'Israel' using starvation of civilians as warfare method in Gaza: HRW

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 Dec 2023 01:33
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Human Rights Watch says Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel into Gaza, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance.

A man sits with children by a fire outside one of the tents housing displaced Gazans, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 18, 2023. (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)

"Israel" is intentionally hindering the supply of food and water in the Gaza Strip and using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday, calling such actions a "war crime".

"Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival … The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the Gaza Strip, which is a war crime," the human rights group said in a statement.

HRW urged the Israeli occupation government to lift a blockade of the Strip, as well as called on the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and other states to suspend any military aid to "Israel".

Earlier on Monday, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza reported that the martyrdoms resulting from the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip have risen to 19,453 deaths and 52,286 injuries since October 7.

"The number of casualties due to the Israeli aggression, which began on October 7 of this year, has increased to 19,453 killed and 52,286 injured," a representative of the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The Government Media Office in Gaza said the occupation has committed 1,680 massacres since the beginning of the aggression.

The Media Office in Gaza reported that 7,000 people are still missing, either under the rubble or their fate is unknown, and 70% of them are children and women.

In a related context, Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, stated that a special tribunal for Gaza could be necessary as the Israeli genocide unfolds further with complete impunity and no accountability.

Griffiths described the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as the "worst ever", saying that it is nearing a new phase of rampant disease and hunger that would be the leading cause of deaths in the Strip and that the agony Palestinians have to endure will only get worse.