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INTERNATIONAL PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL ON PALESTINE

Barcelona, Catalonia

THE PEOPLE OF PALESTINE,

Complainant,

-versus-

 

• ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, MEMBERS OF THE ISRAEL SECURITY CABINET, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES,
• UNITED STATES PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN, THE US SECRETARY OF STATE, US SECURITY OFFICIALS,
• UNITED KINGDOM PRIME MINISTER KEIR STARMER AND FORMER PRIME MINISTER RISHI SUNAK,
• GERMAN PRESIDENT FRANK-WELTER STEINMEIER, FORMER CHANCELLOR OLAF SCHOLZ, AND CHANCELLOR JOACHIM-FRIEDRICH MARTIN JOSEF MERZ, and
• FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON AND FORMER PRIME MINISTER GABRIEL ATTAL.

Defendants.

X- – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -X

For:

International Crimes of Genocide, Ecocide, War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity Resulting from Grave Violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law

VERDICT

THE TRIBUNAL, consisting of jurors

• Abdessalam Kleiche, (France)
• Bouchra Khalil, (Lebanon)
• Ceren Uysal, (Turkey) – Presiding Juror
• David Minoves, (Catalonia)
• Iratxe Urizar, (Basque Country)
• Joris Vercamen, (The Netherlands)

and

• Sagari Ramdas, (India)

 

after careful deliberation, delivers the following Verdict:

I. INTRODUCTION – NATURE AND LIMITS OF THIS DECISION

The International People’s Tribunal on Palestine convened in Barcelona, Catalonia, to hear allegations concerning grave violations of international humanitarian law arising in the context of the ongoing genocide, ecocide and acts of starvation on the Palestinian people.

This document represents the Tribunal’s short-form findings, delivered in advance of a longer, fully reasoned judgment to be published in due course.

In preparing this short-form decision, the Tribunal emphasizes that its mandate is the determination of material truth in circumstances where traditional judicial mechanisms have failed to function, or have been structurally prevented from doing so.

As an ad hoc people’s tribunal, this body operates in a long tradition of international civil society initiatives that emerged specifically to address accountability gaps resulting from political paralysis within formal international institutions.

While the charges set out in the Indictment concern acts amounting to Genocide, Ecocide, War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity, the Tribunal recognizes that this short-form decision cannot exhaustively address every factual and legal question raised over the two days of hearings. Rather, it presents the essential findings necessary to frame the forthcoming full judgment and to articulate the Tribunal’s preliminary conclusions.

The Tribunal also acknowledges:

• that official international mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court and relevant United Nations organs, have been hindered by political obstruction, selective enforcement, and structural limitations;
• that such failures have allowed two years of continuous mass violence, streamlined genocide and large-scale environmental destruction to unfold without an effective legal response; and
• that, in this vacuum, the role of an ad hoc people’s tribunal is precisely to establish the record, clarify the applicable legal standards, and articulate accountability where formal systems have been unable or unwilling to do so.

Finally, the Tribunal affirms that its short-form findings rely not only on the evidence presented during the hearings, but also on facts of common knowledge and publicly documented material of high reliability, consistent with international judicial practice in situations involving mass atrocities and widespread destruction.

 II. THE SUMMARY OF INDICTMENT

The Indictment[1], brought by the People of Palestine against Israeli political and military leaders and the heads of several Western states, alleges that Israel, with the indispensable support of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, has committed Genocide and Ecocide through the intentional destruction of the natural environment, the deliberate inducement of famine, and the systematic targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.

The prosecution asserts that these acts—including the devastation of agricultural land, water systems, food production facilities, and natural resources indispensable to life—amount to gross violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, as well as violations of the Genocide Convention, the Rome Statute, and customary international law.

The Indictment further contends that the long-standing military occupation and apartheid system imposed by Israel has been reinforced by the political, military, and economic involvement of its Western allies, thereby creating the conditions for mass starvation, ecocide, enforced displacement, and the destruction of cultural heritage.

It details acts such as the decimation of over 98 percent of Gaza’s agricultural sector, the killing of nearly all livestock, the contamination of soil and water with toxic munitions, the destruction of wells, orchards, agricultural food infrastructure and fishing plans and greenhouses, and the imposition of a total blockade denying food, water, fuel, and medicine.

These acts are alleged to constitute a coordinated campaign to annihilate the Palestinian people by destroying both their means of survival and the ecological foundations of life itself, amounting to genocide, ecocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

III. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Tribunal convened in Barcelona, Catalonia, over two consecutive days (22- 23 November 2025) to hear testimony and receive evidence submitted by the Prosecution. The Tribunal heard thirteen witnesses presenting emblematic cases evidencing the crimes of Genocide and Ecocide, together with three expert witnesses; all sixteen appeared before the Tribunal either in person, via videoconferencing, or by sworn written statements. Their testimonies were supported by documentary materials, satellite imagery, audiovisual evidence, and expert reports.[2]

While the Tribunal acknowledges that this short-form decision cannot reproduce all evidence presented across the two days of hearings, it affirms that the testimony of these sixteen witnesses forms a coherent and mutually reinforcing evidentiary record.

Each witness offered direct insight into crimes alleged in the Indictment, and when read together, their testimonies provide consistent, credible, and corroborated accounts of both the scale of destruction and the nature of the policies underlying it.

IV. THE EVIDENTIARY FRAMEWORK

The Tribunal’s evidentiary assessment is guided by the nature of the crimes alleged—Genocide and Ecocide, including forced starvation and famine —all of which involve large-scale destruction, dispersed forms of violence, and complex interrelated acts extending across vast geographical areas and time periods. In circumstances such as these, perfect or comprehensive documentation is neither possible nor required under international law.

As emphasized by expert /resource person Raji Sourani, the sheer scale of destruction in Gaza renders the full documentation of every incident practically impossible. Entire neighbourhoods, food systems, water infrastructure, and ecological zones were eradicated within days or weeks, leaving behind physical conditions in which evidence is often buried, incinerated, or inaccessible. This challenge is inherent to mass atrocities, and the Tribunal notes that international courts have long relied on partial, reconstructed, or pattern-based evidence where the magnitude of violence precludes exhaustive documentation.

Furthermore, the same expert underscored that the genocide on Gaza was “streamlined,” integrated, and centrally directed—a characterization later reinforced by expert testimony and documentary submissions. Such evidence aligns with indicators of state policy, coordination, and continuity of operations, all of which are relevant to findings of genocide, crimes against humanity, and ecocide.

