Euro-Med slams Israel for weaponizing starvation, destroying Gaza’s farmlands

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor made the comment in a Sundy report, adding that the regime's forces seek to destroy Gaza’s food basket of vegetables, fruits and meat, in addition to destroying its local food production system.

The organization noted that "in addition to destruction of all components of local food production," Israel is also preventing the entry of food supplies and humanitarian aid in order to "perpetuate famine in the Gaza Strip and use starvation as a weapon of war as part of its ongoing crime of genocide, which continues for the ninth month in a row."

Euro-Med added that its teams have documented evidence of the occupation army intentionally killing farmers who were either working or attempting to access their lands and farms.

In addition, Euro-Med said it has also documented extensive destruction of farms, greenhouses, water wells and tanks, and agricultural equipment by the regime's forces.

Euro-Med urged the international community "to ensure the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, including essential food and non-food items, in order to address the territory's health and environmental disaster in an immediate, safe and effective manner."

The organization's report came after the Gaza media office decried the use of starvation as a tool by the United States and Israel to achieve their political goals in Gaza despite the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the besieged territory.

Earlier, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, had said in a separate statement that more than 50,000 children in Gaza require immediate medical treatment for acute malnutrition.

According to another investigation conducted in early May by a British-based group Israeli regime is pursuing a systematic destruction of orchards and greenhouses in the Gaza Strip since October 7 undermining Gazan Palestinians’ ability to feed and provide for themselves.

The group added that the destruction, particularly intense in northern Gaza, has led to the devastation of almost one-third of the region’s greenhouses and approximately 40% of agricultural land previously used for food production.

The investigation suggests that the destruction is a deliberate act of ecocide exacerbating the ongoing famine in Gaza, part of a wider pattern of depriving Palestinians of critical resources for survival.