Israel accused of weaponising starvation against Gaza children

Palestinians, including children, living in the Nuseirat refugee camp wait with empty pots to receive food distributed by charitable organisations as they are unable to obtain many vital needs, including basic food supplies, in Gaza City, Gaza on October 20, 2024 [Hassan Jedi – Anadolu Agency]

The Palestinian authorities accused Israel on Tuesday of weaponising starvation against civilians and children in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu has reported.

“More than a quarter of a million aid trucks have been blocked from entering Gaza by the Israeli army since the start of its genocidal war in October last year,” said Gaza’s government media office. “The occupation army continues to reinforce the starvation policy, especially in northern Gaza.”

Officials said that Israel has closed the Rafah Border Crossing, a vital route for aid deliveries into Gaza from Egypt, for 169 days and tightened its suffocating blockade on the enclave.

“Preventing the entry of aid trucks is part of Israel’s policy of using starvation as a weapon of war against civilians, especially children, by denying them food, baby milk and nutritional supplements,” they explained. “This is a crime against humanity.” The officials denounced international silence about “this brutal crime” being committed against Palestinians in Gaza.

The Israeli occupation has army stepped up its massive assault in northern Gaza amid a suffocating siege that has left tens of thousands of people without food and water. More than 600 people have been killed and thousands injured since the onslaught in the north of the Palestinian territory began on 5 October, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The onslaught is the latest episode in Israel’s brutal offensive that has killed almost 43,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded at least 100,000 others since October last year. An estimated 11,000 remain missing, presumed dead, under the rubble of their homes and other civilian infrastructure destroyed by Israel. Almost the entire population of Gaza has been displaced amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice. It denies all allegations of genocide and war crimes.

READ: Hamas official says international community ‘complicit’ in Gaza genocide

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