On September 16, 2025, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza reached a devastating new milestone. The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that the death toll from famine had climbed to 428, including 146 children, as reported by Anadolu and TEMPO.CO. The relentless siege and closure of all border crossings by Israel since March 2, 2025, has prevented vital food and humanitarian aid from reaching the population, pushing the region deeper into catastrophe.
In its daily update, the Gaza Ministry of Health confirmed three new deaths in the last 24 hours, one of them a child, all caused by severe malnutrition. Since August, when the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) officially declared a state of famine in Gaza City, at least 150 Palestinians—including 31 children—have died from hunger. The IPC has warned that this crisis is poised to spread even further, threatening Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis in central and southern Gaza by the end of September.
The closure of Gaza’s crossings has left residents stranded without access to basic supplies. According to TEMPO.CO, Israel’s actions have exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation, with nearly 65,000 Palestinians—mostly women and children—killed by the Israeli army since October 2023. Relentless bombings have rendered much of the enclave uninhabitable, compounding the spread of famine and disease.
This mounting tragedy has not gone unnoticed by the international community. As reported by EL PAÍS, the brutality of Israel’s invasion has sparked a surge of global condemnation. While Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has yet to face the level of widespread sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, a growing movement across culture, sports, and economic sectors is calling for accountability.
The most visible recent protest occurred in Madrid, where the final stage of the Vuelta a España cycling race was suspended on September 14, 2025, due to massive demonstrations against Israel’s actions in Gaza. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez went so far as to call for Israel’s exclusion from international sports. The images from Madrid—thousands of citizens demanding justice—were a stark reminder of the mounting pressure facing Israel on the world stage.
Economic measures are also gaining traction. In July, the European Commission proposed suspending Israeli participation in the Horizon Europe research program, specifically targeting innovation in dual-use technologies like drones and artificial intelligence. The initiative was intended to penalize Israel for blocking humanitarian aid and food from entering Gaza. However, the proposal stalled in the EU Council, as several member states, including Germany and Italy, requested more time to review the measures.
Nevertheless, momentum has continued to build. On September 16, Brussels announced plans to suspend parts of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, including trade components, and to sanction Israeli leaders deemed responsible for escalating the war. At the national level, Spain has announced bans on ships and planes carrying weapons to Israel from using its ports and airspace, and has prohibited imports from West Bank settlements. The Netherlands is preparing a decree to ban imports from Israeli settlements and to strengthen controls on military and dual-use exports.
Turkey has taken especially drastic steps. In May 2024, Ankara suspended all exports and imports with Israel, covering a broad range of goods from metals to industrial products. The restrictions have since expanded: Turkish ports are now closed to Israeli ships, and airspace access is limited, particularly for aircraft carrying military equipment. Turkey has made it clear that trade will not resume until Israel guarantees the safe and continuous passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Grassroots campaigns have also intensified. The Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement, founded in 2005, has ramped up pressure on companies seen as complicit in Israeli actions. The movement claims credit for the closure of Carrefour subsidiaries in the West Bank and for a decline in McDonald’s global sales, reflecting the growing economic consequences of the conflict.
The cultural world is similarly engaged. Eurovision 2026 has emerged as a battleground, with countries such as Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Iceland declaring they will boycott the competition if Israel participates. Spain’s Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has stated that Spanish participation will only occur if Israel is expelled. Spanish state broadcaster RTVE is considering a formal proposal to withdraw from the festival should Israel remain involved.
More than 1,400 film and television figures, including prominent names like Yorgos Lanthimos, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, and Javier Bardem, have pledged not to collaborate with Israeli institutions or companies accused of involvement in genocide. At the 2025 Venice Film Festival, pro-Palestinian groups called for a boycott of actors Gal Gadot and Gerard Butler due to their pro-Israel stances. In Belgium, a music festival canceled a performance by the Munich Philharmonic because of the Israeli conductor’s ambiguous public position on the war. In Spain, dozens of artists withdrew from major festivals after revelations about the pro-Israel investment fund KKR’s ties to the industry.
Even Israeli contemporary dance companies, once celebrated internationally, are now facing rejection in countries like France and Mexico. The Batsheva, Kibbutz, and Vertigo Dance Companies—longstanding ambassadors of Israeli culture—are increasingly finding themselves isolated.
Yet, the response in sports remains markedly uneven. Unlike the sweeping bans imposed on Russian teams and athletes after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, no major sports sanctions have been enacted against Israel. UEFA’s gesture during the Super Cup final on August 14—a banner reading “Stop killing children; stop killing innocent people”—stopped short of explicitly condemning Israeli actions. Historical precedents exist: the Arab League’s boycott of the 1958 World Cup qualifiers and Israel’s 1974 expulsion from the Asian Football Confederation, but today’s global sporting bodies have largely refrained from similar measures.
Meanwhile, the information war continues on other fronts. On September 16, a campaign led by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), a research center funded by Israeli sources, intensified efforts in Washington to link Qatar to a rise in antisemitism on U.S. university campuses. During a congressional hearing, ISGAP director Charles Asher Small claimed a 300 percent rise in antisemitic incidents due to Qatari funding—a claim lacking scientific evidence. ISGAP’s own report described its findings as "hypothetical rather than conclusive," and critics, including former staff, accuse the institute of abandoning academic rigor in favor of a narrow focus on Qatar, tied to at least $123,000 in Israeli government funding, as reported by Drop Site.
As Gaza’s hunger crisis deepens and international condemnation grows, the world is watching to see whether economic, cultural, and political pressure will bring relief to a population on the brink—and whether global institutions will find the resolve to act where words have so far fallen short.
