The briefing given to the UN Security Council last week by Tom Fletcher, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, was a grave reminder of the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Fletcher asked the members of the council “to reflect — for a moment — on what action we will tell future generations we each took to stop the 21st-century atrocity to which we bear daily witness in Gaza.” Unfortunately, the sad answer is that, in the face of Israel blocking humanitarian aid and commercial supplies into Gaza for more than two months, not much has been done to lift this latest form of blockade, which is even more terrifying in the face of Israel intensifying its military operations in Gaza.

Blocking humanitarian aid is not a new addition to Israel’s toolbox for pressurizing the people of Gaza, and it did not start in the aftermath of Oct. 7, 2023. Nevertheless, following 19 months of military campaigning, the need for aid is now on a completely different scale and its supply or prevention can literally make the difference between life and death. Under immense pressure from the international community, and this time from allies, among them the US, UK, France and Canada, Israel on Sunday agreed to allow what it calls a “basic amount” of food into Gaza. But this is no more than a drop in the ocean of what is urgently required after months on end of war and 11 weeks of blocking all humanitarian aid.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which is a global initiative used to analyze and classify the severity and magnitude of food insecurity and acute malnutrition, the whole of Gaza is classified as an emergency area, with about a quarter of the 2.1 million people across the Strip facing starvation. For Israeli spokespeople to argue there is no shortage of food in Gaza and, anyway, it is all the fault of Hamas for deliberately depriving its own population of food or demanding extortionist prices for it to finance its war is both disingenuous and extremely imprudent. And, in any case, it shows Israel in an appalling light, as it once again puts itself on the same level as an organization proscribed in many countries as a terrorist group.

Israel has had problematic relations with international law for a very long time, and not only in relation to the Palestinians

Yossi Mekelberg

Considering the death and devastation it has inflicted on the people of Gaza, and its security forces’ constant displacing of them from their prewar homes, it is Israel’s responsibility to ensure that humanitarian aid is entering Gaza. The Fourth Geneva Convention is clear that, “to the fullest extent of the means available to it, the occupying power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.” And it should “allow the free passage of all consignments of medical and hospital stores.”

This is a clear legal obligation that Israel has, in addition to a moral one, to not victimize a civilian population, including in a time of war and even while fighting a cruel enemy.

Israel has had problematic relations with international law for a very long time, and not only in relation to the Palestinians, although it is the Palestinians above all who are on the receiving end of Israel’s treatment of international law as a mere suggestion.

Even if, for a brief moment, one puts aside the moral and legal arguments, there is also no political wisdom in punishing an entire population that has already gone through unimaginable suffering and not accepting, like it or not, that you are destined to live with them as neighbors. Listening to Israeli officials making lame efforts to explain their blocking of humanitarian aid from entering Gaza suggests that they are still stuck in Oct. 7, as if the intervening year and a half never happened. The trauma and anger created by that event is only human and understandable, but directing it against innocent people with such ferocity and cruelty is categorically inhuman.

UNRWA, the UN agency in charge of providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians, says it has already run out of flour and food parcels, while only nine of its 27 health centers are operational at a time when the need for them is desperate and increasing. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini was last week unequivocal in his opinion that the blocking of humanitarian aid, including food, is being used by Israel as a weapon of war, which could be qualified as a war crime by the International Court of Justice. He added that “there is absolutely no doubt that we are talking about massive atrocities” unfolding in the Gaza Strip that “could end up to genocide.”

This echoed what Fletcher told the UNSC — that “Israel is deliberately and unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians” in Gaza, allowing in no food, medicine, water or tents. Temperatures in Gaza have this week already reached 30 degrees Celsius in the shade — and there is not much shade.

If Israelis think all this is being made up by those who hate Israel, then they can always listen to their defense minister

Yossi Mekelberg

But if Israelis think that all this is being made up by those who hate Israel, then they can always listen to what their defense minister said last month. Israel Katz plainly declared: “Israel’s policy is clear: no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza, and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population.”

In other words, using starvation and the withdrawal of medical aid, along with other basic human needs, is a tool of war. With this attitude — and when one of its most senior officials unashamedly admits it in public — Israel should not be surprised that it is being accused of war crimes.

Some Israeli politicians and strategists suggest that the objective of making the life of Palestinians in Gaza utter misery is to turn them against Hamas and topple it. If so, it is a method that has been tried and has failed ever since Hamas won elections nearly 20 years ago. As is Israel’s method of assassinating the group’s leaders without offering any political horizon.

Others, with even less moral fabric, are prepared to admit that the aim of depriving the Palestinians of Gaza of humanitarian aid is to make their life intolerable to the extent that they will leave as a result. No need to dwell on the morality or legality of this approach, as if those who express it are longing to end up in court in The Hague, but they should also have learned by now that this approach does not work. Instead, it only fuels hatred and radicalization and brings Israel to the brink of becoming a pariah state.

It might be the case that, for a multitude of reasons, Israel is finding it difficult to internalize this message. However, by agreeing to allow some humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza — but far from enough — it has the worst of all worlds. It exposes that the current Israeli government is susceptible to international pressure, but without changing its image as disrespectful to international law and equally as careless about the fate of more than 2 million people who face starvation. 

• Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg