Starvation as a Weapon of Genocide: Dismantling the Israeli Structure of Domination over Gaza

In the context of the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, the policy of blockade and famine cannot be viewed as a byproduct of the war, but rather as an essential tool of it. Starvation is not merely a byproduct; it is a systematic weapon used to dismantle, subjugate, and break Palestinian society psychologically and physically.

Israel did not limit itself to conventional military attacks; it imposed a sophisticated system of control over Palestinian lives, such that humanitarian aid itself became part of a system of collective punishment. This system was not arbitrary; rather, it resulted from a clear design to impose a supply model controlled by the Israeli military in cooperation with the Gaza Humanitarian Association, while simultaneously destroying the independent civilian infrastructure that managed the relief operation inside the Strip.

The result: a complete paralysis of food, water, and medicine distribution networks, and the forced concentration of populations in areas such as Rafah, in an attempt to push them toward collapse or mass displacement.

A ceasefire does not put an end to these policies. Even in the absence of bombing, Israel continues to control ports, crossings, and vital supplies, rendering any ceasefire superficial and insufficient. The real war is not just in planes and tanks, but in policies of deliberate impoverishment, slow death, and the dismantling of the collective capacity for survival. Extermination does not require bombs; it is sufficient to control the daily lives of individuals: food, water, healthcare, and shelter.

The painful irony is that all this is taking place amidst a scandalous international silence and a moral detachment among many of those following the war from outside Gaza. In air-conditioned cafes, hotels, or elegant offices, some are making deals and issuing statements, as if what is happening in Gaza is a distant scene that does not concern them.

Some, even within the Arab world, are viewing the war as a real estate price survey or an opportunity for reconstruction, rather than a comprehensive humanitarian and moral catastrophe. The Western media, and even within Israel itself, have finally begun to criticize what they call the "mistakes of the extreme right-wing government," but just weeks ago they were offering "strategic advice" on how to resolve the war.

The discourse of war has become an internal administrative issue, one that does not address the essence of the colonial project based on genocide and control. The issue, at its core, is not a war against an armed organization or a response to a military threat, but rather an expression of an old Israeli Zionist doctrine: cleansing the land of the "Palestinian problem."

This project does not distinguish between a political faction and a civilian population. All of Gaza—as an entity, a society, and a space—is treated as an enemy. Every Palestinian becomes a potential target, and every civilian structure is classified as a threat. The concept of security is intertwined with national identity, such that war becomes a continuation of identity politics, not security politics. For this reason, killing Palestinians is not a crime, but a necessity. For this reason, any attempt to separate Hamas from Gaza is seen as a threat to the strategy of annihilation itself.

Thus, death is transformed into a sacred collective performance, removed from its political context. In contrast, the deaths of Palestinians are treated as technical information, or as collateral damage not worth mentioning. It is an equality of objectification: a glorified death here, a silent death there.

The truth that is no longer hidden is that this is genocide. It has been so from the beginning, but today it is clearer, more brutal, and more documented. It was never just about security, revenge, or even territory, but about an entire identity that sees no place for the Palestinian in geography or in the narrative.

Therefore, any talk of a ceasefire is meaningless unless it is coupled with the dismantling of the tools of domination, the complete lifting of the blockade, the return of Palestinian control over aid distribution, and the holding accountable of those who have used hunger as a weapon. This scene cannot be read as an ordinary war, nor can it be understood within the context of fleeting narratives about the conflict. It is a fully fledged genocidal project, with clear objectives, operating according to a terrifying engineering logic.