From the Roman sieges to modern conflicts, starvation has long been wielded as a weapon of war, and despite international laws prohibiting it, the world continues to witness its inhumane use—from the Bengal Famine to Gaza—underscoring a global failure to hold perpetrators accountable.

Hunger and starvation, as weapons of war, are among the oldest tools used in conflicts between warring factions. They have been present from Roman times to modern conflicts. In recent history, Britain's conduct in the Boer Wars and the Bengal Famine—where Prime Minister Winston Churchill, to his eternal discredit, diverted food grown by natives to support the war effort elsewhere—stands out as a harbinger and a horrific example of this inhumane tactic, leaving a blot on the history of mankind.
Adolf Hitler's infamous 'Hunger Plan' killed over four million Soviet citizens during WWII, not to mention the victims of thousands of its concentration camps in Nazi Germany and occupied territories in Europe, the majority of whom were of the Jewish faith. They were exterminated after reducing them to walking skeletons through systematic malnutrition, eventually resulting in starvation and death. 
The media reach and cinematic depiction of a few decades ago weren't as prolific or intrusive as today. Still, even then, one would have thought that post-WWII, the voluminous literature about this despicable phenomenon would have jolted the world's collective consciousness sufficiently to at least curb its further use. This has unfortunately not happened. On the contrary, hunger and starvation have become almost indigenous to armed conflicts between nations these days. This is particularly disappointing when it comes from the state of Israel, where the ancestors of its citizens had been subjected to the worst form of inhuman treatment not long ago. One of the factors in how Israel came into existence was the sympathy factor for its people after what they had gone through years by a barbarian regime in Germany. 
Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel, high-ranking Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant,1 National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir,2 and Energy Minister Israel Katz3 have made public statements expressing their aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of food, water, and fuel—statements reflecting a policy being carried out by Israeli forces. Other Israeli officials have publicly stated that humanitarian aid to Gaza would be conditioned either on the release of hostages unlawfully held by Hamas or Hamas' destruction. 
The Israeli government is using the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime in the view of Human Rights Watch (HRW).4 In this conflict, Israeli forces have deliberately blocked the delivery of water, food, and fuel while willfully razing agricultural areas and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival.
Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza, as well as its more than 16-year closure, amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population and is a war crime by any definition. As the occupying power in Gaza under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel must ensure that the civilian population gets food and medical supplies. 

One of the factors in how Israel came into existence was the sympathy factor for its people after what they had gone through years by a barbarian regime in Germany.

Prior to the current hostilities, 1.2 million of Gaza’s 2.2 million people were estimated to be facing acute food insecurity,5 and over 80 percent were reliant on humanitarian aid. Israel maintains overarching control6 over Gaza, including the movement of people and goods, territorial waters, airspace, the infrastructure upon which Gaza relies, and the registry of the population.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP), at least 70 percent of the world's hungry people live in conflict-affected areas and are subjected to starvation. Instances of intentional and organized deprivation of civilians of objects indispensable to their survival (OIS) are widespread. Time and again, warring parties have been accused of disrupting food systems and using starvation for military gains. An increasing number of civilians have been rendered food-insecure as food stocks are looted during conflicts, and infrastructure necessary for production and distribution is often destroyed.

The Israeli government is using the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime in the view of Human Rights Watch.

