MAPIM Condemns U.S. Justification for Israel’s Total Blockade on Gaza: A Cruel and Evil Policy

Majlis Perundingan Pertubuhan Islam Malaysia (Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organizations) – MAPIM
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PRESS STATEMENT

MAPIM Condemns U.S. Justification for Israel’s Total Blockade on Gaza: A Cruel and Evil Policy

1 May 2025 | Kuala Lumpur

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organizations (MAPIM) vehemently condemns the recent stance taken by the United States in defending Israel’s total blockade on Gaza under the pretext that humanitarian aid is being diverted by Hamas.

This justification is not only baseless and immoral, but it also serves to legitimize a policy that is both cruel and evil in its scope and consequence.

The claim by the U.S. and Israel that some humanitarian aid might be diverted by Hamas is being used as a blanket justification for a total blockade on Gaza — denying 2.3 million people access to food, water, medicine, and basic survival. This is not a proportionate or morally defensible response.

Here’s why that reasoning is cruel and evil:

1. Collective Punishment: International law, particularly the Geneva Conventions, forbids punishing an entire population for the actions of a few. The blockade is a clear case of collective punishment, which constitutes a war crime.
2. Weaponizing Aid: By cutting off humanitarian aid, the blockade turns food and medicine into weapons. Starving a population into submission is not security policy — it’s inhumane and genocidal.
3. Hypocrisy: The U.S. and its allies often portray themselves as champions of human rights, yet they provide diplomatic cover and military aid to Israel while it imposes siege conditions on civilians.
4. Smear Tactic: The “Hamas uses aid” claim is designed to smear all Palestinians as complicit, dehumanize them, and justify atrocities under the guise of self-defense.
5. Human Cost: This blockade has caused the deaths of thousands from preventable causes: babies dying in incubators, patients with cancer untreated, entire families starving. These are not military targets — they are victims of an apartheid regime.

By using unproven allegations of aid diversion to support the complete denial of life-saving assistance to over 2.3 million civilians trapped in Gaza, the United States and Israel are weaponizing humanitarian aid — a blatant violation of international law, human conscience, and basic human decency.

The claim that aid may be misused by Hamas cannot, under any circumstance, justify the collective punishment of an entire population. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention clearly prohibits such practices. The ongoing blockade has resulted in famine, the collapse of the health system, and the deliberate starvation of civilians — all of which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

MAPIM reiterates that:

1. Humanitarian aid is a right, not a privilege. Blocking it on political or military grounds is indefensible.
2. Civilians must never be made to pay the price for geopolitical agendas.
3. The U.S. government, in justifying and enabling this total siege, is complicit in the genocidal policy being carried out by Israel.
4. The international community must reject this narrative and demand the immediate and unconditional opening of humanitarian corridors into Gaza.

We call on all governments, global humanitarian agencies, and civil society organizations to denounce this cruel policy, to intensify efforts to deliver aid by all means possible — including air drops, sea routes, and land convoys — and to hold both Israel and its enablers accountable for crimes against the Palestinian people.

MAPIM will continue to mobilize global solidarity, including legal, diplomatic, and grassroots action, to oppose the blockade and demand justice for Gaza.

End the blockade. End the genocide. Humanity must not remain silent.

Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid
President
Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organizations (MAPIM)