The UN human rights chief condemned latest statements by Israel’s finance minister suggesting letting civilians in Gaza starve to loss of life, a spokesperson stated Friday.
“The high commissioner (Volker Turk) is shocked and appalled by the words of (Israeli) minister, according to whom, letting two million Palestinians in Gaza starve to death could be justified and moral in order to free hostages,” Jeremy Laurence informed a UN briefing in Geneva.
“He condemns these words in the strongest terms, which also incite hatred against innocent civilians,” Laurence stated, noting that the hunger of civilians as a technique of warfare is a warfare crime.
“The collective punishment of the Palestinian population is also a war crime,” he stated and warned: “This direct and public statement risks inciting other atrocity crimes.”
Urging cessation of such statements by public officers, he additionally reiterated the workplace’s name for an instantaneous cease-fire, in addition to the discharge of all hostages and allowance of humanitarian assist circulation into Gaza.
Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich stated Monday that letting 2 million folks in Gaza die from starvation could be “justified and moral.”
Since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas cross-border incursion, Israel has killed practically 40,000 Palestinians within the besieged enclave and displaced most of its 2.3 inhabitants, whereas additionally producing a mass famine and unfold of illness. It is accused of genocide over its actions on the International Court of Justice.
Source: www.anews.com.tr