Israel, Gaza und die Hungerwaffe: Die ICC testet ein selten strafrechtliches Kriegsverbrechen

[SS from conversation by Boyd van Dijk, Oxford Martin Fellow at the University of Oxford and the author of [*Preparing for War: The Making of the Geneva Conventions*](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/preparing-for-war-the-making-of-the-1949-geneva-conventions-9780198912613?lang=en&cc=be).]

In early March, as its cease-fire with Hamas began to unravel, Israel again turned to a tactic it had used earlier in the war in Gaza: imposing a total blockade on the territory, including a cutoff of all deliveries of food, medicine, fuel, and electricity. The aim, according to Israeli cabinet officials, was to make life unbearable for Gaza’s two million citizens to force Hamas to accept Israeli demands in talks on a cease-fire extension. On social media, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, echoing statements by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, defended the government’s decision to “completely halt” the flow of humanitarian aid, calling it a way to open the “gates of hell . . . as quickly and deadly as possible.” This was not an isolated remark; Smotrich had previously suggested that blocking aid to Gaza was justified even at the cost of mass civilian starvation. Seven weeks into the new siege, as the UN World Food Program announced that border closings had caused all of its food stocks in Gaza to run out, Moshe Saada, a Knesset member from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, told Israel’s Channel 14 TV that that was the intention: “Yes, I will starve the residents of Gaza, yes, this is our obligation,” Saada said.

Amid a war in which tens of thousands of civilians have been killed by more direct means, Israel’s serial blockades of Gaza may at first appear a secondary issue. But the tactic—and the justifications Israeli officials have offered for using it—has become a major test for international law. This week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is holding hearings on the issue, following a UN General Assembly request to investigate whether Israel violated the UN Charter by blocking UNRWA, the principal UN aid agency in Gaza. And in November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) already issued international arrest warrants not only for the leaders of Hamas but also for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In the case of Hamas, the ICC charges related to atrocities committed in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israeli civilians. At the heart of the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant, however, is a different, and rarely invoked crime: the ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, accuses them of orchestrating a criminal starvation policy against Gaza’s civilian population.