Posted Sun 17 Dec 2023 at 11:54pmSunday 17 Dec 2023 at 11:54pm, updated Mon 18 Dec 2023 at 11:05amMonday 18 Dec 2023 at 11:05am
The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, according to the latest report from Human Rights Watch.
The body said the blocking by the Israeli government of food, water and fuel was a war crime.
“For over two months, Israel has been depriving Gaza’s population of food and water, a policy spurred on or endorsed by high-ranking Israeli officials and reflecting an intent to starve civilians as a method of warfare,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch.
“World leaders should be speaking out against this abhorrent war crime, which has devastating effects on Gaza’s population.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 11 displaced Palestinians in Gaza between November 24 and December 4.
They described their profound hardships in securing basic necessities.
“We had no food, no electricity, no internet, nothing at all,” said one man who had left northern Gaza.
“We don’t know how we survived.”
In southern Gaza, those interviewed described the scarcity of potable water, the lack of food leading to empty shops and lengthy lines, and exorbitant prices.
You are on a constant search for things needed to survive,” said a father of two.
In the report, it advised the Israeli government not to attack objects it said were necessary for survival for civilians and to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip and restore electricity and water.
Israeli hostages killed by IDF had written SOS signs
The three Israeli hostages killed in a case of mistaken identity by forces from their own country had written SOS signs, according to Israel’s military.
The military said it found the signs, made from leftover food, in a building near where the incident happened.
It comes as one of those killed, Alon Shamriz, 26, was buried on Sunday.
Mr Shamriz, Yotam Haim and Samer El-Talalqa were killed by Israeli troops in a case of mistaken identity in Gaza’s Shejaia district.
The three were killed even though they carried a white flag and cried for help in Hebrew.
“Those who abandoned you also murdered you after all that you did right,” Mr Shamriz’s brother Ido said at the funeral.
“You survived 70 days in hell,” Mr Shamriz’s mother, Dikla, said in her eulogy.
“Another moment and you would have been in my arms.”
Chief of General Staff LTG Herzi Halevi said while speaking to troops that the incident “could easily not have happened”.
“If it’s two Gazans with a white flag coming out to surrender why would we shoot at them?” he said.
“Absolutely not. Absolutely not. That’s not the IDF.”