The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, believes that Israel may be using starvation in the Gaza Strip as a conflict tactic which would be tantamount to a war crime.
A spokesman for his office on Tuesday said that it would be up to international courts to determine whether this was actually happening.
The United Nations has warned of an imminent famine, with around 1.1 million people in the Palestinian region in a desperate situation.
“The extent of Israel’s continued restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza, together with the manner in which it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime,” Türk said in a statement.
“The clock is ticking. Everyone, especially those with influence, must insist that Israel acts to facilitate the unimpeded entry and distribution of needed humanitarian assistance and commercial goods to end starvation and avert all risk of famine.”
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According to the United Nations and international legal experts, Israel is an occupying power because it controls practically all access points and supplies to the Gaza Strip.
Israel rejects this because it withdrew militarily from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
The Jewish state launched a renewed invasion in October after Islamist group Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip and other Palestinian militants killed over 1,200 people inside Israel in an unprecedented terrorist attack on October 7.(dpa/NAN)
