//Gaza's Agony: How Israel’s “Deprivation by Design” Starves and Bombs Palestinians Into Silence//
 |
| Palestinians carrying the bodies of their family members killed in Israeli airstrikes for burial. April 28, 2025. |
In the heart of Gaza, where humanity once thrived amid hardship, a grim campaign of starvation, daily airstrikes, and mass civilian deaths has turned an already dire situation into one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time. This tragedy, unfolding without pause, is not an accident—it is what UN officials and human rights groups now call “deprivation by design.” As bombs rain down and food supplies vanish, Israel's systematic blockade and military assault are wiping out families, destroying homes, and pushing over two million people to the brink of famine.
Entire Families Erased Overnight
One of the most haunting scenes in recent weeks came on April 26, 2025, when the al-Khour family—three generations—were obliterated in a single Israeli airstrike targeting their home in the al-Sabra neighborhood of Gaza. The patriarch, Talal al-Khour, his children, grandchildren, and wives—22 people in all, including 12 children—were killed in their sleep. A neighbor described the strike as a quake, and rescue workers had to dig through rubble with bare hands due to a lack of equipment. Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal said screams of the trapped echoed until they eventually fell silent. Israel has banned the entry of rescue tools and targeted the few bulldozers that remain.
Daily Bombings: Nowhere Is Safe
Since resuming its bombing campaign on March 18, Israel’s military has unleashed a relentless storm of destruction across Gaza. Each day, airstrikes target homes, refugee camps, medical facilities, humanitarian kitchens, and even declared “safe zones.” In a single 24-hour period, multiple strikes were reported in Nuseirat, Jabaliya, and Khan Younis, killing dozens, including many children. No place is truly safe—civilians die in cafes, tents, or on rooftops. Even fishermen near Gaza’s coast are being targeted.
This systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure has paralyzed humanitarian relief and basic survival. Bulldozers donated by international agencies have been bombed, preventing rescue operations. More than 30 machines were destroyed in just 48 hours.
The Use of Starvation as a Weapon
One of the most shocking aspects of the assault is the use of starvation as a deliberate tool of war. Since March 2, Israel has sealed Gaza entirely, denying all food, fuel, and medicine. This is the longest blockade since the war began in October 2023. According to the Gaza Government Media Office, more than 65,000 children are now hospitalized with severe malnutrition. Entire bakeries have shut down, food prices have skyrocketed by 1,400%, and available flour is often infested with insects.
Families now mix crushed pasta with moldy flour to make bread. With cooking fuel exhausted, people burn plastic waste just to heat food. Desperate to survive, many forage for wild plants or consume sea turtles that wash ashore. Humanitarian groups have sounded the alarm, declaring famine not just a threat—but a present reality.
Mass Displacement and the “Shrinking Gaza” Strategy
The humanitarian catastrophe is compounded by forced displacement. The Israeli army has designated over 70% of Gaza as “no-go zones,” pushing civilians into overcrowded slivers of land. Since mid-March, at least 420,000 Palestinians have been displaced again—many of them for the fourth or fifth time. With no shelters, they sleep in rubble or makeshift tents under constant threat of attack.
UN officials and aid groups describe this as a deliberate strategy to strangle Gaza’s population, collapse civil order, and eliminate any functional Palestinian society.
Hospitals Bombed, Healthcare Collapsing
Hospitals have not been spared. The al-Ahli and Al Durrah hospitals in Gaza City, the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, and the Kuwaiti Field Hospital have all come under fire. Emergency workers and first responders have been targeted, with 15 aid workers killed in recent weeks. Medicine, surgical tools, and basic hospital supplies are exhausted. The few functioning hospitals operate without electricity, clean water, or proper sanitation.
The World Food Program has officially run out of food. The UN warns Gaza faces the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.
Why This Is No Ordinary War
What makes the situation in Gaza so alarming is that it is not an unintended byproduct of war—it is a calculated military and political strategy. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz openly stated that humanitarian aid will not be allowed into Gaza, calling starvation a “pressure lever” to break Hamas. This collective punishment violates international law, yet no meaningful intervention has come from global powers.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called these acts “war crimes,” pointing to the deliberate targeting of civilians and the use of food and water as weapons. Over 2,300 Palestinians have been killed in just six weeks, including 740 children. Since October, more than 2,180 entire families have been annihilated—every single member killed. Over 5,000 families are left with only one surviving member.
The Media Blackout and Global Silence
Despite the horror, the global media has largely failed to sustain attention on Gaza’s tragedy. Major outlets occasionally highlight key events, but comprehensive coverage is rare. Meanwhile, local journalists like Anas al-Sharif risk their lives to document the massacres. “We are being slaughtered from vein to vein,” he wrote on social media, describing the horrors that play out daily.
International leaders have issued statements of concern, but few have taken concrete steps. The United States continues to supply arms to Israel, while UN resolutions stall amid political deadlock. The ICJ and ICC have launched investigations, but justice may come too late for Gaza’s civilians.
The Collapse of Ceasefire Talks
Efforts to negotiate a ceasefire have collapsed. The original deal brokered in January has been scrapped, with Israel now demanding Hamas’s unconditional surrender and exile of its leadership. This has effectively ended meaningful diplomacy and paved the way for continued bloodshed.
Famine and Disease: The Next Phase of the Crisis
If the bombs don’t kill Gaza’s civilians, starvation and disease might. Aid groups say famine is unfolding in real time. Children are dying of hunger and dehydration. Hospitals can no longer treat the sick. Water sources are contaminated, and hygiene facilities are nonexistent. Skin infections, respiratory diseases, and deadly fevers are spreading rapidly in overcrowded shelters.
The head of OCHA, Jonathan Whittall, summarized the situation: “This is deprivation by design. Gaza is being starved, it’s being bombed, it’s being strangled. This looks like the deliberate dismantling of Palestinian life.”
A Call for Global Action
The crisis in Gaza is not just a regional conflict—it is a test of global conscience. Every bomb dropped on a school, every child who dies from malnutrition, and every hospital that collapses due to lack of medicine is a mark against international human rights and accountability.
It is not enough for world leaders to express sympathy. The world must demand:
-
An immediate ceasefire and restoration of humanitarian corridors.
-
Full access for international aid organizations.
-
Unhindered entry of food, medicine, water, and rescue equipment.
-
Legal accountability for those committing war crimes.
History Will Not Forget Gaza
The images coming out of Gaza—bodies buried in rubble, parents carrying headless children, families eating plastic-burned bread—are a dark stain on modern civilization. These are not accidents of war. They are signs of a strategy aimed at annihilation, executed with precision and impunity.
As the world watches, history is recording who spoke out and who stayed silent. For the people of Gaza, survival now depends on a global awakening to stop the starvation, halt the bombing, and demand justice.