The official declaration of famine in Gaza is a critical signal that demands urgent action—to stop Israel’s genocidal war and hold the Zionist state and its enablers accountable for their war crimes.

It is no surprise that famine is already taking place in Gaza. At least 1.98 million out of the 2.1 million Gaza population are suffering from extreme hunger, 22 months into this brutal occupation. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification projects that by September, three out of every ten will be in catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5) and six out of every ten will be in emergency phase (IPC Phase 4). 

The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) and the Arab Network for Food Sovereignty (ANFS) have been sounding the alarm since the beginning of the offensive. As early as November 2023—one month into Israel’s genocidal war—we launched the Urgent Appeal on the Palestinian Struggle for Liberation and Food Sovereignty, followed by the Urgent Appeal for International Organizations to Exert Pressure to Enter Seeds into Gaza in December 2024. Both these appeals have garnered support from more than 121 organizations worldwide. 

Our Coalition has also issued numerous statements—notwithstanding the observed shadowban of our Palestine content on social media—to call attention to how Israel is weaponizing starvation, among many other violations of international humanitarian law. During the 77th Nakba commemoration last May, we issued a warning about the mass displacement and starvation plan through the setup of only four of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) aid centers in southern Gaza amid full blockade. This, clearly, was a preparation to the recently announced takeover of Gaza City for Israel to fully occupy the Palestinian land.

Needless to say, we are beyond outraged by the announcement. If Israel gets away with this, we fear far worse: the further annexation of the West Bank, heightened spillover attacks in neighboring countries, and the potential annihilation of Gaza’s civilian population.

 

PEAK DEPRAVITY IN GAZA

As we approach the second year of the genocidal war, the degree of Israel’s disregard for human life and international humanitarian law is unprecedented in recent history. 

As it turns out, the US-backed GHF aid sites have become execution grounds for Palestinians. As of July, a staggering 1,373 killings have been documented at these sites, with Israeli forces reportedly killing dozens of aid seekers almost daily. The slow and inefficient delivery of aid, often through dangerous airdrops, also contributes to the inhumane treatment of aid seekers.

The recent double-tap attack that targeted Nasser hospital in Khan Younis was also widely reported, killing 20 people, including medical workers and five journalists. Two strikes in one area—let alone a civilian facility protected under international humanitarian law, in a refugee-populated zone—are no less than a blatant war crime.

For the Israeli Occupation Forces to say that they are not deliberately targeting civilians is a blatant lie. Death toll is rising daily. Conservative figures from the Gaza Health Ministry account for at least 62,895 Palestinians killed since October 2023, including 313 who died from starvation and malnutrition. Approximately 83% of these deaths are civilians, according to Israel’s own military intelligence. 

 

WEST BANK GENOCIDE

Israel has been extending its genocide to the West Bank, and the situation has grown increasingly tense since the war in Gaza began. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported more than 2,370 Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank between January 2024 and the end of July of this year, displacing 40,000 people. At least 671 Palestinians have also been killed. Of the total documented structures demolished, 29% are agricultural and 14% are livelihood-related.

Raids and attacks have become more frequent and violent, especially following the Gaza takeover declaration this month. Israel has approved the long-standing E1 settlement plan, which would build 3,400 housing units for Israeli settlers, displace the resident Bedouin communities, and effectively divide the territory by wedging it between Bethlehem and Ramallah. Israeli forces began uprooting over 3,000 olive trees in al-Mughayyir village days after lockdown, claiming they posed a “security threat” to an illegal Israeli settlement’s main road. They also seized close to half a million US dollars of alleged “terror funds” in the largest-ever raid on foreign currency exchanges, injuring dozens of Palestinians during the operation after shooting live rounds and firing tear gas and rubber-coated bullets.

 

ESCALATING AGGRESSION IN THE ARAB REGION

The Arab region has not been spared from Israel’s escalating military aggression. Israel launched repeated retaliatory strikes on Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, in response to missiles fired by the Houthis—as if neighboring allies of Palestine would brush off its advance to fully occupy Gaza. These strikes have not only caused civilian casualties but have also targeted critical infrastructure, including power facilities and ports, further disrupting the flow of humanitarian aid and exacerbating food insecurity in a country already facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.The Zionist settler state also carried out incursions and airstrikes in Syria, in its capital, Damascus, and along its border with Lebanon as a clear strategy to undermine regional stability.

Despite the November 2024 ceasefire, Israeli attacks have continued in southern Lebanon—in the same way that it violated its ceasefire with Palestine earlier this year. The use of white phosphorus by Israeli airstrikes in 17 municipalities has not only scorched crops but also contaminated the soil and water supplies, rendering the one of the country’s critical agricultural hub’s land unusable for future harvests. The damage covered 68% of agricultural areas, affecting at least 45% of the Lebanese population.

Of course, we cannot discount the Israel-instigated 12-day war with Iran in June. Operation “Rising Lion” targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities and military sites that killed at least 935 Iranians, including senior commanders and nuclear scientists. This series of attacks draws the historical and deliberate strategy of systematic, aggressive destabilization that uses widespread hunger and famine as a tool of conflict and war across the region to deliberately weaken the economic and social fabric of Palestine’s neighboring states–creating a need for dependency for conditional aid.

 

ALL-OUT US BACKING

No matter how the US builds up its humanitarian façade, its actions cannot cover up its complicity in Israel’s famine in Gaza and the genocide of the Palestinian people. 

As mentioned, the Trump administration is the mastermind behind the concentration of Palestinian refugees seeking aid in southern Gaza. It has continued to give its blessing to this aid operation with the recent visit of US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. The US has also blessed the annexation of the West Bank, with House Speaker Mike Johnson—the highest-ranking US official to do so—visiting the illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel that same week.

No wonder it is the only UN Security Council member that abstained from the Council’s condemnation of the famine declaration in Gaza, which is consistent with its vetoes, oppositions, and abstentions to proposed humanitarian pauses, ceasefires, and Palestine’s full UN membership.

This backing expands to Israel’s warmongering in the Arab region. Most notable was the US bombing of Iran’s three nuclear sites two days before the 12-day Israel-Iran war ended. Israel also saw opportunity to continue its attacks in southern Lebanon following US pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah by year-end. 

 

OUR CALLS

The People’s Coalition for Food Sovereignty (PCFS) joins the international community in its unwavering condemnation of Israel and complicit states—most especially the US—for their mounting atrocities against the Palestinian people and in the greater Arab region. Famine is no less than a result of the grotesque weaponization of starvation, a man-made crime that has no place in a modern society and can never be excused. We must recognize that this is a deliberate strategy of genocide.

Decisive action is needed now, beginning with concerted international pressure on Israel to cease all acts that deny Palestinians their fundamental right to food and life. The most immediate step is to urge our respective governments to push Israel to enact a full ceasefire, lift its criminal blockade on Gaza to address the dire famine situation on the ground, and stop its offensives to annex West Bank.

We call out the apparent censorship of Palestinian content, particularly on US-based social media platforms like Meta and X, which mirrors the physical blockade on the ground. Digital suppression and disinformation should be considered complicity in war crimes, especially given the scale of famine and genocide in Palestine.

Let us actively amplify and protect the efforts of Palestinian organizations providing aid on the ground. Their work is the most crucial lifeline for the Palestinian people, and their grassroots efforts are a powerful act of resistance.

We must continue to demand the full accountability of the Zionist state and its imperialist backer. People’s movements across the world should heighten militant actions in resolute solidarity with the Palestinian resistance. Their struggle for liberation from the Zionist occupation is inextricably linked to the fight for people’s food sovereignty—a fight we all share. ###