UN rights expert calls to sanction Israel to reach Gaza ceasefire

People, holding banners and Palestinian flags, stage a demonstration in support of Palestinians, and demanding ceasefire at Mariahilfer Strasse in Vienna, Austria on January 27, 2024. [Aşkın Kıyağan – Anadolu Agency]

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri has called to impose sanctions on Israel, stressing that this is: “The only way to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”

“Israel has been intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza since October 8. Now famine may very well be already occurring, Fakhri posted on X, adding: “The only way to end/prevent this famine is an immediate ceasefire. And the only way to get a ceasefire is to sanction Israel.”

Earlier, the government media office in Gaza confirmed that famine is “deepening” across the Gaza Strip, where 2.4 million people suffer severe food shortages. It described the airdrop operations of food aid as “useless”.

Since 7 October, the Israeli army has been waging a brutal war on the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of more than 30,000 people and the injuries of more than 70,000 others.

Watch: US Vice President Kamala Harris calls for immediate six-week ceasefire in Gaza

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