UNITED NATIONS: Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has called for sanctions against Israel, stressing that a potential famine may already be occurring in besieged Gaza.
Fakhri, a human rights expert, expressed the concern after reports of the death of a tenth child from starvation.
In a post on X, he said Israel was intentionally starving the Palestinians in Gaza since October 8. An immediate ceasefire is essential to prevent or end the famine, he said, calling for sanctions against Israel as a means to push for a ceasefire.
Fakhri added that the only way to prevent this famine is an immediate ceasefire and the only way to get a ceasefire is to sanction Israel.
Over 30,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women, have been martyred and over 70,000 injured in the Gaza Strip since Israel’s war on Gaza began nearly 5 months ago, health officials in the territory said.
On Thursday, Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of people scrambling for food in Gaza City. More than one hundred people were martyred and at least 700 were injured, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Israel claimed many of the dead were trampled in a chaotic stampede for food assistance and that its forces only fired when they felt endangered by the crowd.
Catastrophe Throughout Gaza Strip
Israel’s war against Hamas has brought a catastrophe throughout the Gaza Strip and devastation in northern parts like Gaza City, which are largely cut off from the rest of the enclave with little aid entering.
As concerns about the humanitarian situation in the enclave escalate, the call for sanctions reflects growing global scrutiny and demands for action to address the urgent needs of the affected population.
Hunger and severe malnutrition are widespread in the enclave, where nearly 2.2 million Palestinians are facing severe shortages resulting from Israel destroying food supplies and severely restricting the flow of food, medicines and other humanitarian supplies. Aid trucks and Palestinian people waiting for humanitarian relief have also come under Israeli fire.
