The UN high commissioner for human rights has called on countries to halt a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, where an Israeli blockade on aid is pushing the Palestinian territory towards a collapse of critical life-saving support.
“As the complete blockade of assistance essential for survival enters its ninth week, there must be concerted international efforts to stop this humanitarian catastrophe from reaching a new, unseen level,” Volker Turk said in a statement.
Supplies are dwindling, and the UN’s World Food Programme said on Friday that it had sent out its “last remaining food stocks”.
The UN rights office cautioned that Gaza bakeries had now stopped working because flour and fuel had run out while the remaining stocks of food were being rapidly depleted.
“Any use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of war constitutes a war crime, and so do all forms of collective punishment,” Turk said.
“As the complete blockade of assistance essential for survival enters its ninth week, there must be concerted international efforts to stop this humanitarian catastrophe from reaching a new, unseen level,” Volker Turk said in a statement.
Supplies are dwindling, and the UN’s World Food Programme said on Friday that it had sent out its “last remaining food stocks”.
The UN rights office cautioned that Gaza bakeries had now stopped working because flour and fuel had run out while the remaining stocks of food were being rapidly depleted.
“Any use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of war constitutes a war crime, and so do all forms of collective punishment,” Turk said.
