When we compare today’s humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza with some of history’s most harrowing famines — like the Holodomor in 1930s Ukraine or the Great Chinese Famine of the 1950s — Gaza’s famine stands apart in both its horror and its origin. This is not a natural disaster. It is not the result of economic collapse. It is a man-made famine — a deliberate political act, calculated with lethal precision and carried out under the watchful silence of the international community.
Since October 2023, Gaza has been descending into darkness. A total blockade has choked off food, water, electricity, fuel, and medical supplies. Border crossings have been sealed. All means of producing or importing food have been destroyed. The supply chain has collapsed almost entirely. According to international estimates, over 96% of Gaza’s 2.1 million residents now face acute food insecurity, with no relief in sight.
Children are dying in their mothers’ arms from hunger. Hospitals are drawing their final breaths as critical medications and nutritional aid run dry. By July 2025, over 71 children had died from malnutrition, and more than 620 patients had died due to the collapse of basic health services.
There is no justification for this. No excuse for allowing an entire population to face extinction in plain sight.
More than 805 people have been killed and 5,200 injured while trying to reach food aid centres. At least 42 individuals have disappeared without a trace. Meanwhile, 88% of Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed, including bakeries and flour mills, rendering local food production nearly impossible. This is no longer about survival — it’s about resisting a slow, engineered death.
But the tragedy doesn’t end within Gaza’s borders. It extends outward — to those who were expected to intervene.
The international community has largely responded with toothless statements of “concern.”
Even more damning, verified reports show that the US destroyed 500 tonnes of high-energy emergency food rations — supplies capable of feeding 1.5 million people for an entire week — rather than redirecting them to starving populations like Gaza. The food was destroyed. The lives were not saved.
This isn’t bureaucratic failure — it’s documented complicity.
The US has not merely failed to act; it has provided open military and political support to Israel, effectively moving from peace broker to active participant in this humanitarian collapse. No political calculus can justify this role.
What adds to the confusion — and to the heartbreak — is the vocal support some public figures in the US have extended to President Donald Trump during the election, arguing he represents the “last chance for peace” in the Middle East.
Among those voices is Imam Bilal Al-Zuhairi, a respected Yemeni-American leader from the US Arab community. Al-Zuhairi played a notable role in mobilising Arab-American voters during the 2024 election, particularly in pivotal swing states like Michigan — a contribution many credit with tipping the scales in Trump’s favour.
At a campaign rally, Imam Al-Zuhairi declared: “I personally believe God saved Trump’s life twice for a reason — maybe to save thousands of lives in Gaza.”
This statement struck many as both hopeful and perplexing. Trump had promised his Muslim supporters in Michigan that he would end ongoing wars — including the war on Gaza — that he would fight Islamophobia and bring Arab-Americans into his administration.
But as of now, none of those promises have materialised, and Gaza continues to burn. Nothing has changed — except for the worsening of the suffering.
Did we expect a humanitarian miracle from Trump?
Is he really the hope we cling to for peace in Palestine?
The sad truth is that all we’ve heard are promises.
The reality is: Gaza is still being punished, starved, and killed.
This is not an attack. This is not incitement. This is a painful, honest question:
How can someone claim to be a beacon of peace while a famine unfolds on their watch?
How many times will we repackage the same illusions, while innocent lives continue to vanish?
Today’s call is not about assigning blame.
It is a call to conscience — a plea to the world to reclaim its humanity.
The United Nations must act, not just to send aid, but to guarantee its delivery, impose a ceasefire, and protect the dignity of civilians being crushed before our eyes.
But above all, this is a call to the people — the only true agents of change.
To the peoples of Europe, to the conscience of Arab America, whose voices have swayed elections and moved the tides of history: your silence now is complicity.
From Dearborn to New York, from London to Oslo, we urge you to raise your voices: “Save Gaza.”
This is not a political battle.
It is a moral reckoning.
Vote — not for empty promises — but for justice, for peace, for human dignity.
And to the United Nations: Don’t postpone your conscience. Don’t wait for more bodies to pile up before you act. Being “concerned” is not enough. We demand bold, immediate, and effective action.
Saving Gaza is a test of our shared humanity — a test we cannot afford to fail.
Dr. Marwa El-Shenawy – Academic and Writer
