A Manufactured Catastrophe and the Moral Collapse of Global Leadership
– Mohammed Talha Siddi Bapa
In the heart of Gaza, human beings – children, youth, adults, and the elderly – are dying. Some perish under relentless bombings, others wither silently from the slow agony of starvation. While missiles shatter their homes, hunger gnaws away at their lives. The cries that once echoed through hospitals and schools are now muffled by silence, replaced by the haunting stench not just of destruction, but of decaying human dignity and a world’s failing conscience.
According to the United Nations, between 86% and 96% of Gaza’s population is facing either emergency food insecurity or worse. The World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have warned of an “imminent famine”, especially in northern Gaza, where even humanitarian convoys fail to reach the isolated and besieged population. More than 50,000 children are suffering from acute malnutrition, many of whom require urgent medical intervention.
But this is not a natural disaster. It is not the result of crop failure or climate collapse. It is a man-made famine, an engineered humanitarian catastrophe used as a tool of war, coercion, and punishment – in violation of every conceivable code of morality, international law, and human decency.
The Universal Right to Food: A Betrayed Principle
The right to food is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 25) and reaffirmed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The Geneva Conventions, which govern the rules of war, explicitly prohibit the use of starvation as a method of warfare. Article 54 of Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions declares that “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.”
Yet in Gaza, this foundational right is being systematically and brutally violated – with the knowledge and tacit approval of many global powers.
Gaza: A Cage Turned Coffin
Since the intensification of Israeli military operations in October 2023, Gaza has been transformed from a densely populated and struggling enclave into a landscape of horror. Borders remain sealed. Aid is sporadic, minimal, and often blocked or delayed at crossing points. Few trucks that enter carry insufficient supplies, and local production has collapsed under bombardment.
In his chilling piece for The Guardian, Palestinian-American writer Ahmed Moor writes, “What is happening in Gaza is not collateral damage. It is not a tragedy. It is strategy.” He points to starvation as a weapon of war, used deliberately to pressure populations, force displacement, and weaken resistance. Such tactics not only violate international law – they amount to war crimes.
Similarly, Alex de Waal, a renowned expert on famine and human rights, noted in Truthout that this crisis bears the “distinct signature of deliberate deprivation.” He adds, “This is not just a humanitarian disaster; it’s a political crime.”
A Deafening Silence from the Muslim World
And then, there is another silence. Not from Western governments – that is expected. But from those who claim to be bound by faith, by ummah, by brotherhood stronger than blood.
Where is the Muslim world?
Where are the mighty oil-rich nations whose planes soar the skies and whose leaders gather in gold-plated palaces? Where is Saudi Arabia, whose very soil cradles the Kaaba – the beating heart of the Muslim world? Where is Qatar, the diplomatic mediator with global clout and unmatched resources? Where is Egypt, Gaza’s only direct Arab neighbour with the Rafah crossing at its disposal?
We Muslims often say: “The believers are but brothers” – quoting the Qur’an (Surah Hujurat 49:10). We boast that the Ummah is one body – if one part hurts, the whole body aches. But today Gaza is not just aching – it is screaming. And the body is unresponsive.
Trucks of aid are stalled, diplomacy is idle, and statements are sanitised. The gates of relief remain shut – not by enemy fire, but by fellow Muslim nations.
This betrayal is not just political – it is spiritual. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ warned that the Muslim who sleeps full belly while his neighbour starves is not truly a believer. What, then, of those who not only sleep full but actively barricade the roads that lead to starving children?
A young volunteer at a protest in Istanbul was seen weeping, holding a placard that read, “If the borders don’t open, don’t speak of brotherhood.” In that tear lay the heartbreak of a generation that believed in the ideal of Islamic unity – only to witness it disintegrate at the moment it mattered most.
A World Watching in Silence
While Gaza starves, the world watches. Millions of ordinary people across continents – in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa – have taken to the streets. From London to Jakarta, voices cry out against the blockade, the bombings, and the starving of an entire people. They wave Palestinian flags, hold vigils, fast in solidarity, and donate whatever they can.
