Al Jazeera documentary revisits Gaza starvation war-crime allegations
Al Jazeera Originals has released a documentary on allegations that Israeli authorities used hunger as a weapon during the Gaza war, returning attention to a charge already embedded in international legal proceedings. The International Criminal Court said in November 2024 that its judges found reasonable grounds to believe Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant bore responsibility for starvation as a method of warfare, while Israel has rejected the court’s accusations and says its campaign targets Hamas. The International Court of Justice separately ordered Israel in March 2024 to ensure unhindered humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the IPC later confirmed famine in Gaza Governorate in August 2025 before reporting improvement after increased aid access. For Belgium and the EU, the issue remains diplomatic as well as legal: EU member states are ICC parties, Belgium hosts major EU decision-making, and the EU-Israel relationship has been repeatedly tested by Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.
This matters for Belgian voters, diplomats, aid workers, universities, NGOs and policy-minded residents because Gaza is no longer only a distant war story; it is a test of international law that Belgium and the EU publicly claim to defend. Belgium is an ICC member state, Brussels hosts EU foreign-policy machinery, and Belgian development and humanitarian organisations work inside the same aid architecture affected by access restrictions, ceasefire terms and donor decisions.
Al Jazeera Originals (the documentary arm of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network) produced the film that triggered this story. The Gaza Strip (Palestinian coastal territory under blockade since 2007 and devastated by the war that began in October 2023) is the focus of the starvation allegations. Hamas (Palestinian Islamist movement governing Gaza before the war) carried out the 7 October 2023 attacks that Israel cites as the trigger for its campaign. The International Criminal Court (The Hague-based court created by the 1998 Rome Statute) issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu (Israeli prime minister) and Yoav Gallant (Israeli defence minister until 2024). The International Court of Justice (UN court in The Hague) is hearing South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. The IPC, or Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (UN-backed hunger monitoring system), classifies famine risk. COGAT (Israeli defence ministry unit coordinating civilian affairs in Palestinian territories) presents Israel’s aid-access position.
Background
Starvation of civilians was explicitly prohibited as a method of warfare in the 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions and later criminalised in the Rome Statute. Siege warfare has long created civilian hunger, but Gaza became a landmark legal test after Israel’s October 2023 siege announcement, South Africa’s December 2023 genocide application at the ICJ, the ICJ’s March 2024 aid order, and the ICC’s November 2024 arrest warrants. The IPC’s August 2025 famine confirmation made the allegation measurable as well as legal.
The wider picture
Gaza’s starvation allegations sit inside a wider contest over the credibility of the rules-based order. Western governments have invoked international law against Russia in Ukraine; their response to Israeli conduct is therefore watched by Arab states, the Global South, human-rights bodies and European publics as a test of consistency and leverage.
Why now
The immediate trigger is Al Jazeera Originals’ 11 June 2026 documentary release, which repackages a long-running legal and humanitarian allegation for a wider audience after prior ICC, ICJ and IPC milestones made starvation central to the Gaza record.
What to watch
Watch the next procedural steps in the ICJ case, any ICC challenges to the warrants, EU foreign-ministers’ discussions on Israel-related measures, and updated IPC or UN food-security assessments if aid access changes again.
Impact
Regional — At EU level, the allegations feed debate over the EU-Israel Association Agreement, humanitarian funding and whether member states should impose costs for alleged violations. At Belgian federal level, the government must align its diplomacy, arms-export controls and ICC obligations with EU positions that often require unanimity or qualified majorities. Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels are less directly differentiated, although regional export-licence decisions can become politically relevant when military or dual-use goods are involved.
Opposing perspectives
- International Criminal Court judges
The ICC chamber’s position is that the evidence met the threshold for arrest warrants, not convictions. The chamber said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were responsible for depriving Gaza’s civilian population of food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity, making the starvation allegation a justiciable war-crimes issue rather than only a political claim.
- Israeli government and COGAT
Israel’s position is that the war is directed at Hamas after the 7 October 2023 attacks, that it has allowed humanitarian supplies through inspection mechanisms, and that distribution failures are linked to insecurity, Hamas diversion and UN logistics. COGAT has argued that Israel does not impose a ceiling on aid entry, challenging the premise of intentional starvation.
- Humanitarian and food-security agencies
The IPC and humanitarian agencies frame Gaza’s hunger crisis as the result of access restrictions, fighting, destroyed infrastructure and disrupted distribution. Their strongest argument is empirical: famine classification depends on food consumption, malnutrition and mortality thresholds, so the legal debate should be grounded in measurable deprivation and access conditions.
- EU member states pressing for conditionality
EU governments favouring a tougher line argue that the EU’s human-rights clauses and trade leverage lose credibility if they are not used during a documented humanitarian catastrophe. The European External Action Service review found indications of breach, giving those states a procedural basis to demand sanctions, suspension measures or tighter arms controls.
Sources & evidence
- View sourceAl Jazeera Originals - Israel’s Darkest WeaponPrimary· aljazeera.com· 11 June 2026Retrieved 11 June 2026· 34 days ago· Dated
- View sourceInternational Criminal Court - Situation in the State of Palestine, arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant· icc-cpi.int· 21 November 2024Retrieved 11 June 2026· 601 days ago· Dated
- View sourceInternational Court of Justice - Application of the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip, case 192· icj-cij.orgRetrieved 11 June 2026
- View sourceIntegrated Food Security Phase Classification - Gaza Strip famine analysis· ipcinfo.org· 22 August 2025Retrieved 11 June 2026· 327 days ago· Dated
