Israel is pursuing a policy of hunger in Gaza. In defiance of international law, the government has organized a food shortage that is upsetting its main ally, the United States, and is now undermining the war it seeks to wage. Joe Biden's administration is promising to deliver aid itself by sea. It is also urging Israel to facilitate road deliveries of food from the United Nations and private traders, particularly in the northern half of the enclave, where 300,000 people remain under near-total siege in the ruins of Gaza City.

While waiting for Israel to bow to these pressures, Gaza is celebrating Ramadan with hunger in its belly. The lack of water and food has already caused the death of at least 27 people, including 23 children, according to the local Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.

The UN warns that pockets of imminent famine are developing in the north. South Africa is asking the UN International Court of Justice for additional measures against Israel, which it accuses of violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Since the judges ordered Israel to guarantee Gazans access to humanitarian aid in January, UN aid deliveries have only decreased.

Seige strategy

There are several reasons for this result. From the very first days of the war, Israel's ruling right-wing faction has felt comfortable abandoning the basic principles of humanitarian law, believing itself to be relieved of any obligation by the horror of the attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Since then, it has persisted in a seige strategy, applying the Dresden model: the Israelis are traumatizing the population of Gaza for the sake of history, just as the Allies did with their massive bombardment of German cities in 1944, even though the defeat of the Nazi regime was already certain.

This government is stirring up resentment among Israelis, who had long since forgotten about Gaza's civilians, dehumanized by 15 years of blockade. Today, the overwhelming majority of Israelis refuse to express empathy for the suffering of those in the enclave. The messianic far right, a key partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, exploits these feelings in order to impose its ambitions on public debate: the ethnic cleansing and recolonization of Gaza.

As the war progressed, deliveries of aid and petrol were gradually authorized under pressure from the army. But these relaxations took place discreetly, without the consent of the government as a whole, where the far right, Netanyahu's Likud party and some of his centrist allies rival each other in intransigence. Today, it is the army that is announcing new access points for aid – the ministers, including those from the centrist opposition, are still reluctant to assume such responsibility.

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