Rights organisations refute US envoy’s claim over Gaza famine

International human rights and legal organisations have denounced and categorically rejected recent statements issued by US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, in which he denied the existence of famine in the Gaza Strip.

In a joint statement issued on Monday, 17 Arab and international human rights organizations said Witkoff’s statements completely ignore documented facts on the ground and international reports confirming the existence of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe threatening the lives of more than two million Palestinians in Gaza and stressed that evidence of the deliberate starvation there cannot be erased by statements.

The rights watchdogs stressed that “famine in Gaza is a tangible reality that has claimed the lives of 159 people, including 90 children” adding that this documented number reflects the scale of Israel’s crime, which cannot be justified or denied.

“This humanitarian crisis affects everyone without exception, including Israeli captives, who appeared hungry and malnourished in recent video recordings.

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The organisations called on the United Nations and the Security Council to urgently send an independent international commission of inquiry to the Gaza Strip to directly examine the catastrophic conditions facing the civilian population and investigate the policy of systematic starvation, as a war crime.

They also called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to expedite its investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza, including the crime of starvation, and to hold all parties involved accountable.

The signatories called on the international community to impose an immediate and lasting ceasefire in the Strip to ensure unhindered access to humanitarian aid and the protection of civilians, relief teams, and medical personnel.

They also called on the international community to immediately pressure the Israeli occupation authorities to allow international media agencies and newspapers into the Gaza Strip, following more than ten months of imposing a media ban “aimed at obscuring the crimes of genocide and starvation”.

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