There have been efforts at the global level to check this phenomenon, which has been codified as International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Criminal Law (ICL). The international community has also made some half-hearted efforts in emphasizing the link between hunger through relevant UN Resolutions that condemn the starving of civilians as a method of warfare and call upon parties to armed conflict to comply with their obligations under IHL. Still, these efforts have largely been ineffective mainly because the accountability mechanism, so essential for the success of these efforts, fails to identify perpetrators of these despicable actions or it cannot withstand pressures generated by global political dynamics.
In the last decade or so, approximately 60 percent of the 815 million people suffering from hunger have been living in conflict zones. IHL and International Criminal Law (ICL) provide a framework of rules to protect populations from food insecurity caused by conflict. The recent widespread scenes of hunger in Gaza are clear evidence that Israel is using the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the region. Thousands of Gazans have died as a result of malnutrition and starvation. Yet, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) addressed this barbarity mildly, referring to it merely as "tragic" and "man-made"—despite being both predictable and entirely preventable.
This velvet glove approach persists even as aid agencies continuously warn that famine in Gaza is “almost inevitable” unless Israel’s blockade is lifted and immediate assistance is provided. Some time ago, on two separate occasions, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for food trucks carrying flour into Gaza City, killing at least 100 people and injuring 700 others.
Like the evolution of all laws over time, the global codification of measures to curb this inhuman activity has also undergone different phases. In 1863, Francis Lieber, a German-American jurist during the American Civil War, framed the Lieber Code, which was endorsed by major powers at the time. Surprisingly, the Code held that it was lawful to starve hostile belligerents, armed or unarmed, if it led to the speedier subjugation of the enemy.
This stance underwent a dramatic transformation later, forming the basis for The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. A further review followed the publication of the Report of the Commission on the Responsibilities of the Authors of War, which held that the deliberate starvation of civilians was a violation of the laws and customs of war. Today, the prohibition on using starvation as a weapon in both international and non-international armed conflicts is codified in the Additional Protocols of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions. While this principle was considered novel at the time of adoption, it has since become a fundamental aspect of customary international humanitarian law IHL.
International Humanitarian Law IHL, however, is far from perfect, and belligerents often exploit loopholes to serve their own interests. For example, what one party considers indispensable to the survival of the civilian population may not be seen the same way by another. Similarly, the definition of objects indispensable to survival is broad, allowing the stronger party to manipulate it to its advantage. Other areas of concern include the threshold of need, the purpose of starvation, the methods employed, the distinction between international and non-international conflicts, and the protection of medical areas and hospitals.
Despite growing concern over the use of hunger as a weapon of war in conflict areas and the recognition of IHL and ICL rules as 'lines of defense’ against starvation in armed conflict, accountability is difficult to achieve. The prohibition on starvation under IHL and the war crime of starvation in ICL fail to account for the many situations where warring parties do not pursue policies whose direct or indirect purpose is starving civilians, allowing cases of collateral famine to slip through the cracks. 
Additionally, where clear violations of IHL and ICL have been committed, it is often impossible to identify a clear perpetrator, restricting the viability of accountability procedures. To address this, it is imperative to have a wider global consensus on the obligations of parties to an armed conflict, which are broader than those acts that result in individual criminal responsibility, and to leverage IHL and ICL concepts to fill lacunas in the law. 
Finally, the international community must elevate the public and political profile of the crime to make it so morally deplorable that its usage is no longer normalized. This will build political pressure to fight impunity for starvation as a method of warfare.

The writer is a retired Vice Admiral of the Pakistan Navy and a distinguished expert on national security issues. 
E-mail: [email protected]

1. Fabian, Emanuel. 2023. “Defense Minister Announces ‘Complete Siege’ of Gaza: No Power, Food or Fuel.” Times of Israel. October 9, 2023. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/defense-minister-announces-complete-siege-of-gaza-no-power-food-or-fuel/.
2. X (Formerly Twitter). 2024. https://x.com/itamarbengvir/status/1714340519487176791.
3. X (Formerly Twitter). 2025. https://x.com/Israel_katz/status/1713807517816348906.
4. “Israel/Palestine | Country Page | World | Human Rights Watch.” n.d. www.hrw.org. https://www.hrw.org/middle-east/north-africa/israel/palestine.
5. “The World Cannot Stand by as Starvation Is Used as a Weapon of War in Gaza—Occupied Palestinian Territory.” 2023. ReliefWeb. November 20, 2023. 
   https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/world-cannot-stand-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza.
6. Shakir, Omar. 2021. “A Threshold Crossed.” Human Rights Watch. April 27, 2021. https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution#_ftn700.