Famine by design: Why the West must be sanctioned alongside Israel

The Gaza famine is a global Failure and a call for Justice. The famine in Gaza is not a natural disaster; it is a man-made catastrophe. Since the escalation of hostilities in October 2023, Gaza has been subjected to a relentless siege, cutting off essential supplies and services. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the primary humanitarian lifeline for over two million Palestinians in Gaza, has faced severe funding cuts and operational restrictions, exacerbating the crisis. As of June 2025, UNRWA reported a funding shortfall of approximately $200 million, leading to the suspension of vital services such as food distribution, healthcare, and education (UNRWA, 2025). The agency’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, has condemned the situation, stating that “stopping its work would jeopardize the futures of more than half a million children who learn in UNRWA’s over 700 schools” (Aydoğan Ağlarcı, 2025).

Despite widespread international condemnation, the response from Western nations has been inadequate. While they have expressed concern over the humanitarian situation, their actions have not matched their rhetoric. The United States, for instance, has continued to provide military aid to Israel, enabling the continuation of policies that contribute to the famine. This discrepancy between words and actions raises serious questions about the West’s commitment to human rights and international law.

The international community’s failure to act decisively has allowed the situation in Gaza to deteriorate to catastrophic levels. The blockade, combined with the suspension of UNRWA’s operations, has led to widespread hunger, disease, and death. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) officially declared famine in Gaza’s most populated region in August 2025, with over half of the population facing severe food insecurity (IPC, 2025). This is not a humanitarian crisis; it is a humanitarian catastrophe of the highest order.

Western nations, particularly the United States and European Union members, have played a pivotal role in enabling the conditions that have led to the famine. Their continued military support for Israel, coupled with the defunding of UNRWA, has created a perfect storm of deprivation and suffering in Gaza. The decision to cut funding to UNRWA was made under the pretext of alleged misconduct by some of its employees. However, these allegations have not been substantiated, and the collective punishment of an entire population for the actions of a few is both unjust and illegal under international law.

Moreover, the West’s political support for Israel has shielded it from accountability. Despite numerous reports from human rights organizations documenting violations of international law, Israel has faced little to no repercussions. The United States, wielding its veto power in the United Nations Security Council, has blocked resolutions aimed at holding Israel accountable, effectively granting it impunity. This complicity is not just a matter of policy; it is a matter of life and death for the people of Gaza.

In contrast to the West’s inaction, countries from the Global South have begun to take meaningful steps to address the crisis. In July 2025, twelve nations, including South Africa, Bolivia, and Nicaragua, announced sanctions against Israel, targeting sectors that facilitate its military operations in Gaza (Fitzgerald, 2025). These measures represent a significant shift in international relations, as countries that have historically been marginalized in global decision-making are now asserting their influence to promote justice and accountability.

Additionally, legal actions have been initiated to hold Israel accountable for its actions in Gaza. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has been petitioned to address allegations of genocide and violations of international law. While the ICJ has yet to issue a ruling, the fact that such cases are being brought forward signals a growing recognition of the need for legal accountability (ICJ, 2024).

The revival of UNRWA is crucial to alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It’s a much more authentic way forward. The colonial instincts will be shaded – to a large extent, at the least. However, this cannot be achieved through the same mechanisms that have failed in the past. The agency must be restructured to operate independently of Western political influence. Funding should be sourced from a coalition of nations committed to humanitarian principles, ensuring that aid reaches those in need without political interference.

Moreover, the operational model of UNRWA needs to be re-evaluated. The agency must be empowered to deliver aid directly to the people of Gaza, bypassing intermediaries that have often been complicit in obstructing assistance. This includes ensuring safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian convoys and protecting aid workers from harm.

The famine in Gaza is not a humanitarian accident; it is a political crime. The solutions lie in the politics of Justice, not charity. Each passing day of starvation is a calculated outcome of policies designed to break a people’s will. Condemnations from Western states, however loud, are ultimately meaningless when accompanied by complicity, delay, and obstruction. If the moral vocabulary of the West had any credibility, we would have witnessed immediate sanctions on Israel, the suspension of arms sales, and the opening of land and sea routes for food and medicine. Instead, we saw cowardice masked as diplomacy.

The world has imposed sanctions and blockades before—on Iran, Russia, Venezuela, even small states in Africa—often with flimsy pretexts. Yet when it comes to Israel, the West hesitates, apologizes, and shields it from accountability. This double standard is not merely hypocrisy. It is complicity in genocide. It shows that Western power structures view Palestinian lives as expendable. Too many have already died because the West calculated that silence and delay serve its strategic interests better than justice.

If justice were truly the compass, states across the Global South would have long initiated their own sanctions, political blockades, and suspension of diplomatic privileges. Some have spoken up—South Africa at the ICJ, Bolivia breaking ties, Arab states voicing outrage—but a collective embargo strong enough to shift the balance has yet to emerge. Such a stand is no longer optional; it is a historic necessity. The world cannot outsource Palestinian survival to the same Western powers who underwrite Israel’s war machine.

Central to this new order must be the revival of UNRWA, not as a dependent arm of Western donors, but as a genuinely international body rooted in the solidarity of the Global South, Arab League, African Union, Latin American blocs, and Asian partners. Only then can aid distribution escape the chokehold of Western conditionality. UNRWA must be rebuilt as an instrument of justice, not as a fragile charity begging for permission to feed the starving.

It is also time to turn the gaze back onto the West itself. The states that defunded UNRWA, armed Israel, vetoed ceasefire resolutions, and rationalized genocide cannot remain untouchable. They must face political and economic sanctions from the rest of the world. Trade, finance, and diplomacy should no longer flow unchallenged with governments whose complicity has prolonged the suffering of Gaza’s children. To sanction Israel without sanctioning its enablers is to address only half the crime.

Ending Gaza’s famine requires more than bags of flour and temporary convoys. It demands a moral rupture with the system of power that allowed genocide to unfold in plain sight. Western states have condemned the famine, yes—but their words weigh nothing against the silence of empty trucks, the closure of borders, and the severed lifeline of UNRWA. The responsibility now lies with the world beyond the West to act decisively. To blockade the blockade. To sanction the sanctioners. To say, in clear and unrelenting terms, that complicity will no longer be forgiven.

The memory of Gaza’s famine will not be erased by future apologies or belated aid packages. It will remain a moral indictment on our times. History will judge not only Israel, but all who enabled its crimes—those who looked away, those who delayed, and those who mouthed sympathy while children starved. Justice now requires nothing less than a global realignment: sanctions on Israel and its backers, the revival of UNRWA under new stewardship, and the building of a politics rooted in solidarity rather than submission.

Only then can we say that the world has truly stood with Palestine – not in words, but in action.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.