The humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip is turning into a man-made famine, the United Nations human rights chief has said, adding that Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon could amount to a “war crime.”
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, in an interview with BBC on Thursday said that Israel is culpable for its role in the war as there was a "plausible" case that it was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
Turk said that evidence had emerged that Israel was slowing down or withholding the delivery of aid, adding that if proven, it would amount to a war crime.
"When you put all kinds of requirements on the table that are unreasonable in an emergency… that brings up the question, with all the restrictions that we currently see, whether there is a plausible claim to be made that starvation is, or may be used as, a weapon of war," Turk said.
Israel's economy minister, Nir Barkat, a prominent figure in Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, has strongly criticized the UN rights chief's warnings, labeling them as "total nonsense - a totally irresponsible thing to say."
Barkat repeated false claim by Netanyahu's cabinet that Israel was letting in all the aid offered by the US and the rest of the world, blaming the UN for failing to distribute them properly.