A Weapon Called Hunger: Gaza and the Echoes of Bengal 1943
In Gaza today, children are dying not because food doesn’t exist but because it’s being kept
from them. Starvation isn’t just something that happens during war, it's being done on purpose.
Most families in Gaza survive on one meal a day because humanitarian aid is held at tightly
sealed borders. Over 96% of women and children in Gaza cannot meet their basic
nutritional needs. The siege, ongoing bombardment, and systematic destruction of
infrastructure have created a man-made famine, and this is not the first time the world has
watched it happen.
Similarly in 1943, the Bengal region of British-ruled India suffered one of the most
devastating famines of the 21st century. Over three million people died not because of
drought or crop failure, but because of colonial decisions. British wartime policies, prioritizing
imperial interests over Indian lives, created a perfect storm of price inflation, blocked aid, and
there was mass hunger. The logic of suffering between both Gaza and Bengal remains chillingly
familiar.
Gaza: The Siege That Starves People
The situation in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels. In March 2024, the Integrated Food
Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned that famine was near particularly in northern
Gaza, where starvation is already claiming lives. Entire communities have been cut off from
food, water, and medicine. Israeli airstrikes have attacked bakeries, farmland, fishing boats, and
water infrastructure. On July 11th nine children and four women were killed as they were
waiting in line for nutrition supplies in Deir al Balah, the Gaza strip. An average of 112
children have been admitted for treatment for malnutrition till June from the beginning of
2025 and now the numbers have increased further. Many mothers have been killed or are too
malnourished to breastfeed which is leaving infants at a risk of dying. Every fourth
pregnant woman in the State of Palestine is considered high-risk and requires specialized
health care during pregnancy. Approximately 25 per cent of pregnant women also suffer
from anemia.
The Israeli military controls the entry of aid, allowing only minimal trucks through often after
days of delay. UNICEF mentions that aid is not allowed to enter. The crossings at Rafah and
Kerem Shalom have become chokepoints, with humanitarian convoys unable to pass. Aid
workers report that their movements are restricted, and warehouses have been bombed. In
some areas, UN agencies have had to drop food by air, a desperate and inadequate
measure.
This is not an accidental crisis. It is the result of policies and military strategies that treat
starvation as a form of pressure. Human rights groups say hunger isn’t just a side effect of the
war, it's being used on purpose to pressure people and break their spirit while they’re trapped
under siege.
Bengal, 1943: Empire and Indifference
In 1943, British-ruled Bengal witnessed a similar form of controlled, preventable starvation.
Although there was no major crop failure, the British colonial administration refused to
release food stocks or allow international aid. Grain was diverted to support British troops
fighting World War II. The British government prioritized imperial shipping over relief efforts.
The famine spiraled as rice prices quadrupled and the poorest were priced out of survival.
Bodies lined the streets of Kolkata. People sold children, land, and even their own bodies
in exchange for a handful of grain. Relief came late and insufficiently, after millions had
already died. The British press downplayed the crisis. Many children died at birth, their
mothers too. Even those that were born healthy died young from hunger. Lots of women
committed suicide at that time. Mothers didn't have any breast milk. Their bodies had
become all bones, no flesh. During the famine women died in large numbers not only due to
famine-induced epidemics but they also suffered because of abandonment. In May 1944,
during the Bengal famine around 292,000 women (aged 15 to 50) had lost everything their
homes, jobs, money, and support and were left completely poor. Men sold their wife's
jewelry, to keep up their usual level of food consumption.
But historians now agree: the Bengal famine was man-made. It was caused by war, racism,
and economic policy all orchestrated by a distant empire that viewed Indian lives as
expendable.
The Pattern Repeats
Both Gaza and Bengal are examples of what happens when political and military power controls
the flow of food. In both cases, food was not absent, it was made inaccessible. In both
cases, those in power justified inaction by dehumanizing the people suffering. And in both
cases, the world knew and largely stood by.
The people of Gaza, like the people of Bengal before them, are not victims of nature. They are
victims of systems that see their suffering as acceptable. They are victims of the systems that
think killing thousands of children,women,and men is not a big deal. The siege on Gaza mirrors
the colonial logic of the British Empire: control the land, control the people, and if they starve,
blame them for it.
Why It Matters
In 1943, the British Empire allowed millions to starve in Bengal; in 2024, the same logic of
neglect and control is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
The Bengal famine was buried for decades in silence and denial. It’s only now being
acknowledged as one of Britain’s great moral failures. We cannot let the famine in Gaza meet
the same fate. To recognize these patterns is not just about history, it's about accountability.
When starvation is used as a weapon, it becomes a war crime. When global powers remain
silent, they become complicit.
Food is not running out in Gaza; it is being withheld, delayed, and destroyed. Gaza is not just a
humanitarian crisis. It is a test of whether the world has learned anything from the past. If we
know the story of Bengal, we cannot claim ignorance today. The question is not whether history
is repeating itself, it's whether we’ll let it. So how many more people must suffer? How many
more people shall be killed? How much more food shall be withheld? How many more
women and children shall suffer from malnutrition until we finally feel like it's ENOUGH?
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