On the one-year anniversary of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, GRC’s Vice-President and Head of the Starvation and Humanitarian Crisis Division, Catriona Murdoch, spoke to the BBC World Service to discuss how starvation is being used as a method of warfare in Gaza.
https://cutt.ly/xePUwrQl
Catriona, highlights the fact that Israel is using food and water as bargaining chips during the siege. She underlines the fact that “Senior Israeli officials have openly stated this tactic is the means not the end. The use of starvation as a method or means of warfare is clearly prohibited in international law and the issuance of arrest warrants for this crime for the first time by the ICC represents a significant development.” And highlights that “It is long overdue that this crime and its intergenerational impact upon civilians, not just in Palestine, but Ukraine, Yemen, South Sudan, Tigray and elsewhere are recognised.”
https://cutt.ly/YePUwnP1
Anna Gallina, GRC’s Gaza Project lead investigating starvation-related violations in Gaza highlights that Israel is using aid as a ‘bargaining tool’.
https://cutt.ly/QePUwAPU
“By obstructing, restricting, and denying aid, closing crossings, and deliberately attacking humanitarian workers, Israel continues to use humanitarian aid as a bargaining tool thereby violating the most basic humanitarian obligation to provide aid unconditionally.” Anna emphasises the “urgent need to investigate these violations under the lens of the war crime of starvation to ensure their calculated nature is adequately recognised and the rights and dignity of affected civilians are not overlooked in the shadows of conflict.”
Photo credit: BBC