In assessing the totality of the evidence, the Tribunal adopts the internationally recognized principle that courts may take judicial notice of facts of common knowledge.
This includes:

• widespread and publicly documented destruction visible through open-source satellite imagery,
• casualty figures consistently reported by UN agencies and humanitarian organizations,
• the well-established facts of the blockade, starvation, enforced displacement and denial of humanitarian access,
• and repeated public statements by political and military officials demonstrating awareness, intent, or foreseeability.

The Tribunal’s evidentiary approach therefore integrates:

• the live and written testimony of thirteen witnesses and three experts;
• expert analyses supported by scientific or technical data;
• documentary evidence including reports, photographs, and satellite images;
• and facts widely known and independently corroborated by reliable international human rights organisations and bodies.

Taken together, these sources form a coherent, mutually reinforcing evidentiary matrix, sufficient to support findings on the crimes alleged in the Indictment.

V. COLONIAL FRAMEWORK, APARTHEID, AND INTERNATIONAL COMPLICITY

From the evidence presented and from the historical record widely recognized in authoritative international sources, the Tribunal situates the present crimes within the broader architecture of a settler-colonial project established in Palestine over the past century.

The foundational Zionist narrative—crafted to justify the seizure of land, the dispossession of its inhabitants, and the permanent subjugation of an indigenous people—has consistently served to legitimize policies of demographic engineering, territorial fragmentation, and the erasure of Palestinian identity and history. This narrative is not merely ideological; it has functioned as an operational framework for state practice, shaping decades of systematic violence, displacement, and domination.

The Tribunal therefore takes judicial notice of these historical and structural conditions as forming part of the factual context necessary to understand the crimes alleged in this case.

Together with the historical facts, the evidence before the Tribunal confirm what the International Court of Justice has recently reaffirmed: the Palestinian people have lived for generations under a regime of apartheid, marked by differential legal systems, segregation, movement restrictions, expropriation of land and resources, and the denial of political, civil, and economic rights.

These structures are not incidental. They are the mechanisms through which long-term domination and fragmentation of an entire people have been achieved.
Such systemic domination and racial segregation form the contextual backdrop against which genocidal policies can be planned, implemented, and concealed within the bureaucracy of occupation.

Furthermore, the Tribunal recognizes that the prolonged occupation and violent repression inflicted upon the Palestinian people could not have been sustained without extensive international collaboration, particularly from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France.

For decades—and with renewed intensity in the past two years—these states have supplied critical weapons systems, financial support, and political and diplomatic protection. This assistance has enabled the continuation of military operations, shielded perpetrators from accountability, and neutralized attempts within the United Nations system to halt the violence.

These acts and omissions amount to forms of complicity that materially contributed to creating the conditions in which genocidal and ecocidal practices could occur unchecked.

The Tribunal notes with particular concern that political vetoes, deliberate obstruction, and selective enforcement by imperialist states have rendered key international mechanisms—ICC, UNSC, and other UN bodies—unable to perform their mandates. This systemic paralysis has not only emboldened the perpetrators but also entrenched a global double standard regarding whose lives are protected under international law.

In this context, the crimes alleged in the Indictment did not arise in a vacuum; they emerged from a long-standing matrix of domination, racial segregation, land dispossession, and international endorsement.

The Tribunal therefore recognizes that the genocidal, ecocidal and acts of starvation examined in this decision are inseparable from the broader political, military, and ideological structures that have shaped the lived reality of the Palestinian people for decades.

Accordingly, this contextual background forms an integral part of the Tribunal’s assessment of intent, pattern, and foreseeability in the genocide and ecocide findings that follow.

VI. FINDINGS ON GENOCIDE

1. Applicable Legal Standard

The Tribunal recalls that genocide essentially consists of any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group:

a. killing members of the group;
b. causing serious bodily or mental harm;
c. deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction;
d. imposing measures intended to prevent births;
e. forcibly transferring populations, particularly children.

These acts are covered under Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention and Article 6 of the Rome Statute.

The Tribunal also notes that intent (dolus specialis) may be inferred from patterns of conduct, the scale and systematic character of the attacks, and the foreseeable consequences of state policy.

2. Background Pattern: Systematic and Prolonged Destruction

The evidence presented, together with widely known and independently verified facts, shows that Israel has pursued a long-standing system of racial domination and apartheid over the Palestinian people. This system manifested in segregation, movement restrictions, denial of medical treatment, seizure of land, destruction of civilian property, and the recurring bombardment of Gaza’s civilian population.

This longstanding structure forms the context in which genocidal acts escalated after October 2023, and serves as a material indicator of intent: the destruction of Gaza’s population occurs within a larger state policy aimed at fragmenting, displacing, and erasing the Palestinian people as a coherent group.

3. Killing Members of the Group

Throughout the proceedings, the Tribunal received credible and mutually reinforcing evidence of deliberate, widespread, and systematic killing of Palestinians, including entire families wiped out in single strikes.

A witness testified that:

“People were torn into pieces in the streets; shells rained down on our tents without warning. My son, age 13, was shot in the head. My daughter, age 12, was struck by shrapnel from a guided bomb.”

Another witness reported:

“Three hundred and eighty members of my extended family were killed, and every home and farm belonging to us was destroyed.”

The conduct by the Israeli government has been ongoing since the foundation of the Israeli state and these acts of killing have occurred both in Gaza and the West Bank. In the West Bank over      1,648  people, including 468      kids were      killed between 2005 and 2023^[3]          . In the past two years alone, over 1,000 Palestinians including 213 children have been killed in the West Bank     ^[4].

The Tribunal finds that Israeli forces intentionally targeted civilians in homes, shelters, UNRWA schools, farms, seas, fishing boats, displacement camps, hospitals, aid distribution points and other public spaces. These killings meet Article II(a) of the Genocide Convention.

4. Causing Serious Bodily and Mental Harm

Testimonies described the severe trauma, mutilation, repeated displacement, and psychological terror inflicted on survivors. Women and children were especially harmed through the collapse of medical services, the absence of reproductive care, and the constant exposure to bombardment. Hunger and the lack of food is also causing bodily and mental trauma which results to physiological imbalance.  For children, hunger and starvation stunts mental and physical growth, among others. Starvation also induces infertility in women and impacts the viability of pregnancies.

One witness stated:

“Death, killing, and bombing have continued unabated for two years. There is no safe place in Gaza.”

Another described:

“Hospitals—Al-Shifa, Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital, Kamal Adwan—were targeted, leaving the wounded without treatment and mothers giving birth in life-threatening conditions.”

Gaza now has the highest per-capita rate of child amputees in the world, with estimates reaching up to 4,000 children^[5], with many undergoing surgeries with no anaesthesia. This builds on the epidemic of traumatic injuries that was prevalent in Gaza pre-genocide, where one in five families had at least one person with disabilities^[6].

