GENEVA: A group of United Nations rights experts on Tuesday accused Israel of carrying out a “targeted starvation campaign” that has resulted in a large number of deaths of children in the besieged Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the experts, including UN special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri, condemned Israel’s actions as a form of “genocidal violence” resulting in famine across Gaza. They asserted that since October 7, 34 Palestinians, primarily children, have died from malnutrition.
“We declare that Israel’s intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza,” 10 independent United Nations experts said in a statement.
The statement, while emphasizing that the UN has not officially declared a famine in Gaza, pointed to recent deaths as evidence of a dire humanitarian crisis. “Thirty-four Palestinians have died from malnutrition since 7 October, the majority being children,” the experts said.
The health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday at least 38,243 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in ongoing Israeli bombardment since October 7 last year.
The toll includes at least 50 deaths over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said. It added that 88,033 people have been injured in the Gaza Strip so far.
The group of UN experts cited specific cases of children who recently succumbed to starvation despite medical treatment. Among them were six-month-old Fayez Ataya, who passed away on May 30, 2024, and 13-year-old Abdulqader Al-Serhi, who died on June 1, 2024, at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah. Additionally, nine-year-old Ahmad Abu Reida died shortly after on June 3, 2024, in a tent sheltering his displaced family in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis.
The situation, according to the experts, has worsened from northern Gaza into central and southern areas. They criticized global inaction, stating, “The whole world should have intervened earlier to stop Israel’s genocidal starvation campaign against Palestinians and prevented these deaths.”
Israel’s mission to the UN in Geneva rejected the accusations, labeling them as misinformation and accusing the experts of bias in favor of Hamas.
Despite warnings from the UN about the looming threat of famine, especially in northern Gaza, an official declaration of famine has not been made. The Israeli mission highlighted assessments from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) partnership indicating that famine conditions have not materialized after improvements in aid access.
