Gaza starvation could amount to war crime, UN human rights chief tells

A new UN-backed assessment provided concrete statistical proof that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is escalating into a man-made famine, following months of warnings.

The pressure on Israel to uphold its legal obligations to safeguard Palestinian civilians and provide sufficient quantities of humanitarian aid to reach those in need has intensified.

Volker Türk, the top UN human rights official, stated in a BBC interview that there was a "plausible" case that Israel was using famine as a weapon of war in Gaza and that Israel was mostly to blame.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Mr. Türk, stated that if intent were shown, that would be considered a war crime.

Mr. Türk's concerns were discounted as "total nonsense - a totally irresponsible thing to say" by Israel's economics minister, Nir Barkat, a prominent member of Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.

Like his cabinet colleagues, Mr. Barkat said that Israel was accepting all humanitarian help from the United States and other countries. Israel claims that once Hamas has aided themselves, the UN does not share what is left.

However, a lengthy queue of trucks brimming with badly needed relief goods for the Gaza Strip is forming on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing. Only Israel allows them to enter Gaza, and only after a convoluted and time-consuming set of formalities.

Jordan and now other nations, including the US and the UK, are compelled to drop help from the air, which is the least efficient way to provide humanitarian goods, due to a lack of sufficient resources.

Palestinians clamouring for a piece of the action have either been crushed by parachutes failing or killed trying to swim to pallets that have fallen in the water.

A flotilla of engineers from the US Navy is being sent across the Atlantic to construct a makeshift pier so that relief may be delivered by sea.

If Israel opened up Gaza to full road access and accelerated the delivery of humanitarian goods via the contemporary container port at Ashdod, which is located just a short drive north of the Gaza Strip, then none of that would be required.

According to Mr. Türk, there is proof that Israel is delaying or stopping the delivery of aid, as he stated in a Geneva interview.

Mr. Türk denounced the murder, rape, and hostage-taking perpetrated by Hamas on Israeli soldiers and civilians on October 7. However, he said that neither side in the conflict should be allowed to escape responsibility for its deeds, particularly if it means attempting to deny assistance supplies to Gaza's most vulnerable citizens.

"Everyone I work with in the humanitarian field tells us that red tape is everywhere. There are challenges. There are obstacles. Israel has a large portion of the guilt," he declared.

"All I can say is that the evidence speaks for itself. I know that this needs to be under control, but it can't take days to finish."Given all the limitations that are in place now, it begs the issue of whether it is legitimate to argue that hunger is or might be used as a weapon of war when you impose demands that are unreasonable in an emergency."

A somberly written essay and a number of maps, charts, and figures were released last week, which increased concerns about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. 

Israel's partners responded with fresh warnings, urging it to alter its strategy in the conflict against Hamas in order to prevent people from dying from high explosive or starvation.

The research is the most recent report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, a reputable global network. It offers apolitical statistics to governments, the UN, and humanitarian organisations so they may assess the extent of hunger. The report's striking title read, "Gaza Strip: Famine is imminent as 1.1 million people, or half of Gaza, experience catastrophic food insecurity."

According to its estimates, if there was no truce and humanitarian supplies did not flow into the Gaza Strip, starvation might strike at any point during the following eight weeks or so.

Without having to wait for the statistics, Palestinian parents who had successfully brought their sick and hungry children to one of the few hospitals in Gaza that remained open during Israel's assault did not have to. They have watched their children deteriorate for weeks and months as they have battled to feed them.

Illness is not welcome in Gaza. A Palestinian freelance journalist for the BBC found a little girl at the hospital who was semi-conscious on a bed.

Even in times of peace, the girl, Noora Mohammed, suffers from deadly illnesses related to liver and lung fibrosis. She has been starving for months since the war started, and she is rapidly losing health due to a lack of proper medical attention.

Her mother responded, "My daughter can't move.""She's anaemic, always sleeping, and there's nothing nutritious to eat."

At least Noora reached hospital. Most of just over one million Gazans considered to be in acute need will not have that option.

The evidence of Gaza's humanitarian catastrophe is overwhelming. Our pictures from the hospital showed children with swollen joints, wasted limbs and dermatitis, all classic symptoms of acute 

Israel has ignored the UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire. Nir Barkat, the Israeli economy minister, said that nothing would be allowed to get in the way of Israel's war aim of smashing Hamas for good and freeing the hostages taken on 7 October.

He said that Israel's strategic objective was endorsed by allies worldwide. Mr. Barkat was frank when I mentioned that a lot of Israel's allies, beginning with US President Joe Biden, did not agree with the way Israel was doing the war.

That is difficult. We intend to bring the battle to a close. We'll use every effort to eliminate the Hamas terrorists and limit collateral damage to the greatest extent possible," he declared.

"With all due respect, we're fighting evil, and we expect the world to help us fight evil until we finish Hamas off the map."

Israel's biting critique was met with a concise answer from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"The only thing I can say to them is that there is an emerging international consensus, and it may not have been there before, but it is clearly there now, including with this week's Security Council resolution, on the humanitarian situation," Türk said.

"There must be a quick ceasefire because the state of human rights is so dire. That's how I react to that.