In the West Bank, Palestinians have also faced escalating bodily and mental harm through intensified arrests, settler violence, destruction of livelihoods, and restriction of movement. Since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been detained in Israeli prisons^[7]. As of September 2025, The Israeli government has also arbitrarily detained and imprisoned over 11,100           people^[8]      . Palestinians have been subject to rape, torture and extremely cruel circumstances while under Israeli custody. As of today’s date, over 3,577      Palestinians remain in Israeli prisons,            they are being held under “administrative detention” meaning without any charge     , and there are many reports on the severe bodily and mental harm of the prison population as well as the population as a whole as a result of this culture.

These testimonies and the supportive evidence satisfy Article II(b)of the 1948 Genocide Convention

5. Deliberately Inflicting Conditions of Life Calculated to Bring About Destruction

The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that Israel imposed conditions of life incompatible with survival, including:

• total electricity shutdown;
• destruction of energy infrastructure, water plants, wells, desalination facilities; and sewage treatment systems
• destruction of agricultural, animal and poultry sectors, industrial, and fishery sectors;
• systematic obstruction of food, fuel, medicine, and baby formula;
• denial of humanitarian access;
• bombardment of hospitals, schools, universities, churches, mosques, shelters, camps, and remaining habitable areas; and
• Increased risk of epidemics.

A witness described:

“Since October 7th, electricity has been completely cut off. Water no longer reaches buildings, sewage cannot be disposed of, and all aspects of life have stopped.”

A human rights lawyer testified:

“Food, medicine, water, and fuel were deliberately blocked; aid workers and humanitarian convoys were targeted as part of a systematic starvation policy.”

The Flotilla witness confirmed the intentional nature of the starvation:

“We were intercepted at night before reaching Palestinian waters. Equipment was destroyed, communication cut, volunteers assaulted. The aid did not reach Gaza. The blockade and starvation continued.”

The Tribunal concludes that these measures constitute deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the Palestinian people, in whole or in part, under Article II(c).

6. Intent to Destroy (Dolus Specialis)

Intent can be inferred where the pattern of conduct is:

• systematic,
• targeted against the group as such,
• foreseeably lethal, and
• implemented through state policy.

The Tribunal finds, among other things, that:

• The scale of killing, multiple forced displacement, and destruction was not incidental but planned and coordinated, as evidenced by the encirclement of civilian populations, repeated attacks on evacuation sites, and elimination of survival infrastructure.
• Starvation, siege, and deprivation were not military necessities but deliberate policy choices.
• The repeated targeting of journalists, humanitarian workers, and civil institutions indicates a parallel intent:
  to silence witnesses, erase evidence, and ensure that the destruction remains unrecorded.
• The destruction of homes, schools, archives, inherited properties, family farms, and community institutions reveals an intent not only to kill Palestinians, but to erase their lineage, identity, and memory.

One witness summarized this reality:

“They destroyed our history and memories. Everything our family built was erased.”

This constellation of acts and patterns demonstrates—beyond any reasonable doubt—that the intent to destroy the Palestinian people, in whole or in substantial part, is present.

7. Conclusion on Genocide

Applying the definition of genocide to the established facts, the Tribunal finds that the Defendants committed genocide against the Palestinian people through, among others:

• killing members of the group;
• causing serious bodily and mental harm;
• inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about their destruction;
• preventing births by collapsing healthcare and reproductive services.

The Tribunal therefore holds the Defendants guilty of the crime of genocide under Article II of the Genocide Convention and Article 6 of the Rome Statute.

VII. FINDINGS ON ECOCIDE  

1. Legal Approach: Ecocide vs. Environmental Damage

The Tribunal distinguishes between ordinary environmental damage—even when severe—and Ecocide, which consists of widespread, long-term, and severe destruction of the environment, carried out with knowledge that such destruction will render life impossible for the affected civilian population. Ecocide does not require proof of a separate intention to harm nature for its own sake. As expert witness Dr. Omar Nashabe testified: “Intent does not require wishing for environmental harm, only knowing it would occur, and proceeding anyway.”

In this sense, Ecocide is both a stand-alone wrong and a method that amplifies genocide: destroying the environment destroys human life by eliminating the material conditions required for survival.

2. Widespread, Long-Term, and Severe Damage

The evidence demonstrates that Gaza has undergone environmental devastation on a scale unprecedented in contemporary conflicts.

The Tribunal finds that Israel systematically destroyed the ecological foundations of Palestinian life including:      water systems,      biodiversity (flora and fauna) of land and sea ,and the coasts     .

i. Destruction of water systems and soil

The Tribunal heard testimony of how the use of toxic herbicides and industrial pollution dumped in areas across the West Bank and on the periphery of Gaza for many years has leaked toxins into the soil. Moreover, toxins leaked into the soil in both Gaza from exploded and unexploded ordnances, including radioactive materials and white phosphorus^[9] (the use of which is unlawful in populated areas^[10]) from routine bombing campaigns, impact humans^[11] as well as the environment and will continue to do so for generations to come. Israel’s land and air attacks have also damaged and/or destroyed numerous solar panels and other industrial objects; after October 7, 2023, more than 70% of sewage pumps and all five wastewater treatment plants have been directly targeted or collapsed. Untreated sewage – over 120,000 m³ per day – flows directly into soil and the sea, compounding the disastrous public health and sanitation situation (including, without limitation, the health of marine life and the soil) for generations to come. The bombing also created approximately 61 million tonnes of rubble now covering Gaza, an estimated 15% contaminated with toxic materials such as asbestos and heavy metals. Out of necessity and lack of alternatives, approximately 225 makeshift waste disposal sites have been created across Gaza, destroying local ecosystems and also leading to the proliferation of rodents, disease and insects.^[12] Witness M.M described the scale succinctly:

“One hundred thousand tons of explosives—equivalent to nine nuclear bombs—were dropped on Gaza. Every environmental sector was shattered.”

Moreover, the Israeli military destroyed soil integrity with use of military vehicles and attempted to flood hundreds of miles of tunnels underneath Gaza after October 7, 2023 with seawater and hazardous compounds, which could contaminate the groundwater underneath and have long term disastrous impacts on the soil. All of these render the land “unlivable” by preventing plants from growing and destroying the biodiversity, potentially leading to permanent desertification,  and moreover rendering any crops that can grow toxic and unfit for human and animal consumption.

