Gaza Famine – Déjà vu?

“Families in Gaza are starving” yet again according to World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain. Israel banned the entry of all aid to the Gaza Strip on March 2 in response to faltering hostage negotiations. Israel accuses Hamas of stockpiling aid, reselling it and using the profits to finance military activities. Humanitarian organisations deny that any significant amount of aid is diverted by Hamas.

WFP recently reported its food stocks were depleted and its bakeries had to shut down over shortages of flour and fuel. The World Central Kitchen likewise facing empty warehouses suspended its operations earlier this month.

The UN organisation responsible for monitoring acute food insecurity (IPC) released a snapshot projecting nearly half a million people (1 in 5) would be experiencing catastrophic food insecurity between May and September 2025 including over 70,000 cases of acute malnutrition in children under the age of 5. The report cited empty warehouses, soaring food prices and deteriorating trend in the incidence of acute malnutrition.

Critics were quick to point out that the IPC had repeatedly issued dramatic warnings of impending famine before only to be contradicted later by its own Famine Review Committee. 57 starvation deaths claimed by the Gaza Ministry of Health remain unverifiable and in any case far from famine levels. The incidence of acute malnutrition in children was up in April (4.2%) from February (2.5%) but still in line with prewar estimates and also far from famine levels. According to the IPC technical manual anything less than 5% is indicative of phase 1 (Acceptable) or 2 (Alert) out of 5, the classification of 2 to 3 (Serious) assigned in the Gaza snapshot was not explained.

So far, so familiar – sensationalist warnings by UN organisations bereft of any factual basis are sadly nothing new. However, this time Israeli officials have joined the chorus of concern warning that food may be running out in the coming weeks. Israel and the US have been working on an alternative aid distribution plan aiming to limit opportunities for Hamas diversion. According to early, unconfirmed reports the Israeli government has agreed to lift the aid ban while the alternative plan is gradually rolled out.

In the meantime, a new consensus has formed in Europe condemning the blockade of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

Be it, because Europe needs to be in the Muslim world’s good graces to stem the tide of African and Middle Eastern migrants.

Be it, because the return of Donald Trump has awakened Europe to the fact that it is middle-aged and still living in its parents’ basement (militarily speaking) and will need partners like Turkey for armaments and the Gulf Arabs for energy commodities in its looming confrontation with Russia.

Or be it because Hamas’s willingness – one is invariably tempted to say eagerness – to treat its own population as utterly expendable is so bizarre that politicians around the globe simply fail to compute.

Whatever the reason, more and more European leaders have come out erroneously admonishing violations of international law:

French president Emmanuel Macron called the aid blockade “unacceptable” and “shameful” and called for European sanctions on Israel. The European Union will review its trade ties with Israel following a letter from Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, in which he mused the Israeli system of distributing aid “does not appear to be compatible with the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence, and would not allow for the unconditional and unhindered distribution of aid to people in need.”

Kallas herself has asserted Israel’s right to self-defence but called its actions disproportionate and more recently called the situation in Gaza “untenable” and urged “Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza immediately.” Remarks like these have become a bit of a theme wherein nominal support is offered, but concrete demands regarding military conduct are exclusively addressed to Israel (Hamas is sometimes called upon to release the Israeli hostages, but never to disarm or to stop embedding itself in the civilian population and stealing humanitarian aid.)

For instance, Austrian Foreign minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said (German link) the clear position of the Austrian Government is that “after October 7 we stand beside Israel […] but at the same time we demand compliance with international law and the withholding of humanitarian aid is a breach of international law.”

They are almost correct. Under normal circumstances, which is to say when one side is not actively trying to “martyr” its own civilian population, parties to a conflict would be required to facilitate humanitarian aid. However, the relevant provision, in recognition of the necessity to pre-empt cynical actors attempting to weaponise humanitarian law, allows for the withholding of aid in cases where there is a credible risk of diversion.

There is, of course, no shortage of evidence of Hamas militants diverting aid. Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas concurs, saying in early May that he “held Hamas affiliated gangs primarily responsible” for “looting and theft […] targeting warehouses and storage facilities of humanitarian aid.” Even humanitarian organisations do not deny the occurrence of aid diversion. They merely deny its occurrence in any significant amounts.

But something does not add up here: During the six-week truce between January 19 and March 2, COGAT facilitated the entrance into Gaza of nearly 340,000 tons of food. To put this in perspective, it amounts to a quarter of all food that has entered the Strip since October 2023 and well over half a year’s worth of supply. How, then, is it possible that Gazans are running out of food after barely two months of no aid?

There is a world in which Gaza is approaching the brink of starvation and there is a world in which no significant amounts of food are diverted by Hamas. Both cannot be true at the same time.

If anybody could be said to weaponise starvation in Gaza, it is the eternally uncriticised Hamas terror group. Its role in the ongoing suffering in the Strip undoubtedly deserves a lot more European attention.

While the EU does not fund Hamas as such, it is one of the largest foreign financial contributors to the PA and I look forward to the day when it makes good on its promise to being committed to peaceful coexistence by wielding this influence to eliminate antisemitic and terror-glorifying contents from PA textbooks.

The EU is also responsible for more than 40% of UNRWA’s budget – the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. I look forward to the day when EU countries will review and call out all the various UNRWA transgressions so as to prove that their Israel scolding is not merely an opportunistic sanctimonious virtue signalling towards its TikTok-deranged electorate and geopolitically much more powerful Muslim partners trying to bully Israel into defencelessness.

Who knows? The day may yet come when EU leaders grow a spine…

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A German version of this article was first published by the Austrian think tank Mena-Watch.