UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk has stated that 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.”
He added that 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.
UN’s Emergency relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher told reporters in the Swiss city of Geneva that the famine in Gaza should “haunt us all.”
“It is a famine that we could have prevented if we had been allowed, yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel.”
Tom Fletcher
Fletcher added that the famine in Gaza should “shame the world to do better,” adding that it “must spur the world to more urgent action.”
He made a direct plea to the Israeli government, saying, “My ask, my plea, my demand to Prime Minister Netanyahu and anyone who can reach him: enough, ceasefire.”
“Open the crossings, north and south, all of them. Let us get food and other supplies in unimpeded and at the massive scale required. End the retribution.”
Tom Fletcher
The IPC report identified four key drivers of the famine afflicting Gaza, in which 641,000 Palestinians are projected to be experiencing Phase 5, or catastrophic, conditions by the end of September.
These include the escalating conflict, which has resulted in more than 62,000 deaths and 155,000 injuries, and the ensuing forced displacement, which has seen nearly 800,000 Palestinians driven to new locations since mid-March.
The report said that 1.9 million people – or 90 percent of the population – have been displaced multiple times since the start of the war, leaving most families living in unsafe, overcrowded conditions and others sleeping in the open.
Restricted access was another key factor, the report said, with access to both humanitarian and commercial supplies of food and other essential goods “critically restricted” since mid-March.
The report stated that a so-called “tactical pause” announced on July 27 had “failed to improve conditions as violence continued throughout the Strip, including airstrikes, shelling, and shooting.”
Finally, the report said that Gaza has experienced a “food system collapse” with more than 98 percent of the cropland in the territory damaged or inaccessible, livestock decimated, fishing banned, cash scarce and market prices unaffordable.
Guterres Calls Gaza Famine A Failure Of Humanity
UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres reacted to the IPC report, saying, “Just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: ‘famine’.”
Guterres said that it’s “not a mystery,” but rather “a man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself.” “Famine is not only about food; it is the deliberate collapse of the systems needed for human survival,” He added.
The UN Chief said that Israel has “unequivocal obligations under international law – including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population.”
“We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity. No more excuses. The time for action is not tomorrow — it is now. We need an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages, and full, unfettered humanitarian access.”
Antonio Guterres
Meanwhile, four of the UN’s bodies; FAO, Unicef, WFP and WHO, reiterated their call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for “unhindered humanitarian access to curb deaths from hunger and malnutrition.”
The agencies said that famine must be stopped “at all costs,” as they voiced concern about “the threat of an intensified military offensive in Gaza City and any escalation in the conflict” as it would have devastating consequences for civilians.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry reported that 271 people have died of “famine and malnutrition” since the start of the war – including 112 children.