These actions are mirrored in the West Bank – over 13,000 structures have been destroyed since 2009 (more than 1,750 in 2025) and over 100 related water structures have been destroyed since 2023.

ii. Destruction of biodiversity and ecosystems

Israeli attacks in Gaza post October 7 are responsible for the destruction of more than 95% of shrubland and 97% of all trees in Gaza (including fruit bearing trees).^[13] In addition to feeding humans, trees are integral for a healthy environment, including rich biodiversity because they serve as habitats for other plants and animals, prevent desertification, and purify the air. Coupled with the amount of dust, debris and chemical releases from explosions as well as fires burned due to the lack of access to adequate fuel sources, the air quality in Gaza is likely to have been severely lowered, impacting human health and the health of the environment.^[14]

The Wadi Gaza wetlands in southern Gaza were the only source of freshwater in Gaza and also an important refuge for migratory birds and other wildlife, serving as an important stopover for species between Africa, Europe and Asia.^[15] The Israeli government dammed this area before October 7, restricting the flow of water; despite this, there was extensive effort to conserve the area and maintain its rich biodiversity.^[16] Because of Israeli attacks and the displacement of Palestinians leading to improper waste disposal, it was estimated that 50% of the ecosystem there was destroyed as of June 2024.^[17]

The Mawasi, a narrow strip of sand dunes, was also rich in wildlife before October 7. Palestinians were displaced to this area by orders of the Israeli military and the area was subsequently targeted by Israeli bombs; satellite imagery shows a total loss of trees in the area, which were replaced by craters from bombardments.^[18]

Satellite images presented by Dr. Nashabe showed that neighborhoods historically defined by vegetation—such as Beit Hanoon and Al-Zeyroon—are now barren wastelands.

In the West Bank , the routine burning and theft of trees has led to loss of livelihood for the communities inhabiting these areas as well as destruction of biodiversity and soil degradation. Moreover, the diversion of water, over 80% of water in the West Bank, means that there is not enough water to sustain life for the communities and can potentially lead to desertification, impacting generations to come.

3. Destruction of Regional and Global Environment

In addition to the catastrophic impact on the ground in Palestine, Israeli actions have disastrous impacts on the regional environment as well as globally. By the direct and indirect impacts of its catastrophic bombing campaigns (including destroying Gaza’s wastewater treatment plants, and the proliferation of inadequately treated sewage and improper waste disposal exacerbated by the forced displacement of people, as well as contaminating the land and sea with toxins from the bombs themselves), Israel has threatened the local environment as well as Mediterranean marine environment and coastal region, violating its obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity and Barcelona Convention.^[19] Moreover, the leaking of transboundary hazardous wastes runs counter to the protections afforded in the Basel Convention; albeit it has a carve out for leaks during hostilities and war, the prohibitions indicate the inconsistencies with international law and that Israel should be held responsible for the consequences.

Moreover, Israel has violated its obligations to lower its carbon footprint pursuant to the Paris Agreement. The carbon emissions just from the bombing campaign in the first 60 days after October 7, 2023 alone was close to 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide and equal to the annual emissions of between 20 and 33 low-emitting countries.^[20] This estimate does not even include the cost of extracting the fuel required for Israeli military attacks nor emissions from the supply chain outside of weapons transportation – if they were, the true estimate of carbon emissions would be five to eight times larger than the 300,000 tons estimated.^[21] Moreover the removal of the 40 million tons^[22] of rubble containing human remains, asbestos and other hazardous materials, and unexploded ordnances, let alone rebuilding Gaza, will require even more carbon emissions. It is estimated that reconstructing Gaza will generate nearly 60 million tons of carbon dioxide, which would make it higher than the annual emissions of over 135 countries (if done in one year) ^[23] This highlights how destructive Israel is, not just against Palestine but against the whole world, and, therefore is leading to world destruction.

4. Knowledge and Intent

Intent for ecocide may be inferred from:

• the foreseeability of catastrophic environmental collapse;
• the systematic nature of the destruction;
• public declarations by Israeli officials expressing intent to deprive Gaza of food, water, and fuel;
• the persistence of such destruction over two years;
• the targeting of ecosystems essential for human survival.

Statements by senior Israeli officials show not only political authorization but intent to employ environmental destruction as a tool of war. On 12 October 2023, Israeli army reservist Major General, former head of the Israeli National Security Council, and adviser to the Defence Minister said “Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist.” and “[C]reate such a huge pressure on Gaza, that Gaza will become an area where people cannot live. People cannot live, until Hamas is destroyed, which means that Israel not only stops to supply energy, diesel, water, food . . . as we did in the last 20 years . . . but we should prevent any possible assistance by others, and to create in Gaza such a terrible, unbearable situation, that can last weeks and months”.  On 28 October 2023, Lieutenant Colonel Gilad Kinan, head of the Israeli army’s Air Operations Group, described the Air Force as “work[ing] together with all the bodies in the IDF when the goal is clear — to destroy everything that has been touched by the hand of Hamas”. On 4 November 2023 Colonel Erez Eshel (Reserve), commented that: “Vengeance is a great value. There is vengeance over what they did to us . . . This place will be a fallow land. They will not be able to live here”.

These policies were carried out with full awareness that the result would be widespread, long-term and extensive damage to the environment      and the long-term uninhabitability of Gaza.

As expert M.M stated:

“The objective is to make Gaza uninhabitable for humans from an environmental standpoint.”

The Tribunal finds that the environmental destruction was not a side effect of military operations, but part of a coordinated strategy to collapse Gaza’s life-supporting systems.

5. Ecocide as War Crime, Crime Against Humanity, and a Stand-Alone Wrong

Under Article 35(3) and Article 55 of Additional Protocol I of the Fourth Geneva Convention, methods of warfare causing widespread, long-term, and severe environmental damage are prohibited. The Rome Statute criminalizes attacks causing excessive damage to the natural environment in relation to anticipated military advantage.

However, the scale of destruction in Gaza exceeds even these thresholds. The devastation is: widespread (covering the entirety of Gaza’s ecosystem), long-term (projected to last decades or generations), and severe (obliterating agriculture, water systems, soil, biodiversity, and air quality).

Moreover, evidence shows that environmental destruction was predictable, intentional, and strategically used to inflict conditions of life incompatible with survival. This elevates the conduct from environmental war damage to Ecocide—a crime the Tribunal recognizes as part of evolving international law and as an aggravating component of crimes against humanity.

6. Conclusion on Ecocide

On the basis of extensive expert testimony, satellite evidence, witness accounts, UN reports, and scientific analyses, the Tribunal finds that:

• Israeli forces caused widespread, long-term, and severe environmental destruction in Gaza;
• This destruction was deliberate or carried out with knowledge of its inevitable consequences;
• The ecological devastation was used as a method to starve, displace, and ultimately destroy the Palestinian people;
• Gaza has been rendered, in the words of one witness, “an environment no longer suitable for human life.”

The Tribunal therefore holds the Defendants guilty of Ecocide, amounting to War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and a stand-alone crime of exceptional gravity.

