Is Israel afraid of the international community?

After months of starvation and denial, Israel is changing its rhetoric under international pressure... but have its actions changed? Israel is not afraid of the international community because it feels guilty, but because it has become afraid of having its name called out in The Hague.

I have long written that the Israeli government pursues a cynical policy of avoiding formally recognizing the occupation of the Gaza Strip. In reality, however, it practices occupation in all its dimensions: controlling the crossings, besieging the population, bombing from the air day and night, and denying access to food, medicine, and water. It calls this an "operation," not an occupation, because legal recognition of the occupation imposes clear obligations under international law, chief among them providing food, healthcare, and infrastructure for the population. These are responsibilities that Israel refuses to assume.

The Israeli military's announcement of daily "humanitarian pauses" in Gaza, beginning July 27, does not reflect any moral shift; rather, it reveals a growing state of political confusion. These pauses, which extend for ten hours in areas where Israeli forces are not active, coincide with mounting international pressure and increasing reports accusing Israel of committing a systematic starvation crime amounting to genocide.

Informed sources told Yedioth Ahronoth that the Israeli government has been in a state of hysteria over the past few days due to international pressure, and has ordered the preparation of a plan to "allow everything" into Gaza "without restrictions," explaining that the issue of aid reaching Hamas "no longer concerns it at this time." At the same time, Kan Channel reported that the political echelon has so far refused to explain the reasons for declaring a humanitarian ceasefire, leaving the responsibility solely to the military.

The starvation plaguing the Gaza Strip, particularly in the north, is not the result of an organizational flaw or a logistical failure, but rather a deliberate policy. The plan was to besiege and strangle the north until the population was forced to flee, and then "victory" would be declared. But hundreds of thousands returned after the ceasefire, as if nothing had happened.

The central Gaza Strip, which was claimed to be a "safe zone," was subjected to heavy shelling, including relentless attacks on the tents of displaced people. Today, no one controls Gaza except the Israeli army: it occupies it, moves within it, bombs it, and besieges it. Yet it does not acknowledge its responsibility.

The scene brings to mind Japan's experience in China, when Tokyo refused to formally declare war to avoid legal obligations toward its prisoners and instead chose to kill them. Israel is doing the same: occupying Gaza without recognition, leaving its population to starve to death.

As for what Israel calls "aid distribution centers," they are nothing more than death traps. These centers were established with government support and operated by private security companies of mercenaries, for a purely political purpose: a false humanitarian marketing campaign that satisfies the far right and silences the West.

International relief organizations refused to cooperate with it, realizing that the lack of local organization leads to chaos and killing, and deprives the most needy of access to food.

The model used to distribute food parcels is adapted from UN programs in Sudan and Yemen, but it is not suitable for Gaza, where residents are forcibly displaced every week without a fixed home.

The plan was completely devoid of medical nutrients, infant formula, and malnutrition medications, as if the goal was not relief, but hunger management.

Israel can no longer market its old rhetoric about "Hamas stealing aid."

The New York Times quoted four Israeli sources, including officers, as saying there was no evidence of aid theft by the movement. An internal report by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) confirmed the same. The UN distribution system, according to these testimonies, was efficient and secure.

Faced with this exposure, Israel has resorted to demonstrative measures: "humanitarian pauses," airdrops of aid, "safe" corridors, and even the restoration of electricity to the desalination plant, which serves some 900,000 people. All of these measures aim to deny the most serious accusation: deliberate starvation.

But these steps came too late, after the crime had occurred. The Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed that 127 people have died of starvation since the start of the war, including 85 children. Hundreds more suffer from life-threatening malnutrition, especially among the elderly, infants, and pregnant women. Worse still: more than 1,100 civilians have been killed while waiting for aid.

These numbers are not just a tragedy, they are a complete indictment.

Israel fears the international community not for moral reasons, but for pragmatic ones. What it fears is the loss of its political and symbolic legitimacy, and the transformation of its leaders from partners of the West into defendants in The Hague.

That's why Israel is acting today under pressure from investigations, cameras, and reports. What it's doing isn't rescuing the Palestinians, but rather a desperate attempt to salvage its image. It's withholding limited aid and claiming to be "cooperating" with the United Nations, which it accused a few days ago of failure. Ironically, these contradictions, instead of improving its image, expose it further.

Humanitarian actions are not a rescue gesture, but rather a preemptive attempt to ward off accountability and whitewash an unjustifiable crime.