The images of frail children and empty market stalls emerging from Gaza confirm what most local journalists and international organizations have been reporting: famine is rampant across the Strip, with more than 2.1 million Palestinians suffering from acute levels of food insecurity. Over 20 percent of people in Gaza go days without a single meal. Families are severely rationing the meager food supplies still available, breastfeeding mothers are struggling to produce enough milk to feed their babies, and many children and elderly are dying from hunger.
About 2,000 kilometers away, similar scenes are unfolding. Across Sudan, more than half the population, meaning 25.6 million people, are experiencing crisis levels of hunger, the worst levels of food insecurity ever recorded in the country. Farmers have resorted to eating planting seeds out of desperation, whereas in Kordofan, in central Sudan, most people report selling clothes and furniture to secure whatever available food supplies they can.
The scenes of desperation in Sudan and Gaza are stark reminders of how war not only devastates lives but also obliterates access to one of the most fundamental human needs: food. However, in these specific contexts, the lack of access to food is not only an incidental consequence of war, but also an intended and calculated strategy to weaken, displace, uproot, and ethnically cleanse communities.
Starvation as a weapon of war: The politics of hunger
The strategic manipulation of food access, while unfolding differently in each context, reveals at large how political and military power allows different actors to engineer starvation. In Sudan, decades of ethnic strife, internal power struggles, and foreign interventions have devastated agricultural systems and rendered food a scarce commodity, weaving famine into the fabric of conflict. Food has therefore continued to be central to the recent power struggles between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and has emerged as both a vital resource and a strategic weapon. Similarly, even before October 7, food has symbolized a main source of tension as the 16-year Israeli blockade on Gaza severely limited the availability of food supplies. Ranging from cutting off Gaza’s access to key agricultural imports, such as fertilizers, to firmly limiting fishing areas, restrictions have anchored a chronic state of food insecurity. With reduced agricultural output and productivity, 63 percent of people in Gaza relied on food assistance and humanitarian aid to survive when the latest war started. The blockade has as such strangled Gaza’s economy and self-sufficiency for years.
The strategic manipulation of food access, while unfolding differently in each context, reveals at large how political and military power allows different actors to engineer starvation
The intensification of violence in both Sudan and Gaza has compounded these challenges by providing armed forces with the opportunity—and incentive—to exploit food vulnerabilities. By attacking some of Sudan’s most fertile states, both the RSF and the SAF have deliberately disrupted agricultural production cycles, displaced farmers who were forced to abandon their lands, and deprived entire communities of the agricultural production they relied on to sustain themselves. In a bid for territorial control, these tactics uprooted local inhabitants and dispossessed them of their means of survival.
Similar dynamics are unfolding in Gaza, where bakeries and food stores have been indiscriminately targeted, precipitating the rapid spread of hunger within the enclave. The consequences will likely not only weaken the current generation but also destroy the potential for future generations to thrive. By engaging in ecocidal attacks—actions that deliberately harm or eliminate ecosystems on a massive scale—Israel has vastly destroyed Gaza’s agricultural land, including orchards and olive groves. It is estimated that, as of March 2024, close to 50 percent of the Strip’s tree cover and farmland have been destroyed. Forensic architecture estimates that over 2,000 agricultural sites, including greenhouses, have been destroyed and replaced by Israeli military earthworks. Additionally, soil and groundwater contamination raises concerns about the long-term consequences of these disruptions to the biosphere on fertility and food safety.
The ramifications of these systematic destructive policies are not isolated incidents. They are coupled with the deliberate destruction of vital civilian infrastructure, including roads and markets, disrupting supply chains and the operation of food distribution systems. As heavy fighting continues to make more and more areas of Sudan unlivable, a mass displacement crisis further constrains communities’ ability to produce or buy agricultural produce, especially as several parts of the country suffer from heavy floods.
According to the International Organization for Migration, over 10.9 million Sudanese have been internally displaced (IDP) as of September 2024. Zamzam, one of Sudan’s largest camps in North Darfur, hosting over 500,000 IDPs, is experiencing severe famine conditions, with very limited food assistance available to families that have depleted the meager resources they were able to flee with.
The camps in Gaza also fail to provide sufficient protection against both hunger and violence. Around 1.9 million people in Gaza are estimated to have been displaced at least once over the past year as they are constantly forced to escape the overcrowded makeshift shelters inevitably targeted by Israeli forces. By August 2024, the IDF was reported to have conducted attacks against at least 170 shelters, jeopardizing the safety of the tens of thousands who sought refuge in these displacement sites. Even when they manage to survive, families contend with insufficient access to drinking water and food assistance, as available humanitarian aid continues to fall short of population needs. Since October 1, no humanitarian aid or food supplies have been allowed to enter the Jabalia refugee camp, effectively imposing a stranglehold on approximately 400,000 besieged Palestinians who are unable to escape relentless bombardment and shooting. In executing former Israeli national security adviser Giora Eiland’s “Starvation or Surrender” plan, Israeli forces have completely severed the camp from access to essential supplies, intentionally starving and besieging the enclave.
