Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid for Gaza may amount to a starvation tactic that could be a war crime, the United Nations human rights chief said on Tuesday. The stark appraisal followed a U.N.-backed report on Monday saying famine is likely by May without an end to fighting in the more than five-month war between Israel and Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million people.
“The extent of Israel’s continued restrictions on entry of aid into Gaza, together with the manner in which it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime,” said the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk.
While aid agencies blame Israel for blockading Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government says it is facilitating aid and the United Nations and relief groups are at fault for any issues over the quantity and pace of delivery.

    • livusOP
      4•3 months ago

      Definitely but OHCHR will probably use cautious language until it has a full report.

  • nocturne
    2•3 months ago

    Just add it to their list that no one seems to be doing anything about.

    • Maeve
      2•3 months ago

      I do understand your sentiment and also want to point out there are plenty of Israeli who find their government’s and compatriot’s thoughts, words and deeds abhorrent.

  • Maeve
    2•3 months ago

    Does it matter? Will anyone face trial at the Hague?

    • livusOP
      2•3 months ago

      @Maeve I think it matters. We have a history of war criminals sometimes being brought to justice several decades after their crimes.

      That’s why it’s important to collect evidence even if the current geopolitical climate suggests people act with impunity.

      • Maeve
        2•3 months ago

        That’s a good point. I may or not have decently functional ASD (I can’t afford testing), but there is significant symptom overlap with other conditions; and had a significant head injury about sixteen months ago, and my brain has gotten lazy, at any rate. I’m beginning to exercise it a little more, and more intensely for a few upcoming months. Thank you for pointing out what should have been obvious.

        • livusOP
          2•3 months ago

          @Maeve it’s not necessarily obvious - many people think I am wrong, and that the status quo can not shift that far in the next 60 years.

          Sorry to hear about the head injury - I know how hard they can be to deal with, and I wish you a speedy return to health and confidence in your brain’s abilities.

          • Maeve
            2•3 months ago

            Thank you so very much for your kindness and well wishes. I’m confident in plasticity and compensation. I just need to get serious about training, and I’m quite a bit more fortunate than others who have been much more affected with similar or worse injuries. I survived and am relatively thriving, and I’m so grateful for that.
            It’s just embarrassing, between that and autocorrect, and it’s made me check and recheck my words, since gaslighting is abundant, IRL and online.

            • livusOP
              2•3 months ago

              Glad to know you’re receiving support and have a good prognosis.

              I didn’t think about the gaslighting aspect. Silver lining: there are plenty of confidently incorrect people online too, so if you make the occasional blunder nobody will bat an eye!

              • Maeve
                2•3 months ago

                Literally laughed aloud at the last sentence. Thanks so much for that! There are plenty of confidently incorrect critics, of so many! I think most of us seem to be our own worst critics, I’m just neither confident whether in correct or incorrect; and maybe that’s not a bad way to be.

                • livusOP
                  2•3 months ago

                  I think it’s not a bad way to be; you’re probably in better company!

                  Betrand Russell complained that “the fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts,” but Dunning Kruger syndrome makes me think that having doubt is not necessarily as bad as it sounds.