Genocide Starvation In Gaza and The Silence of Powerful States

 

By Isaac Christopher Lubogo

 

I. Introduction: A Famine Not of Nature, But of Choice

 

There are famines born of drought. Others of war. But what is unfolding in Gaza today is not a famine of God’s wrath or environmental misfortune—it is a famine of man’s design. It is the calculated starvation of a besieged people, under the eyes of the so-called civilized world. And worst of all, it is the children—emaciated, skeletal, voiceless—who suffer most.

 

In the halls of global diplomacy and behind the glittering oil towers of Riyadh, Doha, and Abu Dhabi, the death rattle of a Gazan child is drowned out by oil contracts, political interests, and shameful silence. But the statistics cannot be silenced. The figures are horrifying. The complicity—both passive and active—is even more damning.

 

 

 

II. The Genocide of Hunger: Starvation as Weapon

 

> “Starvation is not a byproduct of war. In Gaza, it is the war.”

 

 

 

Since the full blockade in March 2025, Gaza has descended into a humanitarian hell. Israel’s bombing campaigns decimated bakeries, silos, and mills. Its naval and land siege blocked food, water, fuel, and medicine. The consequences?

 

As of July 23, 2025:

 

Over 111 people have died from starvation,

 

More than 80 of them were children.

 

On July 22 alone, 15 Gazans, including 4 children, perished from hunger in 24 hours.

 

 

 

These aren’t isolated deaths. They are the tip of the iceberg in a humanitarian crisis that has claimed over 62,000 lives due to indirect effects like starvation and untreated illness, according to the Watson Institute at Brown University.

 

 

III. Children: The Face of the Famine

 

No image haunts Gaza’s hunger more than that of a child—eyes sunken, ribs protruding, limbs limp, and breath shallow. Children under five now face the brunt of a blockade engineered not only to punish a people but to break their future.

 

Over 30,000 children under five are in critical condition due to severe acute malnutrition.

 

100,000 women and children face debilitating hunger, unable to find milk, porridge, or clean water.

 

Aid convoys are not just delayed—they are shot at.

 

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while queuing for food.

 

Distribution points have been targeted with drones and artillery.

 

 

IV. The Criminal Silence of the “Civilized” World

 

What is more painful than the famine is the global silence that accompanies it. Where are the great democracies that preach liberty? Where are the self-declared guardians of human rights?

 

Their weapons are present. Their words are not.

 

The U.S. continues its unconditional support of Israel’s military, despite growing legal consensus that starvation is being weaponized—arguably qualifying under Article II of the Genocide Convention as an act of deliberate extermination.

 

The European Union, with all its laws and moral codes, issues muted statements while its member states continue arms exports to Israel.

 

The United Nations issues warnings, yes, but is politically gagged. The world listens not to its plea—but to the bombs and blockades.

 

 

V. The Arab Shame: Oil-Rich, Heart-Poor

 

> “What shall it profit a kingdom if it gains the world’s oil contracts, yet lets its neighbour’s child die of hunger?”

 

 

 

The betrayal by wealthy Arab nations is perhaps the most damning. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE boast oil revenues in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

 

And yet, when Gaza gasps for air, these kings of petroleum offer little more than press releases and token relief packages. Just 10% of the oil profits from these states could fully fund:

 

Reconstruction of Gaza’s hospitals and schools

 

Emergency food and water distribution

 

Long-term rehabilitation for starving children

 

 

But this is not about money—it’s about will. And will is absent when diplomacy is bought by contracts and loyalties are tethered to western patronage.

 

 

VI. “Not Worth a Fingernail”: A Dehumanizing Doctrine

 

The haunting ideology behind this genocide of starvation is perhaps best summed up by a 1994 funeral speech for extremist settler Baruch Goldstein, where Rabbi Yaacov Perrin declared:

 

> “One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail.”

 

 

 

Let those words sink in.

 

This is the hierarchy of life that underpins policies of starvation, displacement, and indifference. The child who dies in Deir al-Balah is, to these minds, not human enough. The mother who cries over her starved infant is seen as collateral. The boy who eats grass in Beit Hanoun is not a symbol of tragedy—but a necessary consequence of “security.”

 

 

VII. Legal Grounds: Genocide by Starvation

 

What is unfolding in Gaza is not just immoral—it may be illegal under international law.

 

According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court:

 

> “Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” constitutes a war crime.

 

 

 

The UN Special Rapporteurs and 100+ humanitarian agencies now openly accuse Israel of this crime. This is no longer a fringe claim—it is a formal indictment.

 

Starvation is not “collateral damage.” It is policy.

 

 

VIII. A Global Indictment and A Call to Action

 

This is a famine that shames humanity.

 

It is an indictment of the world’s institutions, its hierarchies of empathy, and its failure to act when the most basic human right—the right to eat, to live, to breathe—is stolen.

 

This is not just a Gazan issue.

 

This is a test of whether children anywhere can be bombed, starved, and erased under the nose of the modern international system.

 

 

IX. Conclusion: Let History Remember Us Correctly

 

Let it not be said that the world didn’t know.

 

Let it not be said that Saudi Arabia, UAE, and others had no means to intervene.

 

Let it not be said that democracies couldn’t halt arms shipments or lift the siege.

 

Let it only be said that in this generation of enlightenment, civilization chose silence, and children died with empty stomachs and open eyes.

 

For if we fail Gaza today, we fail ourselves tomorrow.

And history does not forget those who watched children starve and chose applause over action.

 

🕊️ Written in memory of the unnamed child who starved while the world debated his worth.

— Isaac Christopher Lubogo