In the face of such genuine compassion, the response of many governments has been cowardly, complicit, or criminally indifferent.
The United States, despite repeated warnings from the United Nations, continues its military and diplomatic support of Israel, vetoing ceasefire resolutions and failing to condition aid on humanitarian access.
Arab states, while issuing rhetorical condemnations, have failed to apply significant political or economic pressure. Their borders remain closed, their solidarity performative.
The European Union, which prides itself on human rights, has issued toothless statements while simultaneously continuing arms sales and trade partnerships.
This betrayal is not lost on the world’s citizens. As British writer Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett observed in her Guardian column, “It is painful to live in a time when governments are so far removed from the moral pulse of their people.” She describes the anguish of mothers watching Gaza’s children suffer – and the deeper sorrow of realising that their own leaders do nothing to stop it.
Children as Collateral: The Ultimate Crime
Among the most heart-wrenching images from Gaza are those of children – skeletal, silent, motionless. In overcrowded hospitals, babies lie listless in incubators with no electricity. Malnourished toddlers nibble on stale bread, their eyes void of the brightness of youth.
One such image, widely circulated by Al Jazeera, showed a mother in Rafah holding her three-year-old son, whose frame was so thin he could barely lift his head. Her whispered words: “He doesn’t cry anymore. He just stares. I don’t know if that’s better or worse.”
In The Atlantic, humanitarian writer Ms. Rachel calls on the global community: “We are not merely witnessing a famine; we are tolerating it. We are allowing it to happen because we have chosen political convenience over moral urgency.”
The Legal Case: A Famine of Justice
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) defines “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” as a war crime. International humanitarian law obligates all parties in a conflict to facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief.
Israel, as the occupying power, bears the primary responsibility. But those who enable or refuse to intervene share in the legal and moral culpability.
Humanity Lives in the Streets, Not in the Corridors of Power
Despite the inaction of governments, a different face of humanity has emerged – that of the people.
- In Türkiye, convoys of aid volunteers have lined up at the Egyptian border for weeks, demanding entry.
- In India, civil society groups have sent urgent appeals to lift the blockade.
- In South Africa, the government has called for international investigation into war crimes in Gaza.
The irony is stark: those with the least power are doing the most, while those with the most power do the least.
Let Our Silence Not Become Our Shame
The starvation of Gaza is not merely a humanitarian crisis – it is a searing indictment of our moral failure as a global community. It exposes the hollow pledges of international law, the selective outrage of world powers, and the paralysis of institutions meant to protect the innocent. This is not the accidental fallout of conflict – it is the deliberate result of policies that prioritise power over people, geopolitics over humanity.
To the Muslim Ummah, this is a moment of reckoning. What is the value of our faith, our brotherhood, our shared declarations of unity – if we cannot open our borders, lift our voices, and act decisively when our own brethren are starving behind walls and barbed wires? Let history not remember us as those who stood at the gates of Gaza and looked away. Not as those who hosted grand conferences while babies wasted away in silence. But as those who rose, who spoke, who gave, and who stood firm, guided not by politics but by the Prophet’s call: “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”
To the world at large, the challenge is no less urgent. Silence is not neutrality – it is complicity. The starvation of a people, especially when aid trucks are halted and humanitarian pleas ignored, is not a tragedy of war – it is a crime against humanity. Let’s not allow our leaders to normalise the unthinkable. Let’s not let Gaza become a symbol of the world’s indifference. We, the people – of every nation, every faith, every conscience – must demand an end to this manufactured suffering.
Because in Gaza, it is not just bodies that are dying. It is the very conscience of humanity.
Sources
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/gaza-strip-famine-ipc-snapshot-25jun24
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/15/over-50000-children-in-gaza-need-treatment-for-malnutrition-un-says
https://x.com/AhmedMoor/status/1920105359072456838
Famine Expert: Israel’s Starvation of Gaza Has No Parallel in Modern Times
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/24/gaza-children-bombed-starved-watch-society
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EWxVNIrjdfM
