UKLFI Charitable Trust held a webinar on Did Israel Starve Gaza Civilians? with Hadassah Schwarz, chaired by Natasha Hausdorff, on 3 April 2025.

The allegation that Israel starved Gaza civilians is central to cases against Israel and its leaders in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as in the Court of Public Opinion.

In the ICJ, it was the main focus of the Provisional Measures Orders of 26 January and 28 March 2024 in South Africa’s claim of genocide. In the ICC, it was the primary allegation in the Prosecutor’s public summary of the grounds of his application for arrest warrants filed on 20 May 2024.

The speaker, who is head of the Humanitarian Information Centre and International digital Strategy at COGAT, will talk about the aid effort to Gaza during the current war as well as during the hostage release deal. She will discuss analyses of the data regarding the amount of aid reaching Gaza, together with international law expert, Natasha Hausdorff.

*The speakers previously scheduled to present this webinar are unfortunately unavailable due to circumstances beyond our control.

More about the speakers

Hadassah Schwarz is the Head of the Humanitarian Information Centre and International Digital Strategy at the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, which is a unit in the Israeli Ministry of Defence and the IDF responsible for coordinating civil matters between the Government of Israel, the IDF and international organizations in respect of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. Post October 7th, the unit is responsible for the humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

She previously worked for 6 years as the Senior Coordinator, International Religious Media  at the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel, and has also worked as a media analyst at the Government press office.

Natasha Hausdorff is a barrister at 6 Pump Court Chambers and a frequent speaker on International Law. She has a law degree from Oxford University, qualified as a solicitor at Skadden, and subsequently gained an LLM from Tel Aviv University, focussing on public international law and the law of armed conflict.

She clerked for Miriam Naor, President of Israel’s Supreme Court, and was a Fellow at Columbia Law School’s National Security Program. Natasha is legal director of UKLFI Charitable Trust.