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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.
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