Israeli rights advocates acknowledge army's role in starving Gaza civilians

Israeli human rights advocates acknowledged Thursday the army's responsibility for starving civilians in the Gaza Strip and called for an end to the genocide against Palestinians.

The declaration came during a protest in Tel Aviv organized by the Israeli grassroots organization Parents Against Child Detention under the slogan "Empty Pots," denouncing Israel's deliberate starvation policy against more than two million people in Gaza.

Protesters held up empty food pots in the square—a symbolic gesture reflecting the famine conditions endured by Gaza's population due to Israel's closure of border crossings.

“When millions are starved, and children go to sleep without food for days, we must stand up and say: Enough war, enough starvation,” the organization said in a post on Instagram.

Gaza, home to around 2.4 million people, depends almost entirely on humanitarian aid, which has been completely halted since March 2, when Israel closed the crossings following the resumption of its military offensive on March 18.

The protest participants represented a small, limited-influence current within Israeli society mostly composed of leftist activists and government policy critics.

Separately, thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv against the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip, asserting that it serves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's interests, kills captives and worsens the suffering of Palestinians. They carried images of children killed in the war.

The demonstration was organized by the Israeli peace group Standing Together.

In a statement, the organization emphasized that “we're here right now on the streets of Tel Aviv, Jews and Palestinians, refusing this horrible war and the abandonment of the hostages.”

“After the police tried to ban pictures of children killed in Gaza, we came here today holding their images and saying loud and clear: NO to the war of annihilation, NO to abandoning the hostages, and NO to the extremist government,” it added.

Opinion polls and statements by Israeli officials show that the majority of Israeli society supports the continuation of the war in Gaza, linking its end to the return of Israeli captives held by the Palestinian group Hamas.

The Israeli army resumed its assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering a Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

Israel has killed nearly 51,400 Palestinians in the enclave since October 2023, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.​​​​​​​

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.