Gaza’s Engineered Catastrophe: Israel Kills 36 As Starvation Becomes A Weapon Of War.

GAZA – The war in Gaza, now in its 23rd month, has escalated into a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe. Since dawn on Sunday, Israeli air and ground assaults killed at least 36 Palestinians across the enclave, including 10 displaced residents in Nuseirat refugee camp and 15 in Gaza City, according to hospital sources. Homes have been flattened, aid blocked, and hospitals overwhelmed, with the death of a two-and-a-half-month-old baby, Eid Mahmoud Abu Jamma from malnutrition and lack of treatment in Khan Younis highlighting the deadly impact of Israel’s siege.

Hospitals On The Brink:

Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza reported Eid’s death and additional fatalities from starvation. Medical staff described scenes of desperation:

“He arrived weak and unresponsive; there was nothing more we could do,” a doctor told Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, Al-Shifa Hospital, the Strip’s largest, is over capacity, with dwindling supplies and constant threats from nearby bombardments. Director Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya warned:

“We are operating without basic supplies, and now tanks are approaching the hospital gates. We are trying to save lives, but the siege is killing people faster than we can treat them.”

Aid workers report that patients cannot be reached because Israeli forces continue to shell roads and neighbourhoods, even when civilians are obeying evacuation orders. Starvation and siege conditions are compounded by attacks on water distribution points, aid convoys, and residential buildings, turning survival into a weaponised tool of political control.

Eyewitness Accounts: “I Thought I Will End Up Alone”.

Survivors in Nuseirat refugee camp recounted the horror of indiscriminate bombardment. Saja Hamad, 23, told Reuters:

“I thought I would end up alone. My uncle’s wife was pulled dead from the rubble. Many of my family members are still missing.”

Civil defence teams say access to trapped civilians is nearly impossible due to sustained Israeli shelling. In Khan Younis, families report that even when aid reaches the city, distribution is blocked or delayed, forcing residents to watch children die from hunger.

Starvation As A Weapon:

The death of baby Eid is emblematic of a broader pattern. Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that 440 Palestinians, including 147 children, have died from starvation or malnutrition since the war began. UN monitors and aid organisations confirm that Israel is deliberately restricting food, medical supplies, and baby formula, while targeting civilians who attempt to collect aid.

Amnesty International condemned the famine as “a devastating confirmation of a deliberate campaign of starvation.” Human Rights Watch described it as a policy tool, stating:

“Starvation is being deployed strategically, not as collateral damage but as a weapon of control.”

UN relief coordinator Tom Fletcher echoed the alarm:

“This is a famine within a few hundred meters of food. Starvation is being used as a method of coercion and political pressure.”

The weaponisation of hunger represents a new layer of Israel’s strategy: civilians are not just being harmed in military operations, they are actively denied sustenance as part of a calculated plan to weaken resistance and terrorise the population.

Doctrine Of Destruction:

Israel insists its operations target Hamas infrastructure. Yet independent investigations and whistleblower accounts reveal a broader, deliberate strategy of societal destruction.

The Dahiya Doctrine, formulated after the 2006 Lebanon war, calls for disproportionate force and the levelling of civilian infrastructure to deter resistance. General Gadi Eisenkot explained:

“We will wield disproportionate power… and cause immense damage and destruction. From our perspective, these are not civilian villages; they are military bases.”

Breaking the Silence, a network of ex-IDF soldiers, confirmed that the doctrine guides operations in Gaza:

• Every building is treated as hostile.
• Residential neighbourhoods are intentionally flattened.
• Farmland and infrastructure are destroyed to make a return impossible.

A spokesperson told Haaretz:

“The public narrative of precision and restraint is a lie. What we carried out was designed to break society, not just Hamas.”

Satellite imagery and field reports corroborate these testimonies: hospitals, schools, water systems, and neighbourhoods have been systematically destroyed, leaving civilians with no means to survive.

Legal Threshold: Genocide By Design.

Under the Genocide Convention (1948), genocide is defined by intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Israel’s conduct meets the criteria of Articles II(a), (b), and (c):

• Mass killings of civilians.
• Bodily and psychological harm inflicted on survivors, particularly children.
• Infliction of conditions designed to destroy a population, including famine imposed through siege.

ICJ and ICC rulings underscore the legal gravity: Israel’s blockade, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the weaponisation of starvation satisfy the criteria for genocide, while official rhetoric and military doctrine demonstrate clear intent.

Defiance Of The ICJ:

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued binding provisional measures in January and March 2024, requiring Israel to prevent genocidal acts and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid. Yet reports from hospitals, aid agencies, and journalists confirm ongoing siege conditions and attacks on civilians, a clear defiance of international law.

A senior UN official told The Guardian:

“Israel is not simply failing to comply with the ICJ. It is deliberately pursuing the opposite course,  accelerating famine and destruction.”

Timeline: Key Turning Points.

October 7, 2023: Hamas attack on Israel; Israel begins full-scale assault on Gaza.
January 26, 2024: ICJ orders Israel to prevent genocide and allow humanitarian aid.
March 18, 2024: Ceasefire collapses; ICJ strengthens provisional measures.
August 2025: UN IPC declares Gaza a famine zone; 500,000+ at catastrophic risk.
September 28, 2025: 36 Palestinians killed in a single day; infant Eid Abu Jamma dies of malnutrition.

Conclusion: Engineered Destruction, Weaponised Starvation, And Impunity.

The deaths of civilians, the collapse of hospitals, and the systematic starvation of Gaza’s population are not incidental; they are the predictable outcome of deliberate state policy. Starvation has been weaponised and politically manipulated, used to control, punish, and terrorise civilians.

Coupled with the Dahiya Doctrine and confirmed by whistleblower testimonies, Israel’s actions constitute genocide under Articles II(a), (b), and (c) of the Genocide Convention. The defiance of binding ICJ measures demonstrates impunity and political shieldedness, leaving civilians at the mercy of engineered deprivation.

Baby Eid Abu Jamma’s death is emblematic: children, families, and entire communities are being deliberately deprived of life-sustaining resources. Without immediate humanitarian access and international accountability, Gaza will continue to experience systematic destruction and genocide in real time, with starvation serving as both a weapon of war and a tool of political manipulation.

“We are not just treating injuries anymore. We are watching children starve to death in our arms,” said one medic, a chilling testament to the deliberate targeting of life itself.

The world can no longer remain passive. Confronting Israel’s engineered destruction, the weaponisation of hunger, and the systematic erasure of a people is now a legal, moral, and humanitarian imperative.

Gaza’s Engineered Catastrophe — Key Milestones: