Joint Statement on the Israeli Occupation’s
Use of Starvation as a Tool of Genocide
International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine
We, the undersigned organizations and movements, vehemently denounce the Israeli occupation’s use of starvation as a tool of genocide in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli occupation’s systematic destruction of Palestinian food systems, deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure, and obstruction of humanitarian aid constitute egregious violations of international law and fundamental human rights principles.
We call on all states and international institutions to undertake any and all action possible including sanctions and arms embargoes to bring an immediate end to the obstruction of humanitarian, life sustaining, and life-saving supplies to Palestinians in Gaza, to investigate all state and non-state actors who have directly and indirectly participated in the obstruction and/or destruction of supplies to Gaza, and we ask that the campaign to de-fund UNRWA be investigated as a possible act toward furtherance and facilitation of starvation and/or genocide.
The deliberate withholding of essential resources, including food, with the intent of starving the Palestinian population of Gaza constitutes a gross violation of international law, human rights, and the principles of justice and humanity. Article II (c) of the Genocide Convention defines as genocide “Deliberately inflicting on [a national, ethnical, racial or religious] group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
The Israeli occupation’s deliberate destruction of Palestinian food systems and obstruction of humanitarian aid by Israel clearly fall within the ambit of this definition. These actions also flagrantly violate the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which safeguards the rights of civilians during times of armed conflict, and constitute crimes against humanity, as recognized under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The disruption and destruction of Palestinian food systems by the Israeli occupation exacerbate the dire situation in Gaza and are not merely intended to starve the population in the short term. The current deliberate targeting by Israel of agricultural lands, livestock, and fishing boats (a genocidal intensification of 75 years of brutal settler colonial occupation that has denied Palestinians their right to self-rule) further undermines the ability of Palestinians to access and produce food, and is intended to ensure their ongoing poverty and malnutrition, and deny them the fundamental right to food sovereignty.
Just as the bombing of civilian populations in Gaza constitute “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” these too are genocidal acts to which not only Israel but all the countries, individuals and corporations supplying weapons to and otherwise supporting the Israeli Occupation Forces are complicit.
Similarly, the ongoing attacks on and defunding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) by Israel’s allies makes them complicit in the use of starvation as genocide.
We demand that all possible actions, including those mentioned above, be taken to end the use of starvation as genocide in Gaza, and that the perpetrators of and accomplices to this heinous crime be brought to justice.
Signatories (Partial List)
- Union of Agricultural Work Committees, Palestine
- Palestinian Assembly for Liberation, International
- PAL Commission on War Crimes, International
- Global Legal Alliance for Palestine, International
- PAL-Awda NY/NJ, USA
- PAL-Awda Ohio, USA
- Popular Resistance, USA
- Black Alliance for Peace, USA
- CODEPINK, USA
- Palestine Solidarity Alliance Youth League (PSA YL), South Africa
- International Association of Democratic Lawyers, International
- Comité Internacional Paz, Justicia y Dignidad a los Pueblos, International
- Consejo de Educación Popular de América Latina y el Caribe – CEAAL International
- La Araña Feminista/ MMM Venezuela
- Asamblea Social de Luchas y Resistencias del Foro Social Mundial International
- Universidad Popular de Movimientos Sociales (UPMS), International
- Asociación Egeria desarrollo social, Spain
- Uno y Múltiple (Antropologías de Venezuela) Venezuela
- Mujeres por la Paz, Spain
- Movimiento Evita, Argentina
- Keshab Khadka, Nepal
- Tax and Fiscal Justice Alliance, Nepal
- Fórum de Política Feminista de Granada, Spain
- Food Sovereignty and Climate Justice Forum, Nepal
- Canadian Voices for Palestinian Rights, Canada
- ContrahegemoniaWeb, Argentina
- Liga de Unidad Socialista (LUS), Mexico
- Colectivo de Reflexión Universitario (CRU) de la Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico
- Opal Group International
- Comite de Solidadid con Palestina en Guadalajara, Mexico
- Mexiro AC, Mexico
- Movimiento Comunista Mexicano – MCM Núcleo Jalisco, Mexico
- Transcontingenta, Mexico
- CIOAC ROJA – Jalisco. CENTRAL INDEPENDIENTE DE OBREROS AGRÍCOLAS Y CAMPESINOS, Mexico
- MOVIMIENTO COMUNISTA MEXICANO – Núcleo Jalisco, Mexico
- Movimiento Garibaldi, Mexico
- Memoria y resistencia, Mexico
- Asociación de la comunidad hispanopalestina Jerusalén, Spain
- Intersindical Soludària, Spain
- Mujeres Por La Igualdad Calo, Spain
- Partido Comunista de los Pueblos de España (PCPE), Spain
- Forum de Política Feminista Córdoba Spain
- Bizilur, Basque Country
- Comité de solidaridad con los pueblos – Interpueblos Cantabria, Spain
- Foro Feminista de Castilla y León, Spain
- ADAVAS – León, Spain
- Fórum Feminista de Madrid, Spain
- Sindicato Independiente de Trabajadores de la Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México, Mexico
- Peace Action Montgomery, USA
- Migrant Roots Media, USA
- Quad Cities Coalition for Palestine, USA
- International Jurists Union IJU – Geneva office, Switzerland
- Geneva Centre for Democracy & Human Rights, Switzerland
- Centro di ricerca ed elaborazione per la democrazia (CRED), Italy
- Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Illinois – Chicago, USA
- Chicago United Solidarity Project (CUSP), USA
- American Civic and Humanitarian Coalition, USA
- Environmentalists Against War, USA
