The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell denounced on Tuesday the use of hunger “as a weapon of war” in Gaza, during a speech to the UN Security Council.
“This humanitarian crisis is not a natural disaster, it is not a flood or an earthquake, it is caused by humans,” he declared, calling for the entry of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory where the Israeli offensive has so far left 31,184 dead, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
“When we look at alternative routes to deliver aid, by sea or by air, we must remember that we have to do so because the usual land route is closed. Artificially closed,” he insisted.
“And starving the population is used as a weapon of war.”
“While we condemn this in Ukraine, we must use the same words for what is happening in Gaza,” he further stressed.
International aid, controlled by Israel, only enters the Gaza Strip, a territory of 2.4 million inhabitants where the UN fears widespread famine.
The situation is particularly serious in the north, where the delivery of aid for around 300,000 people, according to the UN, is made almost impossible by looting, fighting and destruction.
The war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by an unprecedented attack carried out by commandos of the Palestinian Islamist movement, infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7, which left at least 1,160 dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count established from official Israeli sources.
This article is originally published on lorientlejour.com
