Like many other international reports that have illustrated, confirmed, and provided empirical evidence of Israel’s crimes of apartheid and genocide, the recently issued UN report confirming famine in Gaza exposes yet another dimension of the brutal, multifaceted reality of settler-colonialism—an inherent feature of the Israeli state since its foundation.

This new report, documenting further atrocities and grave violations, presents policymakers worldwide with an additional tool and avenue for action—if they truly care about the enforcement of international law and conventions, and are willing to engage with them seriously and consistently. Today, they cannot claim “we did not know,” nor hide behind the excuses of “ambiguity,” “dispute,” or “lack of an authoritative source.”

The report makes it undeniable: what is unfolding is politically engineered genocidal starvation, and policymakers now have a duty to respond.

If not now, when?

Yet the report, on its own, is toothless unless its stark conclusions are operationalised—unless they are transformed into concrete interventions and actionable policies. Otherwise, why continue to amass rigorous evidence and produce polished documents, only to leave them gathering dust on shelves?

Without the political courage to engage with these findings, we risk rendering such “authoritative” reports irrelevant, eroding further both the credibility of a rules-based world order and the very foundations of peace.

If Gaza continues to be abandoned today, who will be next tomorrow?

A colleague in Gaza, enduring the famine firsthand, put it hauntingly:
“I hope we do not use the pages of this report as firewood to bake our last kilogram of flour. I hope it can help stop the genocidal starvation and famine. We are not only hungry for food—we are starving for dignity and justice.”

Alaa Tartir, PhD. , PhD, Board Co-Chair – Arab Reform Initiative (ARI), www.alaatartir.com