‘UKLFI’s latest review shows that reports of famine on which the prosecutor relied were not plausible and were based on inaccurate and anomalous data regarding food supplies and malnutrition.’
Significant errors and flawed methodology tainted the evidence of famine in Gaza that led to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
According to UK Lawyers for Israel Charitable Trust (UKLFI), the evidence for these claims simply doesn’t hold up.
First, the very definition of famine was misapplied. The term “famine” isn’t just dramatic language but rather a specific scientific classification developed in Somalia in 2004 by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
UKLFI’s report argues that Gaza’s crisis, while “undoubtedly serious,” doesn’t meet these technical standards.
Second, the ICC relied heavily on data from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net), a USAID initiative that’s now offline following Trump administration funding freezes.
Third, the report identifies what it calls “inaccurate and anomalous data” about food supplies and malnutrition rates, suggesting that worst-case scenarios were presented as inevitable outcomes rather than possibilities.
“Warrants for the arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant have been issued by the ICC on the false ground that Israel deliberately used starvation as a method of war,” says Jonathan Turner, UKLFI’s executive director.
“UKLFI’s latest review shows that reports of famine on which the prosecutor relied were not plausible and were based on inaccurate and anomalous data regarding food supplies and malnutrition.”
UKLFI’s report calls for more rigorous standards in assessing humanitarian crises, including clearer distinctions between current conditions, projections, and worst-case scenarios. The stakes are too high for anything less.
Just recently, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan found himself banned from entering the U.S. under new sanctions.
President Donald Trump’s executive order blasted what he called the court’s “illegitimate and baseless actions” against Israel.
Meanwhile, the ICC’s oversight body has been tasked to investigate allegations that Khan tried to coerce a female aide against her will.
Khan has repeatedly denied the allegations, stating there is “no truth” to the claim.
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