Amnesty International says Israel's two-month blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza constitutes 'genocidal act'

Amnesty International called for Israel to terminate its siege on Gaza in a press release issued on Friday.

It said Israel “must immediately end its devastating siege on the occupied Gaza Strip which constitutes a genocidal act, a blatant form of unlawful collective punishment, and the war crime of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare”. 

Erika Guevara Rosas, senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns at Amnesty International, condemned Israel's war on Gaza, saying: “The extent of human suffering in Gaza for the past 19 months has been unimaginable... Apart from a brief respite during the temporary truce, Israel has relentlessly and mercilessly turned Gaza into an inferno of death and destruction.

Rosas called on the international community to “act now and take concrete measures to pressure Israel into immediately lifting its total siege and allow the unhindered entry of humanitarian aid and its safe distribution across all of Gaza”. She added that a sustained ceasefire was “essential” to this happening.

The report highlighted Israel’s cutting of power to Gaza’s main desalination plant on 9 March has crippled access to clean water. “The plant was the only facility in Gaza reconnected to Israel’s electricity grid in November 2024, after a full electricity blackout had been imposed since October 11, 2023.” 

It has been two months since Israel reimposed a ban on the entry of aid and commercial goods into the Strip on 2 March.