NextFin news, Amnesty International on August 18, 2025, publicly accused Israel of carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation against the population of the Gaza Strip. The human rights organization released a report based on recent interviews with 19 displaced Palestinians sheltering in three makeshift camps and two medical staff members from Gaza City hospitals.
The report states that Israel is systematically destroying the health, well-being, and social fabric of Palestinian life in Gaza. Amnesty International described this as the intended outcome of Israeli plans and policies implemented over the past 22 months, aimed at inflicting conditions calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza. The group characterized these actions as part of an ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the territory.
According to Gaza's Health Ministry, seven people, including two children, died from malnutrition-related causes on Sunday, August 17, 2025. The United Nations has warned that starvation and malnutrition levels in Gaza are at their highest since the war began nearly two years ago.
Amnesty's report cites testimonies from displaced Palestinians who have not consumed fresh or nutritious food such as eggs, fish, meat, tomatoes, or cucumbers for at least a month. The scarcity is attributed to Israel's blockade and the destruction of food production sources, including agricultural land and livestock farms, through military operations.
The report also highlights the severe impact on vulnerable groups, particularly pregnant and breastfeeding women, many of whom suffer from malnutrition. One nurse displaced to a camp in Gaza City described the struggle to feed her children and the lack of infant formula and medical supplies. Humanitarian organizations have faced repeated restrictions and denials from Israeli authorities to bring in lifesaving aid, including antibiotics.
Amnesty International's senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas, condemned the international system for allowing Israel to act with near-total impunity. She emphasized the catastrophic impact of Israel's blockade and military actions on civilians, especially children and vulnerable populations.
Israel has repeatedly rejected claims of deliberate starvation, with the Israeli defense ministry's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) disputing malnutrition figures provided by Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.
Meanwhile, hospitals and witnesses in Gaza reported that Israeli forces killed at least 17 people seeking humanitarian aid on Sunday, including nine near UN aid trucks at the Morag corridor. Eyewitnesses described Israeli snipers firing to disperse crowds awaiting aid convoys.
Amnesty International's report and the Gaza Health Ministry's data underscore the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza amid ongoing conflict and blockade as of August 2025.
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