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UN rights chief condemns Israeli minister for justifying war crime starvation of civilians in Gaza
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk is “shocked and appalled”, a spokesman said, at Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich’s statement earlier this week in which he deplored aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip and suggested that the deliberate starvation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza could be “justified and moral” as long as Israeli hostages are held by Hamas.
“The High Commissioner condemns these words in the strongest terms,” said Jeremy Laurence, UN human rights spokesperson, at the press briefing in Geneva. “They also incite hatred against innocent civilians. The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime,” insisted Mr. Laurence, echoing previous warnings from the International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, against preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in emergency conditions, which is an obligation under international humanitarian law.
According to the UN’s human rights office, Mr. Türk fears that this direct and public statement, especially by a public official, risks inciting other atrocity crimes, and called for such statements to cease immediately. “They must be investigated and, if found to amount to a crime, must be prosecuted and punished,” Mr. Laurence said.
Amid the escalation of regional tensions following the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran, Mr. Laurence also repeated the importance of achieving a cease-fire. “All hostages must be released, and humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow into Gaza,” he said.
Hungry and displaced Gazans
According to UN humanitarians, Israel has been severely impeding the humanitarian response to the catastrophe faced by Gazans since last October’s deadly cross-border massacre by Hamas, thereby leaving the Strip’s population on the verge of famine, with hardly any clean water nor medicine.
Back from a mission to Gaza, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Salim Oweis told journalists in Geneva how he had been shocked by the depth of suffering, destruction and widespread displacement in Gaza. “The footage the world sees on television gives an important peek into the living hell people are enduring for over 10 months. What it does not fully show is how behind the crumbled buildings, whole neighborhoods, livelihoods and dreams have been levelled to the ground. When you see an image of a displaced mother carrying her child and all their belongings on her back, you do not see the hundreds of uprooted people following her up the road,” explained Mr. Oweis.
“The life of a child in Gaza is not a life,” the UNICEF official said, in reference to the horrific consequences having no safe areas, coupled with the lack of food, clean water, fuel and medicines.
“When you walk through the mazes of makeshift shelters, you struggle to climb the sand they lay on and you smell the strong odor of sewage filling the paths around. You are struck by the many children hovering around asking one question “Mister, when will the war end?”
The United Nations and many world leaders have called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, along with safe access to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians there. According to media reports, Israel confirmed on Thursday that it will send negotiators for indirect talks with Hamas in response to a proposal by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to resume stalled cease-fire and hostage release negotiations on 15 August.
Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 91,600 injured – most of them women and children - since the beginning of Israel’s military offensive in retaliation for the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, according to Gaza’s health authorities.
Ends
Story: “Gaza starvation remarks reax – OHCHR, UNICEF” – 09 Aug. 2024
Speakers:
- Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights Spokesperson (OHCHR)
- Salim Oweis – UN Children’s Fund Communication Officer (UNICEF), speaking from Amman
TRT: 02’54”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 09 August 2024 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Geneva Press briefing
SHOTLIST
- Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley.
- Wide shot of the podium with speakers at the press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights Spokesperson: “The High Commissioner is shocked and appalled by the words of Minister Smotrich. According to him, letting two million Palestinians in Gaza starve to death could be justified and moral in order to free hostages. He condemns these words in the strongest terms, which also incite hatred against innocent civilians. The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime.”
- Wide shot of press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights Spokesperson: “This direct and public statement risks inciting other atrocity crimes. Such statements, especially by public officials, must cease immediately, they must be investigated and, if found to amount to a crime, must be prosecuted and punished.”
- Medium shot of press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights Spokesperson: “We also repeat what we have said over and over again. There must be an immediate ceasefire. All hostages must be released, and humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow into Gaza.”
- Wide shot of journalists in press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Salim Oweis, UN Children’s Fund Communication Officer (UNICEF): “The footage the world sees on TVs gives an important peek into the living hell people are enduring for over 10 months. What it does not fully show is how behind the crumbled buildings, whole neighborhoods, livelihoods and dreams have been levelled to the ground. When you see an image of a displaced mother carrying her child and all their belongings on her back, you do not see hundreds of uprooted people following her up the road.”
- Wide shot of press conference room and control room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Salim Oweis, UN Children’s Fund Communication Officer (UNICEF): “The life of a child in Gaza, in month ten of this conflict, is not a life. We cannot say it enough – there is no safe place, and everything is running out: food, water, fuel, medicines. Everything. When you walk through the mazes of makeshift shelters, you struggle to climb the sand they lay on and you smell the strong odor of sewage filling the paths around. You are struck by the many children hovering around asking one question ‘Mister, when will the war end?’”
- Various shots of the press conference room.
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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