A Crime Under the Spotlight… and Complicity in Plain Sight
NYN | Reports and Analyses
Amid the ongoing Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian crisis is deepening at an unprecedented rate. Hospitals have turned into overcrowded wards filled with the frail bodies of children and the elderly, worn down by hunger and exhaustion—a harrowing scene that demands immediate international intervention.
According to official medical sources, as of last Tuesday, healthcare facilities in Gaza recorded the deaths of 86 civilians due to severe malnutrition—among them, 76 were children. These figures underscore the scale of the catastrophe and expose a grim reality behind the starvation policy enforced by the Israeli occupation authorities against the population of the Strip.
Thousands of residents, particularly children and the elderly, suffer from acute shortages of food and essential medicines, as a result of the stringent Israeli blockade on border crossings and the prevention of humanitarian aid entry. Medical teams have reported that some deaths occurred due to the complete lack of food, infant formula, and therapeutic nutrition required to treat severe malnutrition.
International organizations describe the situation as a full-scale humanitarian collapse, emphasizing that the systematic use of starvation constitutes a war crime under international law—specifically, Article 8 of the Rome Statute.
These organizations have called for the urgent establishment of humanitarian corridors, the immediate entry of food and medical supplies, and an international investigation into the violations being committed against civilians.
They stressed that the continuation of the Israeli military offensive, along with the targeting of aid facilities, farms, and food storage centers, further darkens the already dire situation and presents the international community with a profound moral test.
In what has become a daily reality, hospitals are receiving children with dangerously low body weights, suffering from emaciation, speech loss, and lack of focus. Meanwhile, doctors work under immense pressure to save as many lives as possible with virtually no resources.
Families of the victims clutch photos of their lost children in their arms, asking only for “daily sustenance… and the right to survive.”
As the cries from emergency rooms grow louder, international response remains absent, the blockade persists, and hunger grows more ferocious.
