Gaza starvation could amount to war crime, UN human rights chief tells BBC - BBC News

Volker Türk tells Jeremy Bowen there is a "plausible" case that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war.

7 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsIsrael-Gaza warImage caption, Noora Mohammed can't get the treatment she needs in a Gaza hospitalBy Jeremy BowenBBC international editor, JerusalemAfter months of warnings, a recent UN-backed report offered hard statistical evidence that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is turning into a man-made famine.

It has increased the pressure on Israel to fulfil its legal responsibilities to protect Palestinian civilians, and to allow adequate supplies of humanitarian aid to reach the people who need it.

The UN's most senior human rights official, Volker Türk, said in a BBC interview that Israel bore significant blame, and that there was a "plausible" case that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

Mr Türk, who is the UN high commissioner for human rights, said that if intent was proven, that would amount to a war crime.

Israel's economy minister, Nir Barkat, a senior politician in Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, dismissed Mr Türk's warnings as "total nonsense - a totally irresponsible thing to say".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68679482

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