As the Israeli army launched a new major operation on Gaza City this week, ten independent United Nations experts accused Israel of ” to conduct a targeted starvation campaign in Gaza ” Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, is one of the authors of this report. She answered questions from RFI.
5 min
RFI: What does “ a campaign of deliberate starvation » ?
Francesca Albanese : This means that the population has been deliberately deprived of food and resources essential to survival. This began immediately, just after October 7, when Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared that people in Gaza would no longer receive food, water, medicine or fuel. And that is what happened. That is to say, what is happening in Gaza today was calculated and determined by the Israeli army.
What are the concrete consequences for the population?
People in Gaza are facing a severe malnutrition, iThey are facing hunger. There are increased mortality rates, particularly among children, who are most vulnerable to starvation and dehydration. The entire population is facing a general deterioration in health and well-being. The latest to lose their lives to starvation are children. These are children who have been hospitalized, but there is no way to treat them when they are brought to the hospital. It is that serious.
It seems difficult to have an accurate understanding of the situation on the ground when international observers do not have access to it.
This is for sure. The review The Lancetthe most renowned journal in medical sciences, published a letter arguing that it is highly likely that the number of direct and indirect deaths from the conflict in Gaza over the past nine months is at least 186,000. This figure includes people who died due to lack of access to medical care.
This clearly shows that today we cannot really estimate the extent of the trauma and damage caused by this Israeli aggression in Gaza.
On our side, to make scientific assessments in matters of health and famine, we rely mainly on what comes to us from local experts. There are still either United Nations officials or experts who follow what is happening from outside. All those who come out of Gaza say that they have never seen such hell on Earth.
But it is certain that what we know from the outside is really a tiny bit of what is happening in Gaza. We must especially keep in mind that we know nothing of what is happening in the northern half of Gaza, which is under the absolute control of the Israeli army. And there, almost no one enters, even among humanitarians. So if famine sets in in the center of Gaza where there is a tiny bit of humanitarian aid, imagine what is happening in the north.
Read alsoGaza: Palestinians prevented from evacuating due to heavy fighting in the north
You, independent experts of the United Nations, just like humanitarian actors, have been warning for months about the risks involved. The situation is getting worse by the month, but the international community does not seem to be changing its positions.
Personally, I am shocked. I never thought it would be possible to see what I see happening today. The Palestinians in Gaza and not only in Gaza! Because there are 600 Palestinians, including a hundred children, who have been killed in the West Bank where there is no armed presence of Hamas.
What is shocking is to see the international community, especially Western governments, protecting Israel. THE UNITED STATES are in a very dangerous approach of aggression towards the United Nations and the justice bodies to defend a State which, clearly, is committing atrocious crimes. Europe, on the other hand, is weak. There are States likeSpainL’Irelandthere Belgium who are trying tostart a different approach. But that is not enough. It is about respecting international law that Europeans helped to write and develop more than 70 years ago. Above all, the convention on the prevention of genocide must be put in place and that is all we are asking for.
What would be the means to apply international laws?
Today there is a resolution of the Security Council calls for ceasefire. On the one hand, there is a non-state actor, Hamas, which is currently fighting on the territory in which it has operated for 16 years. On the other hand, there is a state that is the occupying power. They both have to comply with international law.
But it is Israel that is destroying the Gaza Strip. Military operations must be stopped, the Security Council and the International Court of Justice are demanding this and it continues. So, Israel must be stopped while guaranteeing the protection of Israeli territory and Israeli citizens, of course, but not in the occupied Palestinian territories, where its presence is illegal.
If Israel does not stop its military operations, an arms embargo and sanctions must be put in place. This is what is done for any state that poses as an aggressor towards another state or people, as it is for the Russia vis-à-vis of theUkraineToday, we can no longer deny the double standard that Europe is applying between Ukraine and Palestine.
Also to read and listen toIsrael-Hamas: How to get out of the logic of war?