Caritas: Famine in Gaza violates Genocide Convention

Caritas Internationalis has warned that the man-made famine in Gaza constitutes a flagrant breach of international law, including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and calls for urgent global action to uphold human dignity and protect civilian life. In response to the devastating developments in Gaza, where Israeli forces stormed Gaza City on 20 August-a city now sheltering nearly one million displaced civilians - Caritas Internationalis has issued the following statement:

On August 20, 2025, Israeli forces stormed Gaza City, where nearly one million displaced civilians had sought refuge, many already starving. Two days later, on August 22nd, the United Nations declared a famine. By then, the damage was done: 273 people had already died of starvation, including 112 children. The declaration was not a warning, but a grim confirmation of what humanitarian organisations have been saying for months: Gazans have long endured a deliberate descent into starvation.

This is not a tragic accident. It is the result of calculated choices. A population stripped of shelter, sustenance, and safety has been left to perish in full view of the world.

This is not war. It is the systematic destruction of civilian life. The siege of Gaza has become a machinery of annihilation, sustained by impunity and the silence, or complicity, of powerful nations. Famine here is not a natural disaster, but the outcome of a deliberate strategy: blocking aid, bombing food convoys, destroying infrastructure, and denying basic needs.

Caritas Internationalis bears witness to this horror. Civilians, mostly children and women, are being starved, bombed, and erased. Influential governments, corporations, and multinationals have enabled this catastrophe through military support, financial aid, and diplomatic cover. Their silence is not neutrality, it is endorsement.

Meanwhile, the international community offers hollow declarations and empty platitudes. These double standards serve only to buy time for further destruction. Caritas Internationalis sees in Gaza a deliberate assault on human dignity and the collapse of moral order, a failure of leadership, responsibility, and humanity itself.

In the light of the Spirit that guides us, Caritas Internationalis abhors all these acts and omissions in the strongest terms. They represent a blatant disregard for the values and fundamental principles of humanity and clearly violate International Law, International Humanitarian Law, and International Human Rights Law, as well as numerous provisions of specific UN Conventions, including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

As Pope Francis reminds us in Fratelli Tutti: "We are either all saved together or no one is saved."

And Scripture compels us: "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves." (Proverbs 31:8) "Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." (Matthew 25:45)

Caritas Internationalis demands:

An immediate and permanent ceasefire.
- Unrestricted humanitarian access to end starvation and provide care.
- Release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained persons.
- Deployment of a UN peacekeeping force to protect civilians.
- Protection of all civilians, especially children, women, and the elderly.
- Accountability for all perpetrators and enablers before national and international courts.
- Full implementation of the ICJ Advisory Opinion of July 19, 2024, including:Ending Israel's unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
- Ceasing settlement activity and evacuating settlers.
- Providing reparations.
- Requiring states to reject the unlawful situation.
- Mandating UN bodies to take concrete steps to end the occupation.

The famine in Gaza is a test of moral integrity, and too many have failed. To starve a population is to desecrate life. To remain silent is to be complicit.

Caritas Internationalis calls on all people of faith and conscience to raise their voices, pressure their governments, and demand justice. The world is watching. History is recording. And Gaza is waiting, not for words, but for salvation.