Rights group warns of renewed famine risk in Gaza amid Israeli blockade

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has warned of a renewed risk of famine in the Gaza Strip, citing severe shortages of flour and essential foodstuffs, the shutdown of bakeries, and the collapse of residents' purchasing power.

In a statement issued today, the organization said that the ongoing Israeli blockade and restrictions on humanitarian and commercial supplies are leaving more than two million Palestinians deprived of basic necessities for survival.

The monitor noted that control over the quantity, quality, and regular entry of food—following the destruction of local production sources and means of access—amounts to the use of starvation as a tool in what it described as an ongoing act of genocide since October 2023.

The group stated that deliberately subjecting Palestinians to living conditions that deprive them of the means of survival, with the intent to destroy them in whole or in part, constitutes acts of genocide as defined in Article II(c) of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The monitor stressed that the continued imposition of these conditions, their deadly consequences, repeated warnings, systematic destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure, prevention of recovery, and statements by some Israeli officials together provide cumulative evidence of genocidal intent, making the management of crossings and supplies a tool for perpetuating conditions leading to the physical destruction of the population.