Unless Israel changes course, it could be legally culpable for mass starvation | Alex de Waal

Gaza is on the brink of famine. If the US and UK fail to use every possible lever to stop the catastrophe, they will be complicit

Gaza is experiencing mass starvation like no other in recent history. Before the outbreak of fighting in October, food security in Gaza was precarious, but very few children - less than 1% - suffered severe acute malnutrition, the most dangerous kind. Today, almost all Gazans, of any age, anywhere in the territory, are at risk.

There is no instance since the second world war in which an entire population has been reduced to extreme hunger and destitution with such speed. And there's no case in which the international obligation to stop it has been so clear.

Alex de Waal is the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University and the author of Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine