1. Situation on the ground

Merely two months after Israeli Defence Minister Gallant announced the strengthening of Israel’s blockade on Gaza into a complete siege, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared that the situation in Gaza saw the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity ever classified by the initiative for any given area or country, finding catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity affecting civilians across the Gaza strip. The key drivers were described as Israeli ground operations, bombardment and besiegement of Palestinian civilians, trapped in the enclave. The findings highlight that “[s]tarvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident”. The latest IPC report from March 2024 projected that famine is now imminent in North Gaza and Gaza governorates, while the middle and southern governorates are also at risk of famine by mid-July 2024, as 1.1 million people are experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity in IPC Phase 5. Medical Aid for Palestinians considers this to be “the fastest decline in a population’s nutrition status ever recorded, [meaning] children are being starved at the fastest rate the world has ever seen.” At least thirty-one people, including twenty-eight children, have already starved to death.

A staggering 34,012 civilians have been killed since 7 October, nearly 70 percent of casualties appear to be women and children. 1.7 million people, representing almost the entirety of Gaza’s population, have been forcibly displaced and approximately 60 percent of residential buildings have been destroyed leaving no shelter. The healthcare system has collapsed in the past six months, with 26 hospitals fully out of service and the remaining 10 only partially functioning and left to cope with unprecedented needs and a shortage of medical supplies and staff.

Humanitarian aid continues to be used by Israel as a negotiation tool, hinging access of humanitarian aid on the release of hostages by Hamas. Israel also continues to obstruct, restrict and deny access of aid, including by closing crossings, and deliberately attacking humanitarian workers, convoys and facilities. A particularly heinous example of aid obstruction and the weaponisation of food was the Israeli attack on the queue of starving civilians that had gathered to receive flour, which resulted in the killing of 118 persons and injuring of 760. Another attack that received wide media coverage is the more recent airstrike that hit an aid convoy from the food charity World Central Kitchen as it was leaving a warehouse to deliver supplies, killing seven aid workers. While the latter attack seems to have triggered Israel to agree to the temporary opening of the Erez crossing in northern Gaza and the use of Ashdod port in southern Israel, experts agree that this is “still far short of what needs to happen.”

All the conducts described above have been and continue to contribute to the creation of an inoperable environment for humanitarian agencies. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in particular, following the allegations made in January 2024 with regards to the alleged involvement of some members of its staff in the 7 October attacks conducted by Hamas, has been struggling to ensure the continuity of its vital operations due to the decision of several states to suspend or freeze funding to the agency. Most of the donor nations have since resumed their funding; given the findings of the Independent Review Group on UNRWA (see the full, final report here), the hope is that all funding will be soon resumed.

UNRWA’s operations have also been severely affected by the denial for the organisation to deliver aid in northern Gaza and the most recent proposal of Israel to the UN to dismantle the whole of UNRWA and transfer its funds and part of its staff to another designated UN agency, such as the World Food Programme. All these practices need to be urgently investigated further to determine whether the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and other starvation-related crimes are being perpetrated in Gaza and hold those responsible accountable.

