The UN has not officially declared famine in the Gaza Strip, but experts say there is “no doubt” that it is underway.
:quality(50)/2023/07/06/64a68815cd1a7_placeholder-36b69ec8.png)
Published
Update
Reading time: 1 min
:quality(50)/2024/07/09/000-363c9gq-668d072ad6d7f137189016.jpg)
UN human rights experts accused Israel on Tuesday, July 9, of carrying out a “intentional and targeted starvation campaign” which has led to the deaths of children in Gaza. The ten independent United Nations experts who issued this statement consider that this is “a form of genocidal violence and led to famine throughout the Gaza Strip.”
The experts, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but not speaking on behalf of the UN, cite three children who died recently “malnutrition and lack of access to adequate health care.” “Thirty-four Palestinians have died of malnutrition since October 7, the majority of them children.”they add. For these experts, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, there is no “no doubt” that a famine is underway. The Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva has strongly contested these statements.
For its part, the UN human rights office said: “dismayed”, Tuesday, by new evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army in Gaza City, which are forcing displaced people to move to areas “where civilians are being killed”The IDF has issued two similar warnings since June 27, pushing tens of thousands of people onto the roads.
The Israeli army said on Tuesday “continue its counter-terrorist operation in Gaza City, based on intelligence indicating the presence of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist infrastructure in the area”. “At the same time as it issued this evacuation order, the army intensified its strikes in the south and west of Gaza City, targeting the same areas to which it had ordered the movement.”denounced the UN human rights office.
The latter adds that Deir el-Balah, a locality south of Gaza City to which residents are specifically invited to go, “is already heavily overcrowded with Palestinians displaced from other locations (…) and where there is little infrastructure and access to humanitarian aid.”