Today’s warfare is changing from direct military to military confrontation to a more Asymmetric form where civilian populations and civilian objects are strategic targets. The devastation and systematic denial of essential infrastructure have become a major aspect of the suffering in the Gaza Strip in the recent conflict. The conflict that started in October 2023 has resulted in over $18.5 billion in physical infrastructure damages, leaving behind up to 50 million tons of rubble that will take decades to clear[1]. The targeted sabotage of housing infrastructure, drinking water plants, power grids, and medical supply lines is a major threat to the international legal systems like the International Humanitarian law and International Human Rights Law. This article critically examines the blockade and degradation of basic resources in the Palestine and suggests that a violation of International Humanitarian Law has become systematic, with the weaponization of the civilian infrastructure, and that this undermines the concept of human security as a basic paradigm. This analysis, which goes beyond a limited idea of security that only speaks of direct physical violence, shows how the restraining of basic human resources like clean water, electricity, food and good medical aid, acts as a tool of systematic weakening against the civilian population.
The systematic and deliberate destruction of housing and important civilian life-sustaining systems, along with the forced mass displacement of Palestinians, is expressed as “domicide”[2] by United Nations. Before the escalation, Gaza was house to 2.3 million people where there are 472,660 housing units in a territory of 365 square kilometers. The massive and disasters use of military force, comprising more than 200,000 tons of explosives equivalent to the energy of 13 nuclear bombs that drop on Hiroshima, changed the physical and demographic landscape in Gaza. The Special Rapporteur’s reported the planned and unselective attacks on the housing infrastructure in Gaza that are not justified as military necessities[3]. Between October 2023 and October 2025, reports indicates that 92% of housing facilities in Gaza are destroyed or damaged, displacing 90% of the population and about 82 percent of Gaza’s territory is now under the control of Israeli military[4]. The massive destruction of housing structures in Gaza, constitute outrageous violations of all core elements of the right to adequate housing, a fundamental human right under International Law. The demolition of Palestinian homes contradict IHL, including fourth Geneva Convention and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Israel had destroyed Gaza’s health care system deliberately and methodically, thereby committing serious violations of IHL. According to the World Health Organization 94% of hospitals in Gaza are damaged or destroyed by Israeli forces, since October 2023[5]. Important hospitals like Al-Shifa and AL-Ahli had been targeted, leaving them nonfunctional. Almost every hospital in Gaza has been attacked, none of them remain fully functional. Israel’s military actions in Gaza are not just limited to the destruction of healthcare infrastructure, healthcare workers themselves are deliberately targeted. According to the data from Palestinian Ministry of Health and monitoring groups like Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), at last 1,722 healthcare workers have been killed by Israeli forces, that is an average of more than 2 killed per day, contradicting first Geneva convention. Double-tap strikes have been reported where initial attack is followed by second deliberate strike targeting medical workers as they arrive to treat the wounded. UN experts called this intentional destruction of Gaza’s health care system by the Israeli forces as “Medicide”[6]. These attacks are a continuation of a prolonged historical trends. During the last several decades Israel had launched 3,254 attacks on Gaza’s health facilities documented by WHO[7]. This highlights that Israel deliberately targets civilians’ life support systems in Gaza to achieve their desire political goals, thereby severely violating both IHRL and IHL.
Food security is the ultimate and most critical aspect of human life, which has been considerably limited in the Gaza strip by Israelis since October 2023. The denial of entry to humanitarian aid trucks and deliberate destruction of farm lands has essentially created, according to international organizations, a man-made famine. In mid of 2025, Famine (IPC Phase 5) was confirmed in Gaza for the first time, marked by widespread starvation and destitution[8]. Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported that 90% of the population of Gaza experience severe food insecurity, leading to the catastrophic level of malnutrition across the region[9]. Israel used food derivation as a method of collective punishment and Gaza strip represent an extreme example of this. As an occupier and administrator state, it is duty of Israel to provide food, aid and water to the population of Palestine, but violates its responsibilities and failed to maintain the population[10]. Before the October 2023 war, during the time of siege Gaza had face 4 major Israeli military operations. In these military aggressions Israel deliberately damaged Gaza’s smallholder farms, birds and chickens, and around million trees. These historical actions continue to reflect the strict and unethical policies of Israel toward Palestine and contribute to what International court of Justice said a ‘plausible’ case of genocide[11]. Because of the systematic blockade of food trucks, Gaza is facing one of the world’s worst food crisis, with over 32% of the population facing sever famine like conditions, making starvation a primary weapon of war.
