers, the American Christian Leaders for Israel (ACLI) network, and the Out of Zion podcast.