Human Rights Watch said that the Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of war in the occupied Gaza Strip, which constitutes a “war crime.”

The organization indicated in a statement issued today, Monday, that the Israeli army is deliberately preventing the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while deliberately obstructing humanitarian aid, and appears to be bulldozing agricultural areas, depriving the civilian population of materials that are indispensable for their survival.

Omar Shaker, director of Israel and Palestine affairs at Human Rights Watch, said: “For more than two months, Israel has been depriving the people of Gaza of food and water, a policy that was urged or supported by senior Israeli officials, and reflects an intention to starve civilians as a method of war,” calling on world leaders to raise their voices against this abhorrent war crime, which has devastating effects on the people of Gaza.

Shaker added: “The Israeli government is doubling its collective punishment of Palestinian civilians and preventing humanitarian aid by using the cruel use of starvation as a weapon of war,” stressing that the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza requires an urgent and effective response from the international community.

In its statement, the organization believed that the Israeli government must immediately stop using starvation of civilians as a method of war, demanding that the occupation government restore the provision of water and electricity, and allow the entry of urgently needed food, medical aid, and fuel into Gaza through the crossings, including Kerem Shalom.

The United States, Britain, Canada, Germany, and others called for the suspension of military aid and arms sales to Israel, as long as its army continues to commit serious and widespread violations that amount to war crimes against civilians with impunity.

Human Rights Watch interviewed 11 displaced citizens in Gaza between November 24 and December 4, who described the severe difficulties they face in securing basic necessities. One man who left northern Gaza said: “We had no food, no electricity, no… Internet, nothing at all, we don't know how we survived."

In southern Gaza, interviewees described scarcity of potable water, food shortages that led to empty stores and long queues, and exorbitant prices.

“You are constantly looking for things to survive,” the father of two said.

According to the United Nations World Food Program, on December 6, 9 out of 10 families in northern Gaza, and two out of three families in southern Gaza, spent at least a full day and a full night without food.

International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, prohibits starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court states that intentionally starving civilians “by depriving them of items indispensable to their survival, including intentionally impeding relief supplies” is a war crime.

The occupation government continued to prevent the entry of fuel until November 15, despite warnings of dire consequences, causing the closure of bakeries, hospitals, sewage pumping stations, water desalination plants, and wells. These facilities are no longer fit for use, despite allowing limited quantities to enter. Of fuel later, but the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Lynn Hastings, described it on December 4 as “not enough at all.”

UN experts said on November 16 that the severe damage “threatens the impossibility of continuing life for the Palestinian people in Gaza.” The occupation army bombed the last operating wheat mill in Gaza on November 15.

The United Nations Office for Project Service said that the destruction of road networks has made it difficult for humanitarian organizations to deliver aid to those who need it.

Israeli military operations in Gaza also had a devastating impact on its agricultural sector, and according to Oxfam: “Due to the continuous bombing, along with the shortage of fuel and water, and the displacement of more than 1.6 million people to southern Gaza, agriculture has become almost impossible.”