A leading U.S. think tank has accused Israel of systematically using starvation as a weapon in Gaza, not as a consequence of war, but as a calculated strategy of mass displacement. In a blistering new report, the Arab Center Washington DC argues that hunger is now central to Israel’s military policy: a tool to crush Palestinian resistance and forcibly reshape the population’s geography.

For over eight months, Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been trapped under a suffocating Israeli blockade. Food, fuel, and medical supplies are restricted to a trickle. According to the UN, not a single day of sufficient humanitarian aid has reached the territory since the war began. Children are dying of hunger. Thousands more face slow, silent death under collapsing health and water systems.

The report also scrutinises U.S.-backed efforts to deflect blame through alternative aid delivery methods. Airdrops have killed civilians. A floating pier delivered less than a day’s worth of food. And the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new body bypassing the UN and staffed by private contractors, has been linked to deadly incidents at aid points. Eyewitnesses say these sites have become “death traps,” with hundreds shot or bombed while trying to collect food.

By concentrating aid distribution in specific zones while denying it elsewhere, the report says, Israel is pushing civilians into so-called “safe” areas, a euphemism for containment zones. This, it argues, is not logistical failure but deliberate policy: starvation as a mechanism of forced transfer.

Israeli officials have publicly called for the resettlement of Gaza’s population. One minister stated that the total destruction of the strip would “encourage migration.” UNICEF, meanwhile, has warned that Palestinians are being left with a grim ultimatum: displacement or death.

Despite mounting evidence, global powers continue to shield Israel from accountability. Convoys are blocked, protest boats intercepted, and statements of concern remain toothless. The silence, the Arab Center concludes, is complicity.

“This is no longer a humanitarian emergency,” the report states. “It is a crime, meticulously planned, ruthlessly executed, and enabled by those who chose to remain silent.”