Humanitarian paralysis: A response mired in politics
The lack of available food assistance in refugee camps is a direct result of systemic policies to obstruct access to aid destined to alleviate food insecurity. Common patterns of the politicization and militarization of humanitarian aid emerge across Gaza and Sudan, helping understand how famine is not only created but also sustained deliberately. This is mainly done through blockades and sieges limiting populations’ access to food, medicine, and other essential supplies.
Israel’s offensive in Rafah in May has led to the closure of the main crossing point through which food and other vital aid were still partially allowed into the Strip, drastically reducing humanitarian access. Distribution centers and food warehouses were also rendered inaccessible and humanitarian workers were targeted by Israeli forces, further constraining UNRWA’s operational capacity to distribute critical humanitarian assistance. This is particularly concerning as the agency faces dramatic funding cuts and already has over 220 of its humanitarian staff killed in Gaza. Additionally, Israeli authorities have implemented and enforced customs rules on humanitarian aid and food supplies, in addition to restricting commercial food shipments, which has brought deliveries of food and aid to an all-time low in September. Despite a long queue of trucks stretching over several kilometers outside of the border, only a trickle of humanitarian assistance finds its way into the enclave.
In Sudan, both warring parties have imposed food and aid sieges on the areas they do not control
Similar powerlessness has paralyzed aid agencies attempting to deliver life-saving aid to millions of Sudanese. Both warring parties have imposed food and aid sieges on the areas they do not control. Sudanese authorities have refused to authorize aid convoys to reach South Kordofan and Darfur, even as NGOs attempt to bypass government consent to deliver limited aid. In parallel, the RSF and allied militias loot aid hubs and prevent any form of assistance from reaching people in need. Across Khartoum, more than a dozen districts are besieged, with populations trapped in those areas and struggling to get access to food, water, and electricity, teetering on the brink of humanitarian collapse. While grassroots aid organizations have set up centralized kitchens and agricultural response rooms, volunteers are systematically under the threat of arrest and violence, a major risk for one of the only remaining local lifelines to communities where international aid has faltered.
Yet, despite the glaring indictment of how starvation is weaponized in these conflicts, both the RSF and the SAF refuse to acknowledge the state of famine most of Sudan is plunged in, while Israel promotes a narrative downplaying food insecurity in Gaza, thus denying populations the help so desperately needed.
An enduring social and economic catastrophe
By denying access to food, warring actors strike at the very heart of human resilience, using hunger as a tool to weaken, manipulate, and devastate entire populations. The immediate consequences of starvation are tragically visible, with many Sudanese and Palestinians losing substantial weight or dying from starvation. One hundred Sudanese are estimated to die of hunger daily. Given the lack of sanitation services, several waterborne diseases are also rapidly spreading, stressing bodies exhausted by malnutrition. In Sudan, cholera, malaria, and measles are straining an already fragile health system. In Gaza, patients report suffering from jaundice and hepatitis because of low nutritional intake. Due to the collapse of the health system, doctors find themselves unable to treat malnourished patients. In the long term, such nutritional deficits expose them to severe health complications and affect life expectancy. They also affect educational and professional outcomes by curbing children’s physical and cognitive development.
By denying access to food, warring actors strike at the very heart of human resilience, using hunger as a tool to weaken, manipulate, and devastate entire populations
The toll of famine is not confined to health. The destruction of agricultural systems has dismantled the labor force, causing unemployment to skyrocket, the erosion of traditional livelihoods, and the increase of public dependence on an aid economy. Such economic paralysis in a context marked by resource scarcity erodes the social fabric by impacting sectors critical to national recovery and compounding the collective trauma inflicted by war. Prolonged starvation leaves profound psychological scars, as deprivation causes severe emotional distress manifesting in fear, depression, anxiety, and behavioral changes.
Securing aid and accountability
To break the cycle of conflict-induced starvation, policies must be rooted in both immediate relief and long-term sustainability. Humanitarian assistance needs to be secured as soon as possible to ensure communities in Gaza and Sudan have access to quality and sufficient nutrition, adequate medicine, clean water, and other necessities.
In Gaza, this entails the removal of restrictions and blockades that hinder essential supplies from entering the enclave, whereas in Sudan, the establishment of safe zones for aid distribution is crucial to protecting civilians from warring actors’ attempts to loot aid or exert violence on volunteers.
Additionally, Sudan remains severely neglected by the international community, with little funding available to support a crisis response. However, supporting local farmers with seeds, tools, and training will be essential to rebuilding agricultural production and strengthening local food production systems. In parallel, it is imperative to address the immediate and long-term health needs arising from engineered starvation and the deterioration of living conditions. This includes physical and psychosocial care, as well as trauma recovery programs to accompany people who have suffered from chronic deprivation.
Since starvation is not an unfortunate byproduct of war but rather a direct result of instrumentalized violence, it is necessary to hold perpetrators accountable and enhance accountability frameworks through clear international legal mechanisms. This could include targeted sanctions, prosecutions, and international pressure to prevent the deliberate targeting of food supplies and infrastructure. More importantly, to protect current and future generations from famine, the world needs a renewed and sustained commitment to dismantling the systems of violence that turn food into a weapon.
Salma Daoudi is a Nonresident Fellow at TIMEP focusing on health and conflict in the MENA region.