UN slams Israeli deliberate starving of Gazans as war crime

“We’re seeing food sat on the borders and not being allowed in when there is a population on the other side of the border that is starving, and we’re hearing Israeli ministers say that is to put pressure on the population of Gaza,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher said in an interview on Friday.

"Using food as a weapon “is classified as a war crime,” he said, adding that it would be for the courts and history to judge.

In recent days, several aid seekers have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to reach an aid distribution point west of Rafah in the south of the besieged strip under the US and Israeli mechanism.

International aid agencies have already warned that Israeli plans to control aid distribution in Gaza, including the US-backed proposal, will only add to the suffering in the devastated Palestinian territory.

Israel's far-right ruling coalition, led by Netanyahu, has embraced US President Donald Trump's proposals on Gaza to displace Palestinians permanently outside the territory and turn it into a seaside real-estate development.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Fletcher called on Netanyahu to ensure that “this language, and ultimately, this policy ... of forced displacement, isn’t enacted.”

Fletcher, time and again, has called on international organizations to take action against the Israeli genocidal campaign in the blockaded Palestinian territory.

Most Gazans have been displaced at least once during 19 months of Israeli aggression against the besieged region.

Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza on March 2, before resuming its campaign of genocide on March 18 after talks to prolong a six-week ceasefire collapsed.