Experts and activists warn that Gaza is facing a man-made famine, driven by blockade and war, while the international community struggles to respond.
American Community Media hosted a key conversation that dissected the famine currently devastating Gaza. Nearly two years into the war between Israel and Hamas, the humanitarian crisis has reached a critical point: 60,000 people have been killed — 18,000 of them children, according to UNICEF — while 2.2 million residents have been displaced, forced to live without food, clean water, or access to health services. The speakers, experts with diverse perspectives and direct testimonies from the ground, shed light on the mechanisms of starvation and the urgency of international action.
Famine as a deliberate strategy
The discussion opened with Alex de Waal, a British researcher and one of the leading global experts on famine. De Waal explained that what is happening in Gaza is not a consequence of natural shortages but the result of deliberate political decisions. “This is not a famine caused by drought, earthquakes, or climate change. This is the deliberate weaponization of food as a tool of war,” he stated. According to his analysis, starvation has been historically used as a method of collective punishment, but Gaza represents one of the starkest cases in recent decades.
De Waal recalled that in 1993, the United Nations classified famine as a crime against humanity, punishable under international law. “Israel’s blockade and obstruction of humanitarian aid not only cause hunger, they transform it into a mechanism of control and submission,” he warned.
Testimony from Gaza
The voice of Afeef Nessouli, journalist and volunteer who has been working in Gaza since the early months of the conflict, added a dramatic perspective. Through direct testimonies, he described the precariousness of everyday life: families forced to grind animal feed into flour to make bread, hospitals without power to refrigerate food or medicine, and children fainting from lack of nutrients.
“The international community debates, but in Gaza people die from hunger every day. We’re not talking about statistics, we’re talking about human beings, about children who cannot even cry because their bodies are too weak,” Nessouli recounted, visibly shaken. His testimony underscored the gap between political discussions abroad and the urgency felt by the people on the ground.
Amnesty International’s perspective
Budour Hassan, researcher at Amnesty International, connected this famine to broader patterns of violations of international humanitarian law. She emphasized that the blockade of aid convoys, the bombing of distribution centers, and the systematic destruction of Gaza’s agricultural infrastructure are not isolated incidents but part of a broader policy.
“Starvation is being used as a weapon of war, and this places an obligation on states and international institutions to act, not just condemn,” Hassan declared. Amnesty International has been gathering evidence of these practices with the aim of presenting them before international tribunals.
The role of the United States and the international community
The debate also addressed the responsibility of the United States and European countries, which continue to support Israel militarily and diplomatically. De Waal stressed that humanitarian aid will remain insufficient if the political blockade persists. “It’s not just about sending flour and rice. What’s required is political pressure to guarantee access, and that can only happen if Washington and Brussels take a stand,” he said.
For Nessouli, international silence is equivalent to complicity: “If aid is blocked and the powerful do nothing, they are participating in the slow death of Gaza.”
Famine as a political wake-up call
Beyond the urgency, the panelists stressed the importance of seeing Gaza as a wake-up call about the future of armed conflicts. De Waal argued that famine will increasingly be used as a political weapon in a world facing climate crises and wars for natural resources. “What we see in Gaza today could be repeated elsewhere tomorrow. The international community must act to stop this precedent from being normalized,” he concluded.
A call to action
The American Community Media event ended with a consensus: what is happening in Gaza is not only a humanitarian crisis, but a political and moral test for the world. The challenge is not just to feed a starving population but to dismantle the structures that cause hunger.
As Budour Hassan summarized: “Every loaf of bread denied to a child in Gaza is a decision taken by those in power. Our duty as citizens of the world is to make sure those decisions do not remain unpunished.”
The famine in Gaza, as described by the voices in this conversation, is not an inevitable tragedy, but a deliberate act of war. And as long as international inaction persists, starvation will remain the most silent and devastating weapon of all.