2. Legal updates – an overview

• On 11 April 2024, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, together with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights and Al Haq, filed a lawsuit before the Administrative Court of Berlin seeking to suspend export licenses issued by the German government for arms shipments to Israel. According to the organisations, there are grounds to believe that Germany is not fulfilling and is violating its obligations under international law in accordance with the German Weapons of War Control Law, by issuing export licenses for weapons of war requested by Israel, as these weapons are being used “to kill and displace civilians, destroy civilian infrastructure in Gaza, as well as control and limit the transfer and distribution of humanitarian aid.”
• At the end of March 2024, Bindmans LLP and the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, seeking a reversal of the UK’s decision to withdraw funding from UNRWA, issued a Pre-Action Protocol letter to the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), aiming to obtain the restoration of funding. The case will also likely be taken to Judicial Review, should the FCDO fail to withdraw its decision and renew its funding to UNRWA.
• On 12 March 2024 Amnesty International Denmark, Oxfam Denmark, ActionAid Denmark and Al-Haq stated their intention to bring a case against the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Police, to end the country’s arms exports to Israel, citing concerns that its weapons were being used to commit serious crimes against civilians during the war in Gaza.
• In March 2024, Nicaragua instituted proceedings against Germany before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) arguing that by providing political, financial and military support to Israel and by defunding the UNRWA, “Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide and, in any case has failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide” (para. 16). Public hearings have been held on 8-9 April 2024 and concluded with the following request for the indication of provisional measures by Nicaragua: “(1) Germany must immediately suspend its aid to Israel, in particular its military assistance, export and authorization of export of military equipment and war weapons, in so far as this aid is used or could be used to commit or to facilitate serious violations of the Genocide Convention, international humanitarian law or other peremptory norms of general international law; (2) Germany must immediately ensure that military equipment, war weapons, and other equipment used for military purposes already delivered by Germany and German entities to Israel are not used to commit or to facilitate serious violations of the Genocide Convention, international humanitarian law or other peremptory norms of general international law; (3) Germany must resume its support and financing of UNRWA in respect of its operations in Gaza.”
• In the proceedings instituted in December 2023 by South Africa against Israel, the ICJ recently issued additional preliminary measures including the specific request that “[t]he State of Israel … in view of the worsening conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza, in particular the spread of famine and starvation…[t]ake all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full co-operation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care to Palestinians throughout Gaza…” (para. 51(2)(a)).
• The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and ‎‎Al-Haq also filed on 6 December 2023 a legal action against the United Kingdom’s government to halt weapons sales to Israel over illegal attacks on civilians besieged in Gaza, including allegations of indiscriminate attacks, starvation, forced displacement, and the serious risk of genocide. Following the High Court’s dismissal of the case, GLAN filed an appeal and asked that a hearing be expedited. The oral hearing is due to take place today.
• Following a lawsuit from Oxfam Novib, Vredesbeweging PAX Nederland and The Rights Forum filed in November 2023, a Dutch appeals court has ordered the Netherlands to halt the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel. The court found that continued exports are in violation of the EU Common Rules for Arms Exports and the UN Arms Trade Treaty, to which both the Netherlands and Denmark are signatories due to the “clear risk” that the jet parts would be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law. In reaching these conclusions, the court noted the sheer number of civilian casualties, including thousands of children, the extensive damage and destruction of civilian homes, hospitals, water and food supplies, schools and religious buildings, the widespread severe hunger, and the displacement of 85% of Palestinians in Gaza.
• In November 2023, Palestinian human rights organisations Defense for Children International–Palestine and Al-Haq and Palestinian individuals, represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), filed a lawsuit in US federal courts against the Biden administration for its failure to prevent and complicity in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza perpetrated by Israeli authorities and forces. Notwithstanding the court’s findings that Israel’s assault and siege on the Palestinian people in Gaza plausibly constitutes genocide, CCR’s preliminary injunction motion was denied, and the court granted instead the government’s motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction over the administration’s conduct of foreign relations. CCR appealed this decision on behalf of the plaintiffs, with the appellate argument now scheduled for June 2024. GRC’s Humanitarian Crisis and Starvation Accountability Team, together with two independent experts, was asked to file an amicus curiae brief to support CCR’s appeal. Our brief outlined the customary prohibition on the use of starvation as method of warfare, including as applicable to the context of Gaza and how the starvation-related conduct may constitute an underlying act of genocide, and specifically inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about a group’s destruction, where genocidal intent can also separately be established.

3. GRC’s Engagement on Gaza

Since October GRC’s Starvation team have carefully monitored the unfolding situation on the ground and are preliminarily collecting and preserving open-source information relating to incidents of relevance. The ultimate aim is to ensure that all the information retrieved online is forensically preserved to ensure that it can be used in future investigations and prosecutions.

We have also been liaising with other organisations who have been active in pursuing accountability or conducting advocacy in relation to the unfolding situation in Gaza. The team has attended several meetings to ensure coordination of efforts and explore collaborations including with food-based agencies. Given GRC’s extensive unrivalled expertise and granular knowledge of the crime of starvation, our goal is also to provide guidance and support to other organisations who are currently starting to focus on this crime and related violations in relation to the situation in Gaza. Through these engagements we aim to elevate the understanding around the language of these crimes, ensuring it is not misconstrued or mislabelled and that messaging and advocacy is powerful and coordinated.

The GRC Gaza team was also asked to speak on two separate panels in the upcoming weeks in relation to the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.

• On 17 April 2024, in a webinar organised by The Syria Campaign on «The Urgent Need to End Starvation Atrocity Crimes: Lessons from Syria to Palestine», GRC Vice President Catriona Murdoch spoke about the return of the deliberate and systematic use of starvation as a method of warfare, why it has been for so long overlooked and under prosecuted and how the unfolding situation in Gaza might impact the above. The event secured over 300 participants and was moderated by award winning journalist Arwa Damon who had recently returned from Gaza.
• On 25 April, in a panel organised by John Hopkins, Catriona will discuss – alongside Alexis Demirdjian, a senior ICC Prosecutor – the legal frameworks for holding states accountable for using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the context of Gaza. Registration is still live here.