The UN denounces that Israel commits a war crime against the population of Gaza by leading them to famine

The United Nations Organization (UN) This Tuesday, he accused Israel of committing a war crime against the population of Loop by depriving her of food to extremes that have led to, at least, 210,000 people famine in the north of the enclave, and which have put more than 1.1 million Gazans at imminent risk of suffering the same situation.

“The situation of hunger, starvation and famine is a consequence of the enormous restrictions imposed by Israel on entry and distribution of humanitarian aid and commercial goods, the displacement of the majority of the population, as well as the destruction of vital civil infrastructure,” said the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk.

Both using hunger as a method of war, and applying it to an entire population, constitute war crimes, said a spokesperson for Türk’s office, after specifying that this does not constitute a legal ruling – which corresponds to the courts – but rather evidence. which results from what is established by the international humanitarian lawwhich the State of Israel is obliged to respect.

With more than two million Palestinians going hungry, this is the highest number of people at risk of falling into a “catastrophic food situation” recorded by the IPC system since its creation.

Coinciding with the publication of these data, Israel denied entry to Gaza of the head of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), the largest organization capable of providing humanitarian aid in the enclave and which has been the target of a sustained discredit campaign by the Israeli Government.

In practice, at least 70% of the remaining Gazans in northern Gaza, or some 210,000, are already suffering from famine and deaths from starvation They will increase there day by day, especially among the most fragile, who are children and the sick.

High Commissioner Türk addressed Israel’s allies, asking them to use their influence to convince the government to facilitate the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid in sufficient quantities and on a continuous basis, the only way to reverse at least a part of a tragedy that gets worse every day.

Israel, willing to listen to Washington’s ideas for Rafah invasion

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuconfirmed that Washington will be able to present “its ideas” in relation to the ground invasion of Rafahbut did not detail whether he will send a delegation to the United States after the North American president, Joe Bidenmade a request in this regard on Monday.

“Regarding the president (Biden), we agreed on the way in which he could present his ideas to us, especially in relation to the humanitarian aspect, since of course we share the desire to allow the orderly departure of the population (from the city of Rafah) and assist to the civilian population,” Netanyahu said today at the opening of the Foreign Affairs and Security committee of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament).

However, for Netanyahu, not trying to take down Rafah – where Israel says four Hamas battalions remain active – would mean leaving “20%” of Hamas intact, which, the president alleges, “will reorganize and retake the Strip, and of course will pose a new threat to Israel.”

“I made it clear to the president in our conversation, in the clearest way, that we are determined to complete the elimination of those battalions in Rafah. And there is no other way to do it other than by land,” the Hebrew leader reiterated today.

Humanitarian aid arrived on board the ‘Open Arms’ distributed

The fences of 200 tons of humanitarian aid arrivals on the boat ‘Open Arms through the humanitarian corridor opened from Cyprus have been distributed in the north of the Palestinian enclave, as confirmed by the organization World Central Kitchen.

Thus, he indicated that “the delivery of rice, flour, legumes, vegetables and proteins to families in the north, where access to aid is severely restricted, demonstrates that desperately needed food can be delivered across the sea.” .

Together with local and international partners, World Central Kitchen has delivered more than 39 million meals by land, sea and air to Palestinians in need,” he highlighted in a statement published on his website.

However, he stressed that “there is still much more to do” and recalled that the head of the project, Spanish chef José Andrés, “has called for a ceasefire and the opening of as many land border crossings as possible.” to deliver enough food to Gazans.

The ‘Open Arms’ began on Friday aid landing after the completion of the first journey through the maritime corridor opened from Cyprus to deliver assistance to the Gazan population, while the Israeli Army confirmed “exhaustive security control” of the humanitarian cargo.