VIII. FINDINGS ON STARVATION

1. Legal Approach

Under the Rome Statute, it is a war crime to intentionally use starvation of civilians as a method of warfare whether depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival or by wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions. Scholars argue that depending on the severity of the starvation conditions, this could be heightened to a crime against humanity or even genocide.^[24] In enabled defiance of IHL and international customary law , the occupation has been enabled to curate  “the fastest starvation campaign documented in modern history”^[25] through its longstanding use of weaponization of starvation as a means of accelerating and finalising the Israeli settler colonial project of erasing and replacing the indigenous Palestinian population. Accordingly, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declaration of an entirely man-made famine that took hold in Gaza in August 2025, having killed 459, including 154 children, by October 2025^[26], must be approached in relation to this trajectory.

2. Deprivation of Objects Indispensable to Survival

The Tribunal finds substantial and consistent evidence that the Palestinian people have been systematically deprived of objects indispensable to their survival.

Historical records show that tactics has been extensively recorded under the British Mandate as a means of collective torture, siege of villages and starvation deployed as torture tactic^[27]. These same tactics of siege were intensified during the Nakba, where death squads systematically  destroyed and pillaged Palestinian agro-ecosystems.

In 2007, the Israeli occupation imposed a blockade on Gaza restricting many types of imports into Gaza, preventing access to land and sea, and attacking Gaza’s water and food production infrastructure. The restriction of objects was dictated by the “Red Lines” document devised by the Israeli government which calculated the minimum caloric intake needed to keep food levels for Gazans just above starvation^[28].

Fishing access has also been arbitrarily restricted, from 15 nautical miles, to 6, to full maritime closure^[29]. A fisherman testified: “The sea has been closed to us for over two years. Ninety-five percent of boats were destroyed. Workshops, engines, fish markets—everything. We lost 230 fishermen, including 65 killed while trying to feed their families.”

This was not incidental damage. Fishing is the second most vital productive sector in Gaza, supporting 60,000 people. Its elimination aligns with a policy of enforced starvation.

Similarly, orchards, olive groves, greenhouses, citrus trees, irrigation systems, and wells have been systematically crushed.

Some highlights from Gaza since October 7 are below:

• Over 97% of trees have been destroyed, many of which were fruit bearing trees.^[30]
• At least 98.5% of cropland is either damaged, inaccessible or both. Over 70% of crops have been destroyed and of the farmlands that have not been totally destroyed.^[31] Many are inaccessible by threat of gunfire and expanding buffer zones.
• As of April 2025, 83% of agricultural water wells^[32] and 85% of greenhouses have been damaged or destroyed. ^[33]
• Over 80% of Gaza’s fishing sector assets have been destroyed.^[34]
• While the livestock industry constituted 46% of Gaza’s net agricultural output prior to October 2023^[35] livestock numbers have been severely diminished such that 97% of Gaza’s animal wealth was destroyed^[36]. Since Israel’s total blockade on humanitarian and commercial inputs was reinstated in March 2025, this has resulted in the further deaths of an estimated 20 to 30% of remaining livestock.^[37]

3. Willfully Impeding Relief supplies

The siege tactics that have been honed by the occupation over the duration of its settler colonial regime have been deployed to accelerate starvation in Gaza. Following the reinstatement of the occupation’s total aid blockade in March 2025, the man-made famine in Gaza intensified rapidly. In the first two weeks of August 2025, 61% of pregnant women and new mothers were malnourished—nearly seven times the rate recorded in the first two weeks of March. Moreover, the risk of death for children from acute malnutrition in August 2025 more than doubled since May of the same year^[38].

The occupation’s intentional deprivation of resources essential to civilian survival is structured to inflict both immediate starvation and long-term impediments to recovery. This includes the denial of fodder, seeds, agricultural inputs, and infant formula, frequently justified under legally questionable ‘dual-use’ classifications^[39]. As chronic malnutrition among children not only increases their immediate susceptibility to famine-related mortality, but also inflicts long-term developmental and health impairments, this clearly indicates the occupation’s intent to maximise the intergenerational impact of starvation.

The impediment of aid supplies is further operationalised through the direct targeting and bombing of aid workers. As of October 2025, the UN estimates that Israel has killed at least 562 aid workers and arbitrarily detained over 300 workers^[40], the most publicized being the killing of seven Word Food Kitchen workers in three different targeted attacks all on April 1, 2024. There is evidence that aid workers and aid agencies locations have been systematically targeted despite their convoys being marked^[41] and aid agencies giving the Israeli military their exact coordinates.^[42] There have also have been multiple accounts of such attacks at distribution sites and at the so-called ‘humanitarian corridors’ all across Gaza.^[43] Such attacks have led to halting humanitarian aid distributions^[44], as well as instilling fear and chaos^[45] and exacerbating famine conditions.

4. The Militarisation of Food Aid – Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and US Plan

Since the establishment of the US-Israeli administered Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in 2025, the occupation shifted from depriving objects indispensable to the survival of civilian populations, to directly weaponising them as a means of containing, massacring and forcibly displacing Palestinians.

An estimated 3000 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid,^[46] with near daily massacres recorded at GHF sites between May and July 2025^[47]. The architecture of GHF sites indicates the deliberate weaponisation of aid and the desperation of Palestinians enduring a starvation campaign, to enforce displacement. Namely, the majority of GHF sites were located in the South of Gaza, with opening times reduced to only 10 minutes by August 2025^[48]. The sites functioned as a vector of forced displacement to the South, where Palestinian aid seekers had no choice but to traverse long and highly militarised territories to access often rotting and deficient food supplies^[49].  Accordingly, over 80% of households reported safety risks while looking for food in August 2025, more than doubling since March. ^[50]

While the GHF sites are said to have been dismantled with the US-led “20 Point Peace Plan” that has now been endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, the weaponization of aid continues to be legitimised^[51]. Specially, Point 17 of the Plan stipulates that, “In the event Hamas delays or rejects this proposal, the above, including the scaled-up aid operation, will proceed in the terror-free areas handed over from the IDF to the ISF.” As the determination of what constitutes a “terror-free” zone occurs on the terms of the occupation and international bodies operationalising “peace”, the occupation can operate in flagrant breach of the prohibition of starvation and protract the conditions of its “slow genocide” of Palestinians.

5. Intent

The Israeli strategy “to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger”, was articulated by Dov Weisglass in 2006, then senior advisor to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert^[52]. More recently, as part of the package of evidence submitted to the ICJ in its Case on the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa vs. Israel), South Africa documented over 10 pages of expressions of genocidal intent by Israeli officials and others. Many directly relate to the starvation of the civilian population in Gaza.^[53] Even after a ceasefire was agreed to in early 2025, Prime Minister Netenyahu’s office announced that “all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will cease” until Hamas accepted new terms for a ceasefire. In addition to the calls for collective punishment, these statements clearly call for deprivation of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population.

