Israel deliberately starving Gaza, Amnesty International says
In a report published on Monday, the human rights group said Israel was "systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life", citing testimonies of starved people.
The combination of widespread starvation and disease in the besieged enclave is not a byproduct of military operations, it added, but rather the outcome of Israeli plans designed to bring about the "physical destruction" of Palestinians.
"The testimonies we have collected are far more than accounts of suffering, they are a searing indictment of an international system that has granted Israel a license to torment Palestinians with near-total impunity for decades," said Erika Guevara Rosas, senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns at Amnesty International.
"The impact of Israel's blockade and its ongoing genocide on civilians, particularly on children, people with disabilities, those with chronic illnesses, older people and pregnant and breastfeeding women is catastrophic," Rosas added.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
The latest report is based on testimonies collected in recent weeks with starved displaced civilians, Amnesty said.
The interviews across three different displacement camps in Gaza City revealed that none of them consumed any eggs, fish, meat, tomatoes, or cucumbers for at least a month.
"This widespread scarcity of fresh and nutritious food is a result of both Israel's suffocating blockade and its systematic destruction of food production sources, including large swathes of agricultural land, poultry and other livestock farms, during military operations, through shelling, bombardment or destruction by manually laid explosive," the report said.
It added that Israel's policies have been "particularly devastating" for pregnant and breastfeeding women, with many speaking of the difficulty in securing basic necessities needed for their survival - such as food and water.
The women shared experiences of enduring poor conditions while living in tents and going through an extreme heatwave.
"They also shared feelings of guilt for failing to provide for their children, fears over who would care for their children if they were killed, and anxiety over the impact of malnutrition on the growth and wellbeing of their children," the report added.
Lack of medical necessities
An emergency doctor at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, speaking to Amnesty, underscored the risks posed to Gaza's population, especially the most vulnerable demographics - such infants, children with pre-existing conditions, older persons and those living with disabilities - by the lack of nutrition, medication, hygiene and clean water.
"The doctor said that extreme mass starvation has overshadowed other health emergencies, particularly the alarming rise in infectious and waterborne diseases, meningitis, and Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS)," the report noted.
'They need a Nakba': Former Israeli intelligence chief calls Gaza death toll 'necessary' Read More »
GBS is a rare neurological disease that causes the body's immune system to attack the peripheral nervous system.
"He added that a severe shortage of antibiotics and the extreme load on his hospital, which is only partially functioning, have compounded what he described as an 'invisible catastrophe,' explaining that the spread of disease, or people struggling with chronic conditions that they [used] to treat before, often go unseen because there is this 'preoccupation with only the amount of food that enters, without looking at the full picture.'"
Aid workers at two organisations said that requests to bring in antibiotics were rejected by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat), a unit at Israel's Ministry of Defence.
Rosas stressed that "the world cannot continue to pat Israel on the shoulder for trickling in aid and viewing these cosmetic measures as a sufficient response to its calculated destruction of the life of Palestinians in Gaza".
"In the face of the horrors Israel is inflicting on the Palestinian population in Gaza, the international community, particularly Israel's allies, including the European Union and its members must uphold their moral and legal obligations to bring an end to Israel's ongoing genocide," Rosas added.
Since 7 October, Israel has killed 62,000 Palestinians, with over 155,880 wounded.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
39 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
Vast majority of US refugee admissions will go to white South Africans: Report
US President Donald Trump's administration is considering allocating three-quarters of a significantly reduced refugee admission cap to white South Africans, Reuters reported on Monday. According to meeting notes reviewed by Reuters, the acting director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the Department of Health and Human Services, Angie Salazar, told people working in the refugee resettlement space that she expected the refugee admissions cap to be set at 40,000 for the coming fiscal year. Two other sources, who wished to remain anonymous, told Reuters that 30,000 of these spaces are expected to be allocated to Afrikaners, white South Africans who are descendants of largely Dutch people who colonised South Africa. The cap is much lower than the one the Biden administration set at 125,000 from fiscal years 2022 to 2025. Over those fiscal years, the number of refugees admitted was 25,465 (2022), 60,014 (2023), 100,034 (2024) and 27,308 (2025), respectively, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The resettlement priorities also mark a different strategy for the US government. Previous administrations focused on resettling people with humanitarian concerns, such as those impacted by war, or who were facing persecution. It also welcomed people from around the world regardless of their ethnic background, religion or sexuality. In comparison, the Trump administration is focusing largely on a group from one part of the world who Trump claims are facing a "white genocide", something that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and a delegation of white South Africans, who visited Trump in the Oval Office, have denied as baseless. Other groups that could be prioritised would be Afghans who helped US forces, and possibly Ukrainians, who have previously been resettled in the US. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told Reuters that "no decisions were final" until a decision is made in October, praising President Trump for his "humanitarian heart". The news overlaps with a suspension of all visitor visas for Palestinians in Gaza, who are currently facing what is widely considered a genocide. The suspension will impact people in urgent need of medical evacuation. 'Selective' resettlement In May, almost 60 white South Africans were granted refugee status in the US and were resettled later the same month. This was in spite of Trump suspending the country's refugee resettlement programme after returning to office, leaving 12,000 vulnerable people in limbo who had been conditionally approved for resettlement and had flights booked before 20 January, as well as almost 90,000 others who had been approved for resettlement. US grants dozens of white South Africans refugee status Read More » While US vetting processes for refugees normally take 18 to 24 months, according to the State Department's website, the Afrikaners' cases were expedited. Currently, multiple legal cases have been filed against the Trump administration to enable those who were approved for resettlement to be allowed into the US, including a class action lawsuit filed by the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). IRAP's Senior Policy Director Rricha deCant told Middle East Eye in a statement that, from his first day in office, Trump suspended resettlement for thousands of approved refugees who were vetted and scheduled for travel. "Despite multiple court orders, the government has fought tooth and nail to keep these refugees out of the United States, while selectively welcoming white South Africans. "We will continue to fight in court for the right of all refugees to safely resettle in the US, and we hope to see a Presidential Determination that recognises many groups of humanitarian concern that should be urgently resettled - including refugees from Afghanistan, Sudan, Venezuela and unaccompanied children of all nationalities."
