Famine Spreads

Euro Med, a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, has reported that their team has documented a distressing situation in Gaza. Hundreds of Gaza civilians, waiting along Salah al-Din Road southeast of Gaza City for UN trucks carrying relief packages, are facing live ammunition and artillery shells. This has resulted in casualties and placed their lives at risk for the sake of meager food supplies from relief organizations.

In the northern Gaza Valley, Euro Med reveals that approximately 400,000 Palestinians are enduring famine due to Israel's oppressive siege. Since December 1, 2023, Israel has refused to allow any relief aid to enter the area. Some individuals have resorted to grinding animal feed and mixing it with corn for sustenance, while others have been forced to consume tree leaves.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor emphasizes that international humanitarian law strictly prohibits the use of starvation as a weapon. As an occupying power, Israel is legally obligated to provide basic needs and protection to the Gazan people. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court classifies intentionally starving civilians, including willfully impeding relief supplies, as a war crime, according to the Geneva-based rights group.

The rights organization holds the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies responsible for the shortcomings and inability to deliver humanitarian aid in a proper manner to the hundreds of thousands of people suffering from severe famine for nearly four consecutive months. Euro-Med Monitor expresses deep concern over the UN's silence regarding the Israeli army's targeting of civilians attempting to receive aid supplies.