The disaster that takes place in Gaza cannot only be understood through the lens of the humanitarian crisis. What we are witnessing is not only a tragic consequence of war, but the deliberate use of famine as a tool for political and demographic control. This strategy, designed to dismantle Palestinian society, is equivalent to a form of structural genocide.
The Israeli military and political direction, in its quest for the domination and erasure of the Palestinian national aspirations, has exceeded the tactics of bombardment and physical destruction. Today, his methods are more insidious: they target the heart of Palestinian survival: food, water and means of supporting.
Breaking the will of a people by refusing them the ability to eat is not collateral damage. It is politics. According to reports of independent international organizations, more than 95% of Gaza’s agricultural land has been destroyed or made unusable. This figure is not only an economic loss; It is the intentional dismantling of food sovereignty, and with it, all hope of future independence.
Destruction is systematic. Access to the seeds has been blocked. The water infrastructure has been targeted. Fisherfolk and farmers – already operating in extreme siege conditions – have been attacked on several occasions. These are not random acts. They are part of a broader plan to reset the demographic and economic future of Gaza reengineer in accordance with the long -term strategic objectives of Israel: absolute control and political submission.
What makes it all the more alarming is the complicity of the international community. Whether by silence or vague diplomatic declarations that describe the situation as a “humanitarian crisis”, global actors have helped normalize the use of famine as a weapon of war. The refusal to appoint these actions for what they are – war crimes committed as part of a genocide – gave Israel the coverage to continue them with impunity.
Even more worrying is the way food itself has become a negotiation program. Access to essential elements such as flour, baby formula and bottled water are now linked to political and military negotiations. This reveals a dark logic of power. The objective is not of stability or mutual security – it is to impose political conditions thanks to the calculated manipulation of civil suffering.
By making Gaza entirely dependent on external aid while systematically focusing on the local means of survival, Israel has created a trap in which the Palestinians are stripped of all political and economic agencies. They are reduced to a population that can be managed, controlled and swapped.
Each outgoing statistics of Gaza must be read on this lens. The fact that 100% of the population now suffers from food insecurity is not simply tragic; It is a marker of progress in strategy. It is not a question of nourishing the hunger. It is a question of breaking the mind of a people and forcing them to accept a new reality according to the terms of the occupier.
And yet, Gaza’s resilience persists. This challenge, under siege and famine, revealed the moral collapse of an international order which prefers crises managed by political responsibility. It is not a famine born of drought. It is not the chaos of a faulty state. It is a crime in progress – made with wide open eyes, under the protective cover of global indifference.
Also allow me to add that organizations of international civil society and global social movements – such as Via Campesina – are not in silence. In fact, in September, some of the most important movements in the world of Aboriginal farmers, fishermen and peoples – including many regions affected by conflicts – will meet in Sri Lanka for the 3rd World Forum in Nyéléni. There, we aim to build a unified global response to generalized indifference which will make the eyes of the dispossession of whole communities. From zero, we work to develop concrete proposals to ensure that food is never armed and that famine is never used as a war tactic. At the same time, countless acts of solidarity take place around the world, led by people of conscience who demand that their governments act.
The story will remember what is happening in Gaza. He will also remember those who have chosen to remain silent. Justice can be delayed, but it will come, and it will ask who was held following famine to try to break a people.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.