Moreover, Israeli conduct depriving the civilian population of objects indispensible to their survival satisfies the consequence test for intent to commit starvation because of the knowledge that such deprivation would leave civilians in a state of starvation.^[54] Even disregarding their statements of intent to starve the civilian population, there is no way that Israel can claim it had no knowledge. international organizations, states, and non-governmental organizations alike have all warned of the widespread starvation and looming famine across Gaza. For example, even after receiving a letter from the U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense in October 2024 demanding progress on concrete measures to reverse the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza, Israel further escalated its attacks and curtailed even more aid from entering Gaza.^[55]

6. Conclusion on Starvation

On the basis of historical documentative, expert and witness testimony, UN nutritional and agricultural reports, the Tribunal finds that, among others:

• Israeli occupation has systematically deprived the Palestinian people of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, agricultural resources, medical supplies, and means of livelihood;
• Such deprivation has been deliberate, structured, and sustained, implemented through policies of siege, blockade, destruction of food and agro-ecosystems, and the obstruction of humanitarian relief;

The Tribunal therefore holds the Defendants guilty of Starvation as a Method of Warfare, constituting a War Crime and a Crime Against Humanity as part of a broader strategy of domination, displacement, and destruction of the Palestinian people.

IX. RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPLICITY OF THE DEFENDANTS

1. Israel as the Principal Perpetrator

The Tribunal finds that the State of Israel—through its Prime Minister, Security Cabinet, and the upper command of the Israeli Defense Forces—is the principal perpetrator of the genocide, ecocide and forced starvation established in these proceedings. The mass killings, deliberate starvation, systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure, environmental devastation, and the targeting of hospitals, shelters, schools, and places of refuge were carried out as a matter of state policy and with full knowledge of their lethal consequences. Israeli leadership therefore bears direct and primary responsibility for the crimes adjudicated.

2. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany

The Tribunal further finds that the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, among others, played an indispensable role in enabling and sustaining the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people.

Their contribution is reflected in:

• supplying the weapons, munitions, and equipment used throughout the assault;
• providing intelligence, logistical support, and financial aid;
• offering political and diplomatic protection, including shielding Israel from accountability mechanisms;
• obstructing ceasefire efforts and blocking humanitarian access; and
• normalizing mass atrocities through selective application of international law.

This degree of support constitutes indispensable cooperation. In the words that capture the reality before the Tribunal: These states stocked Israel’s armory, filled its war chest, and shielded it from accountability, making possible the destruction of Gaza and the massacre of its people. Their responsibility is therefore one of complicity—not primary perpetration but aiding, abetting, and enabling the crimes found in this Verdict.

3. Awareness of Wider Responsibility Beyond the Indictment

Evidence presented to the Tribunal shows that the network of actors contributing to the crimes in Gaza extends beyond the Defendants named in the Indictment. Testimony and documentation revealed additional states, corporate suppliers, and institutional actors whose assistance, political cover, or enforcement of the blockade played a role in sustaining the atrocities. The Tribunal acknowledges this broader landscape of responsibility. However, consistent with its mandate, its formal judgment is confined to the individuals and states specifically charged before it.

4. Final Determination on Responsibility

Accordingly, the Tribunal concludes that:

• Israel bears primary and direct responsibility for genocide, ecocide and forced starvation;
• The United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, among others, bear complicity responsibility, having provided indispensable cooperation that materially enabled and politically protected the commission of these crimes; and
• Their actions and omissions substantially contributed to the continuation, escalation, and impunity of the genocidal and ecocidal campaign.

The Defendants named in the Indictment are therefore  GUILTY, individually and collectively, in accordance with the charges brought before this Tribunal.

IX. CONCLUSION AND CALLS TO ACTION

After reviewing the totality of the evidence, the Tribunal finds that the crimes committed against the Palestinian people are not isolated acts, nor are they the product of the fog of war. They are the result of deliberate policy, executed over years and intensified into a genocidal and ecocidal campaign unprecedented in scale and severity.

The Tribunal is acutely aware that even the most comprehensive judgment cannot encompass the magnitude of what has been inflicted. As one witness said:

“They destroyed our history and memories. Everything our family built was erased.”

The Tribunal also recognizes that truth itself has been a battlefield. Witnesses, journalists, and human rights organizations—those who documented the crimes adjudicated here—have been killed, censored, deported, or sanctioned. The Tribunal takes notice that several of the very institutions whose reports were relied upon in these proceedings have been placed on sanctions lists, a political act aimed not at legality but at erasing the documentation of atrocity.

This Tribunal rejects such attempts at silencing. It affirms that the recording of truth is an act of resistance, and that its own work forms part of the collective memory that aggressors have sought to obliterate. In this sense, the jury members understand their duty not only as one of legal determination, but of preserving the historical record where others have attempted to bury it.

This Tribunal is not oblivious to the paradox in advocating international law while detailing the countless injustices visited upon the Palestinian people. The Verdict names a handful of individuals and governments, doubtless, the ones most responsible for these crimes. But it is, nevertheless, a judgment of the entire world. To state that international law is rendered meaningless when applied selectively is an understatement.

We cannot celebrate human rights while bombs continue to fall on Gaza. We cannot speak sincerely of the right to self-determination even as Palestinians are denied the chance to chart their own destiny.

And we cannot lay claim to universal values while watching Palestinian children die before they even have the chance to truly live.

Palestine is a true test of our humanity, and our actions now would demonstrate to future generations whether or not we have abandoned it.

And it is for this very reason that this judgment stands—where others have stepped back, it steps forward.

Calls to Action

In light of its findings, the Tribunal calls upon states, institutions, and peoples of the world to, among others:

(1) End the assault and siege on Gaza immediately. Ensure the unimpeded entry of food, water, fuel, medicine, and humanitarian aid; open all crossings; dismantle all barriers preventing survival.

(2) Hold to full account the defendants and all other actors that are complicit in the genocide, ecocide, acts of forced starvation, and the destruction of everything (“metacide”) against the Palestinian People.

(3) Implement and cooperate with arrest warrants and judicial measures relating to genocide, ecocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity—including those against the named Defendants.

(4) Rescind all international resolutions and measures that are contrary to the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, to peace and to development.

(5) Oppose the targeting, censorship, sanctioning, or criminalization of journalists, human rights organizations, and international monitors. Their work is essential to truth, memory, and future accountability.

(6) Call upon scientists and ecologists to support the Palestinian people in their efforts to restore, rehabilitate, reconstruct their territory and natural resources.

(7) End all military, financial, technological, and diplomatic support to the Israeli government until the genocide and ecocide cease and full accountability processes are initiated.

(8) Uphold the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the  right to resist against genocide, ecocide, illegal occupation, apartheid, and acts of aggression.

