Hunger increasingly used as weapon of war as ‘food-related violence’ surges, analysis shows

Hunger is being increasingly exploited as a weapon of war with more than 20,000 documented incidents of “food-related violence” in the past eight years, new analysis reveals. Attacks include 1,261 strikes on markets used by families for daily groceries and 863 incidents in which food distribution systems were targeted and workers killed. The analysis looked at the period since UN resolution 2417 unanimously condemned the deliberate starvation of civilians in 2018 . It found starvation is being increasingly weaponised with the supply of food routinely targeted in Gaza, Sudan, Lebanon and Haiti among others. Data compiled by Insecurity Insight uncovered 21,403 incidents in 15 countries where food supplies have been deliberately targeted since 2018, when the UN security council unanimously passed a resolution condemning the unlawful denial of humanitarian aid as a tactic of warfare. Researchers discovered 1,909 military strikes on farmland, and another 563 on water infrastructure vital for crops, which affected food security in more than 42 countries and territories. The remains of a market at Lankien, Jonglei state, South Sudan, after an airstrike in April 2026. Photograph: Florence Miettaux/The Guardian States with the highest recorded incidents are the occupied Palestinian Territory with 9,013 attacks, followed by Yemen – 1,863 incidents – and Sudan, where food was targeted in 1,605 strikes. …