UN experts: Israel’s targeted starvation of Gaza is a form of genocide

 UN experts yesterday accused Israel of carrying out a “targeted starvation campaign”, adding that the recent death of children “leaves no doubt that famine has spread across the entire Gaza strip”.

Highlighting the cases of children dying in Gaza of malnutrition, the ten independent UN experts said: “With the death of these children from starvation despite medical treatment in central Gaza, there is no doubt that famine has spread from northern Gaza into central and southern Gaza.”

“We declare that Israel’s intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza. We call upon the international community to prioritise the delivery of humanitarian aid by land by any means necessary, end Israel’s siege, and establish a ceasefire.”

“When a 2-month-old baby and 10-year-old Yazan Al Kafarneh died of hunger on 24 February and 4 March respectively, this confirmed that famine had struck northern Gaza. The whole world should have intervened earlier to stop Israel’s genocidal starvation campaign and prevented these deaths,” the experts said. “Thirty-four Palestinians have died from malnutrition since 7 October, the majority being children. Inaction is complicity.”

Israel has repeatedly refuted claims it is starving Palestinians in Gaza, however aid organisations have highlighted how it has hindered and stopped humanitarian aid deliveries entering the Strip or reaching their intended recipients. Northern Gaza has been particularly been targeted by Israel, with aid deliveries rarely being allowed to reach Palestinians in Gaza City and its vicinity.

The UN has yet to officially declare a state  of famine in Gaza.

READ: ‘How can we remain silent?’ UN Rapporteur says on famine in Gaza

“Israel has been intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza since 8 October. Now it is targeting civilians seeking humanitarian aid and humanitarian convoys,” the experts said in a statement.

“We declare that Israel’s intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza,” the ten independent UN experts said.

“Israel must end its campaign of starvation and targeting of civilians,” they added, as 15 children have already died of malnutrition at the Kamal Adwan Hospital and there are fears that the figures could be higher in other hospitals” said the experts, noting that a total of 34 Palestinians have died from malnutrition since October 8, most of them children.

The experts added that “With the death of these children from hunger despite medical treatment in central Gaza, there is no doubt that famine has extended from northern Gaza to central and southern Gaza.”

They pointed out that the world has not made more efforts to avoid this disaster,  stressing that the whole world should have intervened early to stop the campaign of starvation and extermination waged by Israel and prevent these deaths.

“Failure (to act) is complicity,” said the experts.

They also condemned last week’s Israeli attack, which killed at least 112 people and injured some 760 gathered to collect flour in Gaza, as a “massacre” amid the current conditions.

Noting that the attack came after Israel denied humanitarian aid into Gaza City and northern Gaza for more than a month, they said the attack marks a “pattern of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians seeking aid, with over 14 recorded incidents of shooting, shelling and targeting groups gathered to receive urgently needed supplies from trucks or airdrops between mid-January and the end of February”.

“Israel has also opened fire on humanitarian aid convoys on several occasions, despite the fact that the convoys shared their coordinates with Israel,” the experts lamented.

They stressed that the recent airdrops will “achieve little”, and warned “After months of Israel’s starvation campaign, Gaza may already be facing famine”.

“The only way to prevent or end this famine is an immediate and permanent ceasefire,” they said.

The United Nations has not officially declared a famine in the Gaza Strip.

But UN experts, including the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhry, insisted the onset of famine cannot be denied.

As usual, Israel denounced the experts and accused them of being “accustomed to spreading misleading information as much as they are accustomed to supporting Hamas propaganda”.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas in October 2023, in which nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 30,631 Palestinians have been killed and 72,043 others injured during the Israeli deadly onslaught on Gaza.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught, while all of them are food insecure, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and ⁠less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240710-un-experts-israels-targeted-starvation-of-gaza-is-a-form-of-genocide/