The systematic and deliberate destruction of civilian or life-sustaining infrastructure by states is all too common without any direct accountability as the world has seen in Gaza. The intentional targeting and destruction of homes, schools, hospitals and water infrastructures is not just incidental to hostilities, rather it is now used as a method of warfare, territorial control and annexation. The large-scale destruction by Israeli forces in Gaza strip highlights that how civilian infrastructure are used as a weapon of war that severely affects the everyday life, survival and dignity of the population. The passive response by the international community has further exposed the selective and dual nature of international accountability and humanitarian principles. The continued military, political and diplomatic support for Israel despite its genocidal activities in Gaza has weakened the global trust in the international legal order. Ultimately, this reflects the limitation of international organizations like United Nations Human Rights council and other peacebuilding organizations to enforce accountability and protect the civilians that are vulnerable in modern conflict.
[1] Gaza Infrastructure Damage Estimates 2026| Statista, (2026), https://www.statista.com/statistics/1616491/gaza-war-infrastructure-damage-destruction.
[2]Domicide: Mass Destruction of Housing and Civilian Infrastructure in Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan and Ukraine (A/HCR/61/43/Add.3), (2026), https://www.un.org/unispal/document/domicide-report.
[3] United Nations Human Rights Council. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing as a Component of the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living: Rights-Based Reconstruction and Domicidal Warfare. UN Doc. A/HRC/59/35, March 2026.
[4] Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Domicide: Mass Destruction of Housing and Civilian Infrastructure in Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan and Ukraine, Report of the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, A/HRC/61/43/Add.3 (Geneva: United Nations Human Rights Council, 2026), https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahcr6143add3-domicide-mass-destruction-housing-and-civilian.
[5]“Health System at Breaking Point as Hostilities Further Intensify in Gaza, WHO Warns,” World Health Organization (WHO), last modified May 22, 2025, https://www.who.int/news/item/22-05-2025-health-system-at-breaking-point-as-hostilities-further-intensify–who-warns.
[6] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), “UN Experts Appalled by Relentless Israeli Attacks on Gaza’s Healthcare System,” OHCHR, August 13, 2025, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/08/un-experts-appalled-relentless-israeli-attacks-gazas-healthcare-system.
[7] Mads Gilbert, “Israel’s War on Gaza’s Healthcare Continues in Full Force Under ‘ceasefire’,” Al Jazeera, last modified February 6, 2026, https://www.aljazee ra.com/opinions/2026/2/6/israels-war-on-gazas-healthcare-continues-in-full-force-under-ceasefire.
[8] “Famine Confirmed for First Time in Gaza,” World Health Organization (WHO), last modified August 22, 2025, https://www.who.int/news/item/22-08-2025-famine-confirmed-for-first-time-in-gaza.
[9] Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), Gaza Strip: IPC Acute Food Insecurity Special Brief, March 2024, https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IPC_Gaza_Strip_Acute_Food_Insecurity_Feb_July2024_Special_Brief.pdf.
[10] Nadine Bahour et al., “Food insecurity, starvation and malnutrition in the Gaza Strip,” Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal 31, no. 4 (2025): xx, doi:10.26719/2025.31.4.281
This article is written by Mahum Javed. She is currently doing her Bachelor’s degree in Strategic studies (5th) from National Defense University. She has a profound interest in researching about Human Right violations around the world and the lack of accountability under international laws.
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