(9) Ensure the Right of the Palestinian People to return and for the restitution, rehabilitation and rebuilding of their destroyed property and land, and the enjoyment of permanent sovereignty over their natural and environmental resources.

(10) Mobilize civil society, unions, institutions, and peoples worldwide to resist genocide, ecocide and “metacide”, and to act where states have failed.

(11) Call the international community to fight the discriminatory nature and use of  international law against the Palestinian people and campaign for new instruments or mechanisms consistent with the fundamental and basic rights of peoples.

As one witness reminded this Tribunal with painful clarity:

“There is no safe place in Gaza.”

The Tribunal affirms:
It is the responsibility of the world to ensure that safety is not a privilege reserved for some peoples, but a right guaranteed for all. #

23 November 2025, Barcelona, Catalonia

PANEL OF JURORS

 

Ceren Uysal (Turkey)

Presiding Juror

 

Abdessalam Kleiche (France)                                                          Bouchra Khalil (Lebanon)

 

David Minoves (Catalonia)                                                             Iratxe Urizar (Basque Country)

 

Joris Vercamen (The Netherlands)                                                 Sagari Ramdas (India)

__

[1] A copy of the full Indictment dated 8 November 2025 is attached for reference.

[2] A copy of the Rules of Procedure of the Tribunal dated 7 October 2025 is attached  for reference.

[3] UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Humanitarian Snapshot: West Bank 2005–2023 (Feb. 6, 2020), UN OCHA-OPT, https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-snapshot-west-bank-2005-2023

[4] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Press Release: 1,001 Palestinians killed in West Bank since 7 October 2023 — one in five are children (Oct. 17, 2025), UN, https://www.un.org/unispal/document/ohchr-press-release-17oct25/

[5] United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Gaza Now Home to the Highest Number of Child Amputees Per Capita (2025), UNRWA, https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/unrwa-commissioner-general-gaza-gaza-now-home-highest-number-child

[6] Rana Mousa, Israeli War Causes ‘Pandemic of Disabilities,’ Highest Number of Child Amputees in Gaza: UNRWA Chief (Feb. 12, 2024), Anadolu Agency, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israeli-war-causes-pandemic-of-disabilities-highest-number-of-child-amputees-in-gaza-unrwa-chief/3412476

[7] Addameer, General Briefing: Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israeli Prisons (Dec. 1, 2013), Addameer Prisoner Support & Human Rights Ass’n, https://addameer.ps/advocacy/briefings_papers/general-briefing-palestinian-political-prisoners-israeli-prisons-0

[8] Commission of Detainees Affairs, Update on the Number of Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israeli Occupation Prisons as of the Beginning of September 2025 (Sept. 2025), Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs, https://www.cda.gov.ps/index.php/en/51-slider-en/21103-update-on-the-number-of-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-israeli-occupation-prisons-as-of-the-beginning-of-september-2025

[9] See Israel: White Phosphorous Used in Gaza, Lebanon, Human Rights Watch October 12, 2023, https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/12/israel-white-phosphorus-used-gaza-lebanon

[10] The use of white phosphorous is governed by Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons and should not be used in areas where there are “concentrations of civilians”. See Lebanon: Evidence of Israel’s unlawful use of white phosphorous in southern Lebanon as cross-border hostilities escalate, Amnesty International, October 31, 2023, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/lebanon-evidence-of-israels-unlawful-use-of-white-phosphorus-in-southern-lebanon-as-cross-border-hostilities-escalate/

[11] See, for example, Paola Manduca et al, Specific Association of Teratogen and Toxicant Metals in Hair of Newborns with Congenital Birth Defects or Developmentally Premature Birth in a Cohort of Couples with Documented Parental Exposure to Military Attacks: Observational Study at Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza, Palestine, 11 Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 5 (2014), https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/5/5208.

[12] War and Garbage in Gaza: The public health and environmental crisis from widespread solid waste pollution, PAX, July 18, 2024, https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/war-and-garbage-gaza-public-health-and-environmental-crisis-widespread-solid-waste-pollution

[13] Many of the trees were directly attacked by Israeli fire; additionally, because of restrictions on fuel from entering into Gaza, the population was forced to cut down additional trees for heating and cooking. See Pearce, supra note 18.

[14] See UNEP Report, supra note 13.

[15] Pearce, supra note 18,

[16] See for example, UNESCO, supra note 21.

[17] See, Pearce, supra note 18 and UNEP Report, supra note 13.

[18] See Pearce, supra note 18.

[19]Ohio sec, 1102 U.N.T.S. 27 (1978) (also known as the Barcelona Convention).

[20] Nina Lakhani, Emissions from Israel’s war in Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe, The Guardian, Jan. 9, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/emissions-gaza-israel-hamas-war-climate-change; Malm, supra note 1.

[21]David Klein, Genocide Fuels Climate Crisis. The Fate of Palestine Shapes Our Climate Future, Truthout, May 9, 2024 https://truthout.org/articles/genocide-fuels-climate-crisis-the-fate-of-palestine-shapes-our-climate-future/

[22] Pearce, supra note 18.

[23] Neimark, Benjamin and Otu-Larbi, Frederick and Bigger, Patrick and Cottrell, Linsey and Larbi, Reuben, A Multitemporal Snapshot of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Israel-Gaza Conflict [updated pre-print] (June 06, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4855947 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4855947

[24] Tom Dannenbaum, Siege Starvation: A War Crime of Societal Torture, 22 Chicago J. of Int’l Law 2 368 (2022); Manuel Ventura, Prosecuting Starvation under International Criminal Law: Exploring the Legal Possibilities (2019), 17(4) J. of Int’l Crim. Just. 781-814

[25]  Briefing by Mr. Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food at the 421st Meeting of the UN Palestinian Rights Committee, UNITED NATIONS (Feb. 5, 2025), https://www.un.org/unispal/document/special-rapporteur-on-the-right-to-food-briefing-5feb2025/; See also Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri, Starvation and the right to food, with an emphasis on the Palestinian people’s food sovereignty, A/79/171, July 17, 2024, https://docs.un.org/en/A/79/171




[26] https://petra.gov.jo/Include/InnerPage.jsp?ID=76546&lang=en&name=en_news

[27] Hughes, M. (2010). From Law and Order to Pacification: Britain’s Suppression of the Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936–39. Journal of Palestine Studies, 39(2), 6–22. https://doi.org/10.1525/jps.2010.xxxix.2.17

[28] The Gaza diet: How Israel's calorie control left Palestinians food-insecure, The New Arab, Sept 10, 2018, https://www.newarab.com/opinion/gaza-diet-how-israels-calorie-control-left-palestinians-hungry.

