Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide, the United Nations Special Committee said yesterday, accusing the country of ‘using starvation as a method of war’.
The committee pointed to “mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians”, in a fresh report covering the period from Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack in Israel last year through to July.
“Through its siege over Gaza, obstruction of humanitarian aid, alongside targeted attacks and killing of civilians and aid workers, despite repeated UN appeals, binding orders from the International Court of Justice and resolutions of the Security Council, Israel is intentionally causing death, starvation and serious injury,” it said in a statement.
Israel’s warfare practices in Gaza “are consistent with the characteristics of genocide”, said the committee, which has for decades been investigating Israeli practices affecting rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israel, it charged, was “using starvation as a method of war and inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian population”.
A UN-backed assessment at the weekend warned that famine was imminent in northern Gaza.
Yesterday’s report documented how Israel’s extensive bombing campaign in Gaza had decimated essential services and unleashed an environmental catastrophe with lasting health impacts. By February this year, Israeli forces had used more than 25,000 tonnes of explosives across the Gaza Strip, ‘equivalent to two nuclear bombs’, the report pointed out.
“By destroying vital water, sanitation and food systems, and contaminating the environment, Israel has created a lethal mix of crises that will inflict severe harm on generations to come,” the committee said.
It added that it was “deeply alarmed by the unprecedented destruction of civilian infrastructure and the high death toll in Gaza”, where more than 43,700 people have been killed since the war began.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday said, in a report, Israeli authorities have caused a forced displacement of Palestinian people in Gaza to an extent that constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The report is the latest in a series from aid groups and international bodies warning about the dire humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave.
“Human Rights Watch found that forced displacement has been widespread, and the evidence shows it has been systematic and part of a state policy. Such acts also constitute crimes against humanity,” the report said.
For the past month, Israeli troops have moved tens of thousands of people from areas in the north of the enclave as they have sought to destroy Hamas forces around the towns of Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun.
HRW said the displacement of Palestinians “is likely planned to be permanent in the buffer zones and security corridors”, an action it said would amount to ‘ethnic cleansing’.
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