Viewpoint: Israel is morally responsible for feeding its ‘enemy population’
Displaced Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip. Photo/by Ashraf Mara
by lora jo foo | Special to the Courier
Regarding starvation in Gaza, in the Courier’s August 11 interview with Rabbi Jonathan Kupetz of Pomona’s Temple Beth Israel [“Jewish leader reflects on Gaza’s local impact,” August 15], while he states “I think Israel should do everything to flood the country with aid,” he also quotes John Spencer, head of the Urban Warfare Studies at West Point’s Modern War Institute, as follows:
“ … Israel is doing something that no nation has had to do or been expected to do, which is to feed the population of the aggressor force that has attacked while the war is still going on. That there’s absolutely no historical precedent for a military providing this level of direct aid to an enemy population that has taken place.”
In other words, while Rabbi Kupetz believes humanitarian aid must enter Gaza, he also thinks that no military has an obligation to feed its enemy’s people. Disturbingly, Kupetz does not acknowledge Israel’s role in bringing about the Gaza famine.
Two days after the October 7 assault by Hamas on Israel that killed 1,200 and the taking of 250 hostages, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a complete siege of Gaza. He pledged: “There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything will be closed. We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly.” Israeli Defense Forces Brig. Gen. Yogev Bar-Sheshet said, “Whoever returns here, if they return here after, will find scorched earth. No houses, no agriculture, no nothing. They have no future.”
Israel carried out Gallant’s and other Israeli officials’ pledges.
It shut all the border crossings into and out of Gaza. Almost all food and humanitarian aid stopped entering Gaza. Israel cut off fuel so that desalination plants could not operate. The IDF bombed wells, individual wells. Water in Gaza became unfit for human consumption. After ceasefire talks ended, from early March to May, Israel imposed a complete blockage so no food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity could enter Gaza. Commerce was stopped preventing private businesses from selling food to Gazans. UNRWA has warehouses with enough food to fill 6,000 truckloads but Israel has banned it from operating in Gaza.
Israel destroyed farmland and wiped out most livestock and working animals. Gaza was a thriving agricultural hub, where farmers cultivated a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains for local consumption. Since October 2023, Israel has targeted food sources — orchards, greenhouses, farmland, and fisheries. Today only 1.5% of cropland and 3% of animal wealth are left in Gaza.
The world can see that Israel orchestrated a campaign of deliberate mass starvation in Gaza by systematically destroying local food production and blocking aid. Quoting Alex de Waal: “Starvation takes time; authorities cannot starve a population by accident.”
Using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war is a war crime for which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant have been charged by the International Criminal Court.
Now, some 20,000 children have been admitted to health centers for acute malnourishment. Many more cannot reach medical centers. Children waste away and starve to death. Nurses in hospitals are too weak from malnutrition to feed infants and children. In southern Gaza, every hospital but the Nassar Hospital has been destroyed so that Gazans dying of malnutrition cannot receive medical care.
So yes, when a country deliberately and intentional kills civilians by starving them like Israel has been and is doing to Gazans, the world demands that its army provides the level of aid that’s needed to its “enemy’s population.”
lora jo foo is a retired labor organizer and attorney who lives at Pilgrim Place. She and other Pilgrims have participated in weekly ceasefire vigils at Foothill and Indian Hill boulevards since November 2023.
Additional signatories from Pilgrim Place: Mary Elizabeth Moore, Renny Golden, Lynn Rhodes, Sally Simmel, Bridget Ehlert, and Maura Corley.
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The humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians living in Gaza is severe, and Israel bears its share of responsiblity for what has happened. The viewpoint presented here, however, offers some misleading information. It begins by quoting Defense Minister Gallant and his call to deny aid into Gaza. It is true that Gallant delivered these inflammatory words two days after the most horrific event in Israel’s history. What is not true is the claim that Israel then carried out Gallant’s pledge. While there was an initial denial of aid, nine days after Gallant’s statement Israel began allowing food, medicine, and water to enter into Gaza. The commentary also fails to mention other factors have have contributed to the crisis. In August 2025, the United Nations Office of Project Services concluded that 90% of the aid entering Gaza during that time had been intercepted or looted. This was done in part by armed groups, including Hamas. In other words, the current crisis is also the result of Hamas and other groups denying aid to the people and hoarding it for themselves. They too bear significant responisiblity for the suffering taking place in Gaza. It is important to discuss what Israel should be doing to address the humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza. But let us also recognize that this crisis will not end until Hamas no longer has any role to play in Gaza.