[29] Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). (2024, December 24). Reviving Gaza’s fishing sector hinges on restoring peace and safe access to the sea. https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/reviving-gaza-s-fishing-sector-hinges-on-restoring-peace-and-safe-access-to-the-sea/en

[30] Fred Pearce, As War Halts, the Environmental Devastation in Gaza Runs Deep, Yale Environment 360, Feb. 6, 2025, https://e360.yale.edu/features/gaza-war-environment

[31] Land available for cultivation in the Gaza Strip as of 28 July 2025, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2025, https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/c93215e8-2ac0-4e36-a82b-25ee66fa80b7/content

[32] Gaza’s agricultural infrastructure continues to deteriorate at alarming rate, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), May. 26, 2025, https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/gaza-s-agricultural-infrastructure-continues-to-deteriorate-at-alarming-rate/en

[33] Israel’s killing of Palestinian farmers part of systematic policy to enforce starvation in Gaza, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Aug. 22, 2025, https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6838/Israel%E2%80%99s-killing-of-Palestinian-farmers-part-of-systematic-policy-to-enforce-starvation-in-Gaza#:~:text=Euro%2DMed%20Human%20Rights%20Monitor's,dire%20poverty%2C%20and%20death.%E2%80%9D

[34] "We will Leave them Nothing": The Israeli Systematic Destruction of the Agricultural Sector and Food Production Systems in Gaza, Palestinian NGOs Network, 2025, https://en.pngoportal.org/post/3873/We-Will-Leave-Them-Nothing-New-PCHR-Report-Reveals-Israeli-Destruction-of-Gaza-s-Agricultural-Sector-and-Food-Systems-Aims-to-Erase-Palestinian-Existence

[35] Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) Issues a Press Release on the Impact of the Israeli Occupation Aggression on the Agricultural Sector in Gaza Strip, 2023, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Nov. 28, 2023, https://www.pcbs.gov.ps/post.aspx?lang=en&ItemID=4643

[36] https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6811/97-per-cent-of-Gaza’s-animal-wealth-destroyed-by-Israeli-bombing,-starvation,-and-looting

[37] Gaza: With famine looming, FAO urges immediate access to save livelihoods and food production, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), May. 12, 2025, https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/gaza--with-famine-looming--fao-urges-immediate-access-to-save-livelihoods-and-food-production/

[38]  Children Starved in Plain Sight as Famine Confirmed in Gaza, Save the Children, Aug. 22, 2025, https://www.savethechildren.net/news/children-starved-plain-sight-famine-confirmed-gaza-save-children

[39] Tamara Qiblawi et al, Anesthetics, crutches, dates. Inside Israel’s ghost list of items arbitrarily denied entry into Gaza, CNN, March 2, 2024, https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/01/middleeast/gaza-aid-israel-restrictions-investigation-intl-cmd/index.ht



[40] Attacks on Health  [Data Set], World Health Organization (WHO), Aug. 17, 2025, https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiODAxNTYzMDYtMjQ3YS00OTMzLTkxMWQtOTU1NWEwMzE5NTMwIiwidCI6ImY2MTBjMGI3LWJkMjQtNGIzOS04MTBiLTNkYzI4MGFmYjU5MCIsImMiOjh9

[41] See, for example,  Katie Polglase and Muhammad Darwish, Exclusive: Israeli forces fired on food convoy in Gaza, UN documents and satellite analysis reveals, CNN, Feb. 21, 2024, https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/21/middleeast/un-food-convoy-gaza-israel-strike-cmd-intl/index.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=whatsappCNN&utm_content=2024-02-21T09:56:03.

[42] Gaza: Israelis Attacking Known Aid Worker Locations, Human Rights Watch, May 14, 2024,  https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/05/14/gaza-israelis-attacking-known-aid-worker-locations; https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/01/1158746

[43] See, for example, At least 10 killed in Israeli attack on northern Gaza food distribution centre, medics say, CBC News, Oct. 14, 2024, https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/gaza-jabalia-attack-1.7351808; https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241112-israel-air-strike-kills-injures-several-palestinians-waiting-for-food-aid-in-gaza/; Majdid Zerrouky, Israeli attacks on aid convoy escorts in Gaza jeopardize food distribution, Le Monde, March 21, 2024, https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/03/21/israeli-attacks-on-aid-convoy-escorts-in-gaza-jeopardize-food-distribution_6641576_4.html#;

[44] See, for example, UN Food Agency pauses deliveries to the North of Gaza, World Food Programme, Feb. 20, 2024,  https://www.wfp.org/news/un-food-agency-pauses-deliveries-north-gaza;

[45] See, for example, Jamal Kanj, Israel engineered chaos and looting in Gaza, Middle East Monitor, Nov. 26, 2024, https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241126-israel-engineered-chaos-and-looting-in-gaza/.

[46] Israel has killed nearly 3,000 Gaza aid seekers, The New Humanitarian, Sept. 15, 2025, https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/investigations/2025/09/15/exclusive-israel-has-killed-nearly-3000-gaza-aid-seekers

[47] As mass starvation spreads across Gaza, our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away, Médecins du Monde, July. 22, 2025, https://www.medecinsdumonde.org/en/news/as-mass-starvation-spreads-across-gaza-our-colleagues-and-those-we-serve-are-wasting-away/

[48] The Architecture of Genocidal Starvation in Gaza, March – August 2025, Forensic Architecture, 2025, https://content.forensic-architecture.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025.08.22_The-Architecture-of-Genocidal-Starvation-in-Gaza_FA.pdf

[49] Ibid.

[50] Famine Review Committee: Gaza Strip, August 2025, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), 2025, https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/IPC_Famine_Review_Committee_Report_Gaza_Aug2025.pdf

[51] UN Security Council authorizes temporary international force for Gaza, United Nations, 2025, https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/11/1166391

[52] Putting Palestinians “On a Diet”: Israel’s Siege & Blockade of Gaza, Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU),  Aug. 14, 2014, https://imeu.org/article/putting-palestinians-on-a-diet-israels-siege-blockade-of-gaza

[53] On 9 October 2023, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in an Israeli army “situation update” advised that Israel was “imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly” : “Tweeting” on 12 October 2023, Israel Katz, then Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and now Defence Minister, tweeted: “Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home. Refer to Case on the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa vs. Israel), Application instituting proceedings and request for the indication of provisional measures, I.C.J., Dec. 29, 2023,  https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20231228-app-01-00-en.pdf

[54] See Dannenbaum https://www.justsecurity.org/104867/gaza-starvation-imperative/ where he discusses how regardless of which test is used for determining “intentionality”, whether its by the outright intentions through the alleged implementation of the “General’s Plan” or by knowing that there is a likelihood that the local population will be starved.

[55] Gaza Scorecard, supra note 570.