Israel Denies Gaza 'Mass Starvation' Accusations
7/24/2025 7:40:00 AM
Israel hit back on Wednesday at growing international criticism that it was behind chronic food shortages in Gaza, instead accusing Hamas of deliberately creating a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.
More than 100 aid and human rights groups said earlier Wednesday that "mass starvation" was spreading in the Gaza Strip, while France warned of a growing "risk of famine" caused by "the blockade imposed by Israel".
The head of the World Health Organization also weighed in, saying that a "large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving".
"I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation -- and it's man-made," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
But an Israeli government spokesman, David Mencer, said there was "no famine caused by Israel. There is a man-made shortage engineered by Hamas."
President Isaac Herzog, visiting troops in Gaza, maintained that Israel was acting "according to international law", while Hamas was "trying to sabotage" aid distribution in a bid to obstruct the Israeli military campaign that began more than 21 months ago.
An organisation backed by the United States and Israel, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), began distributing aid in Gaza in May as Israel eased a two-month total blockade, effectively sidelining the longstanding UN-led system.
Aid agencies have said permissions from Israel were still limited, and coordination to safely move trucks to where they are needed was a major challenge in an active war zone.
Mencer accused Hamas, whose attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 sparked the war, of preventing supplies from being distributed and looting aid for themselves or to sell at inflated prices.
"Aid has been flowing into Gaza," he said, blaming the United Nations and its associates for failing to pick up truckloads of foodstuffs and other essentials that were cleared and waiting on the Gaza side of the border.
More than 100 aid and human rights groups said earlier Wednesday that "mass starvation" was spreading in the Gaza Strip, while France warned of a growing "risk of famine" caused by "the blockade imposed by Israel".
The head of the World Health Organization also weighed in, saying that a "large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving".
"I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation -- and it's man-made," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
But an Israeli government spokesman, David Mencer, said there was "no famine caused by Israel. There is a man-made shortage engineered by Hamas."
President Isaac Herzog, visiting troops in Gaza, maintained that Israel was acting "according to international law", while Hamas was "trying to sabotage" aid distribution in a bid to obstruct the Israeli military campaign that began more than 21 months ago.
An organisation backed by the United States and Israel, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), began distributing aid in Gaza in May as Israel eased a two-month total blockade, effectively sidelining the longstanding UN-led system.
Aid agencies have said permissions from Israel were still limited, and coordination to safely move trucks to where they are needed was a major challenge in an active war zone.
Mencer accused Hamas, whose attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 sparked the war, of preventing supplies from being distributed and looting aid for themselves or to sell at inflated prices.
"Aid has been flowing into Gaza," he said, blaming the United Nations and its associates for failing to pick up truckloads of foodstuffs and other essentials that were cleared and waiting on the Gaza side of the border.