Israel's deliberate starvation of Palestinians is 'war crime': AL Secretary-General

CAIRO - 11 June 2024: The Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, confirmed that the Israeli occupation is practicing a systematic policy that was and still is aimed at drying up the sources of funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). 

 

He stressed that without UNRWA and its pivotal role, the humanitarian situation would collapse completely in Gaza Strip, adding "this agency remains the most capable of coordinating the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population, and providing basic services to Palestinian refugees of all ages."

 

The Secretary-General of the Arab League said - in his speech during the emergency humanitarian response conference in Gaza, which was held Tuesday in Jordan, and distributed by the League’s General Secretariat - that, “If we all look forward to the day when the guns of Israeli aggression fall silent, as well as the series of war crimes committed ends in Gaza, we know that the human tragedy experienced by more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza will not wait for a ceasefire, as it is a daily tragedy that the world watches helplessly with regret."

 

The Secretary-General highlighted that the crime of deliberate starvation of the population of the Gaza Strip is a documented war crime, and that genocide remains a sword hanging over the necks of tens and hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza. 

 

He added that it becomes clear day after the other that the goal of the aggression is to carry out this genocide by making the land inviolable and stripping every semblance of human dignity from people. He added "Our responsibility, and our humanitarian duty, is to do everything possible so that this satanic plan does not come to fruition."

 

He stressed that it has become clear that all humanitarian organizations are unable to work in Gaza, and there is no longer a safe place, and there has been no safe place for months in the Strip, and no humanitarian organization has been spared from Israeli targeting.