A UN committee chair has condemned the “deliberate starvation” of women and girls in Gaza as a “war crime”.
Nahla Haidar El Addal, chair of the committee on the elimination of discrimination against women (CEDAW) said that the “act of seeking food has become a death sentence”.
After the October 7 2023 attack by Hamas in Israel, defence minister Yoav Gallant declared a “complete siege” of Gaza, with Israel cutting off the supply of food, water, fuel and electricity to [[Gaza]].
By December that year, Gazans accounted for 80% of the people in the world experiencing catastrophic hunger. Now, there is widespread starvation and malnutrition, primarily impacting women and girls.
More than 20,000 children are reported to have been hospitalised for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an initiative that provides data on hunger and famine to aid groups and the UN.
And now, El Addal has criticised the “man-made famine” imposed by Israel, particularly on women and girls in Gaza.
“It is a catastrophe that negates our shared humanity,” she said in a statement.
“We reiterate our demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
“Their suffering and that of their families must end now.
“Over one million women and girls in Gaza are being deliberately starved.
“The entire population faces catastrophic hunger, when the simple act of seeking food has become a death sentence.”
She added that there had been a “total collapse” in basic conditions required to sustain human life, with women paying the “heaviest price”.
“It is an assault on women's right to health, as mothers watch their infants starve.
“It destroys women's economic lives, erasing their ability to provide for their families.
“And it is a form of gendered coercion, forcing women to risk death in militarized aid lines just to find bread.”
El Addal said Israel’s “systematic deprivation of food” amounts to a “war crime of starvation”, and a breach of legally binding orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“This disregard for international law must not prevail,” she said.
“There must be an immediate and permanent ceasefire to end this devastating war.
“The siege on Gaza must be lifted to allow a massive, unhindered flow of aid through the relevant UN entities.”
El Addal then urged countries to stop supplying arms to Israel that are fueling the crisis, and called on the UN Security Council to “enforce the law”.
“The UN Security Council must, at last, enforce the law,” she added.
“The women and girls of Gaza are not collateral damage; they are the targets of this famine.
"Accountability must be pursued.
“We will not be silent witnesses to the ultimate form of discrimination: the deliberate destruction of the right to exist.”
It comes as a UN expert who previously warned Israel was orchestrating a campaign of deliberate mass starvation said that governments cannot claim to be surprised at what is now unfolding.
Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, told The Guardian: “Israel has built the most efficient starvation machine you can imagine.
“So while it’s always shocking to see people being starved, no one should act surprised. All the information has been out in the open since early 2024.”