Al Etihad
an hour ago
- Al Etihad
Hamas accepts Egyptian-Qatari proposal for Gaza ceasefire
18 Aug 2025 22:23 CAIRO (AGENCIES)Informed Egyptian sources told Al Qahera News that Hamas has agreed to the proposal presented by Egyptian and Qatari mediation, aimed at reaching a comprehensive agreement to end the war in the Gaza to the same sources, the proposal includes a 60-day cessation of military operations and the redeployment of Israeli forces to allow the entry of aid, along with the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 10 Israeli hostages and 18 bodies. From the first day of the truce, discussions would begin on mechanisms to achieve a permanent ceasefire, media progress coincides with talks held in Cairo between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency said that the meeting saw a shared affirmation of continued efforts, in coordination with the United States, to reach an agreement ensuring an immediate ceasefire and the unobstructed delivery of sides also stressed their categorical rejection of any reoccupation of the Strip or displacement of Palestinians, reaffirming that the only path to lasting peace is the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The Spokesman added that President El-Sisi emphasised the need to begin immediately the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip following a ceasefire, calling for preparations to convene the Cairo International Reconstruction Conference in cooperation with the Palestinian government and the United Nations.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Microsoft accused of delaying tactics with latest review of Israel's use of its tech in Gaza
Microsoft has announced a second investigation into accusations surrounding the Israeli military's use of the company's Azure cloud computing platform in Gaza. This time, however, the company said it would be using lawyers as well as an independent consulting firm for the investigation. The move by Microsoft comes after a report published earlier this month by The Guardian alleged that Israel's military has been used Azure for the 'mass surveillance of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank ' by storing phone call data files. The Redmond, Washington-based technology giant said that if the accusations are true, it would constitute a violation of Microsoft's standard terms of service. For much of the year, controversy has lingered about how various Microsoft products are being used by Israel's military in Gaza, in addition to the company's existing contracts with the Israeli government. In April, during an event marking the company's 50th anniversary, Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft's head of AI, was interrupted by a protester who criticised the company for having contracts with Israel. Videos posted on social media show Mr Suleyman 's speech coming to a halt as a woman in the audience accuses him of being a war profiteer. Outside the event, demonstrators protested against the company's contracts with Israel. Many of the demonstrators were Microsoft employees, who were terminated for their actions. The protests have stemmed from the group No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA), which was founded by former Microsoft employees. In response to the demonstrations and allegations, Microsoft announced that an internal review had found 'no evidence' its products have been used to harm people in Gaza. The company came to that conclusion based on an investigation conducted with the help of an outside firm, which involved interviews with dozens of employees and the lengthy assessment of documents. 'As with many governments around the world, we also work with the Israeli government to protect its national cyberspace against external threats,' Microsoft said. The company did not find evidence that Israel's military had failed to comply with Microsoft's terms of service, it added. There were some caveats in Microsoft's statement, however. There was acknowledgement that because of the nature of how software and AI tools are used, Microsoft's own investigation might have been limited. 'Microsoft does not have visibility into how customers use our software on their own servers or other devices,' the company said, before concluding with a message expressing concern over the loss of life in Israel and Gaza. Those concerns culminated in a shareholder resolution submitted and supported by 60 investors that is seeking to push Microsoft to evaluate its effectiveness in promoting 'human rights due diligence processes' related to its AI tools. The lead filer of the resolution, set to face a vote at Microsoft's annual shareholder meeting in December, is the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, an international congregation of Catholic women. As for Microsoft's decision to perform yet another investigation into how its cloud and AI offerings are used by Israel's military, NOAA has dismissed the announcement as a delay strategy. 'Microsoft must terminate all Azure contracts and partnerships with the Israeli military government,' the group said. 'The No Azure for Apartheid campaign rejects Microsoft's 'urgent' inquiry into its business with the Israeli Military – as yet another tactic to delay the immediate cessation of ties with the Israeli military.' Other major companies have come under scrutiny for contracts with Israel. Palantir, Lockheed Martin, Booz Allen Hamilton, Google and others have faced criticism. Israel's campaign in Gaza – which followed the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas-led fighters that resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people and the capture of 240 hostages – has killed more than 62,000 people and injured about 156,000.
