The U.N. human rights chief on Friday (August 22) said that the emergence of famine in northern Gaza is the “direct result of actions taken by the Israeli government” and said that deaths from starvation might amount to a war crime, Reuters reports.
“The famine declared today in Gaza Governorate by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli government,” Volker Turk said in a statement read to reporters at a Geneva press briefing, referring to a report by the global hunger monitor.
“It is a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare, and the resulting deaths may also amount to the war crime of willful killing,” he added.
Almost two years since Israel’s invasion, famine was formally confirmed for the first time in parts of Gaza on Friday with almost a quarter of the population facing starvation, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the main global hunger monitor working with the U.N. and other aid agencies.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, accused Hamas of a “false starvation campaign” and said the U.N. and others were spreading unfounded claims about hunger in Gaza.
In a statement read to journalists at the Geneva briefing, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity.”
Speaking from Gaza, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Rik Peeperkorn, said the famine classification is “staggering” and that the situation is expected to worsen through September.
“This is a manmade crisis, so it must and can be reversed. The time for action is now without delay or excuses,” he said.
Նյութերը գեներացվում են տարբեր կայքերից արհեստական բանականության միջոցով