Israel is writing a new genocide handbook: Gaza’s confinement and mass starvation.

Photo by hosnysalah on pixabay.com

Over the last two years, several voices have raised accusing Israel and its governors of the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza: in particular, the Republic of South Africa pressed charges in December 2023, alleging violations by Israel of its obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. 

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) still hasn’t issued its final ruling, but other independent bodies have already expressed their opinions about it. To be more specific, the Human Rights Council (HRC) of the United Nations established “an ongoing, independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem” in 2021. Indeed, Israel has been violating international humanitarian law for decades, “undermining the viability of a Palestinian State”, as shown in the report issued by the Commission at the beginning of 2024. 

More recently, on the 16th September 2025, the independent body expressed itself on the situation in the Gaza Strip, confirming that Israel “committed four of the five genocidal acts” indicated by the 1948 Convention, namely: killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births. 

Both direct and indirect evidence were collected over the years to determine this: direct evidence consists of statements made by Israeli leaders, including the Prime Minister Netanyahu, that incited to commit genocide; conversely, the actions committed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) constitute indirect evidence, since they showed complete disregard for international law, committing systematic violence.

What is even more appalling is one unique characteristic of the ongoing atrocity. Indeed, as highlighted by Chris Sidoti, a member of the above-mentioned commission of inquiry, people from Gaza cannot flee. 

The expert stated that this fact is what differentiates the genocide in Gaza from the others known to history: in the latter, crossing borders to escape the horror was, somehow, always possible. Today, we are facing a new model of genocide, where confinement and mass starvation play a key role in wiping out the Palestinian people of Gaza. 

Indeed, since farming was made impossible by the destruction of the territory, and since Israel has illegally banned fishing, the only source from which people in Gaza can gather food is from the outside. To tell the truth, hunger has been weaponized by Israel for years now, with explicit declarations dating back to 2006 from the then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. 

Despite the evidence gathered by HRC’s commission and the statements made by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and even the Israeli groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, Israeli authorities reject any accusations, deeming them as part of an “anti-semitic plot”. 

Regardless of the (very fragile) current ceasefire, Dr Tedros, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), pointed out how there is still restricted access to aid, and that the health catastrophe “will last for generations to come". 

Not a sentence, but an entire chapter on the failure of humanity in the book of known history.

Official sources: 

• OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2025), Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds.  https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds

• Human Rights Council (2025), Legal analysis of the conduct of Israel in Gaza pursuant to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session60/advance-version/a-hrc-60-crp-3.pdf

• Human Rights Council, Commissioners of the CoI. https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/coiopt-israel/commissioners

• The Guardian (2025), Mass slaughter in Gaza stands apart from other genocides, Chris Sidoti says: ‘People cannot escape’. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/01/mass-slaughter-gaza-stands-apart-other-genocides-chris-sidoti-people-cannot-escape

• The Guardian (2025), The mathematics of starvation: how Israel caused a famine in Gaza. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/31/the-mathematics-of-starvation-how-israel-caused-a-famine-in-gaza

• The Guardian (2025), Now, more proof that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. How can Western governments still refuse to act? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/17/un-report-israel-genocide-gaza-western-governments

• Al Jazeera (2025), Has the Gaza ceasefire been broken? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/20/has-the-gaza-ceasefire-been-broken

• BBC (2025), 'Fatal combination' of disease, injuries and famine in Gaza is generational crisis, WHO tells BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnvezzdnmrno

• Human Rights Council (2024), Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 5 April 2024 55/32. Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan. https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/RES/55/32

• International Court of Justice (2023), Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192

• Human Rights Council (2021), https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/co-israel/index

• Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf

written by Alice Scotti