A new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report has issued a grave warning that the entire population of the Gaza Strip faces the imminent threat of famine due to Israel's ongoing suffocating siege, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said.The report provides damning evidence that the Israeli occupation is deliberately using starvation as a weapon-a central and systematic tactic in its broader crime of genocide, which has already claimed 10s of thousands of civilian lives.According to the IPC report, released Monday, Israel's war of starvation is slowly killing thousands, particularly children and the elderly, Euro-Med Monitor said, adding that the current situation marks a dramatic deterioration compared to the IPC analysis released in October 2024.The ongoing international failure to protect the lives of the over two million Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip represents a blatant violation of their fundamental rights to life, health, food, and protection from genocide. It constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law and its core principles, which obligate the protection of civilian populations during armed conflict, it said.This continued inaction reinforces a systematic culture of impunity and sends a dangerous message to the world: the use of starvation as a weapon of war can go unpunished, Euro-Med Monitor said.The Euro-Med Monitor called on all states to take immediate action to halt the ongoing crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip, and respond urgently to calls by the United Nations and international humanitarian organisations to restore humanitarian access and lift the illegal Israeli siege, pointing out that this is the only way to enable aid delivery and prevent further humanitarian collapse, the total breakdown of the agricultural sector, the potential outbreak of deadly epidemics, and the imminent threat of mass starvation.’The international community must ensure Israel's compliance with international law and the rulings of the International Court of Justice. It must guarantee the establishment of UN-supervised safe humanitarian corridors to allow the entry of food, medicine, and fuel into all parts of the Gaza Strip, alongside the deployment of independent international monitors to verify compliance,’ it added.The Euro-Med Monitor also said that a formal declaration of famine in the Gaza Strip is urgently required, given the rapidly accelerating spread of hunger as well as the sharp rise in severe malnutrition and its growing prevalence across all regions and population groups in the enclave, especially among children.’The international community must impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel in response to its systematic and egregious violations of international law. This includes an arms embargo on both imports to and exports from Israel; the suspension of all forms of political, financial, and military support; the freezing of assets belonging to officials implicated in crimes against Palestinians or incitement to such crimes, and the imposition of travel bans on those individuals; and the suspension of trade privileges and bilateral agreements that grant Israel economic benefits and thus enable its continued commission of atrocities,’ the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said.
