Announce Gaza Strip Starvation Zone, Palestinian Prime Minister Mustafa: Israel Responsibility

JAKARTA - Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa on Wednesday announced the Gaza Strip as a hunger zone.

In a press conference on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, PM Mustafa asked the entire UN system to immediately activate its mechanism and treat Gaza as a hunger zone.

PM Mustafa asked the international community to implement UN resolutions prohibiting the use of hunger as a weapons of war. He also asked all UN member states to take immediate action in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law and recognize the disaster and hunger.

"The government will continue to work to confront aggression and hunger against our people, and will work hard with the international community to save lives, leading to recovery and reconstruction," PM Mustafa was quoted as saying by WAFA on May 8.

Documented reports issued by international institutions and the United Nations, field indicators, manifestations of hunger and fire, daily views of the bodies of dry thin children, and screams of pain coming out of refugee tents and from the rubble of homes and hospitals, all lead to one bitter reality: Gaza is now a zone of hunger, said PM Mustafa.

Given Israel's persistence, he continued, illegal occupational forces, persistent and strict blockades to the Gaza Strip, a deliberate barrier to aid entry, collapse of all supply chains, near-in total power outages, severe water shortages, collapse of medical service systems, systematic and widespread violations carried out by the occupation of international humanitarian law, international human rights law and international criminal law.

Based on internationally recognized criteria from the Integrated Food Safety Phase Classification (IPC), which defines hunger as something that happens when large numbers of people suffer from acute hunger, severe acute malnutrition and high mortality from hunger, PM Mustafa said 100 percent of Gaza Strip residents are now suffering from acute food insecurity.

"Therefore, we consider Israel, as a occupation force, fully responsible for this deliberate humanitarian catastrophe," he stressed.

In this regard, PM Mustafa called on the international community, implementing UN resolutions prohibiting the use of hunger as a weapons of war against civilians.

Next, PM Mustafa also called on all UN member states to take urgent action in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law, recognize disaster and hunger, and seek to provide political and logistical support to end the blockade, ensure aid delivery, and activate an international accountability mechanism.

"We also call on the entire UN system, particularly the World Food Program (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and all partners in the Integrated Food Safety Phase Classification network (IPC), to immediately activate their mechanisms and treat Gaza as a hunger zone, requiring urgent international intervention and the immediate lifting of all restrictions that prevent aid," he explained.

"We demand the legal mandate protection of the United Nations Aid and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), support for its programs, and empowerment of the Agency to carry out its mandate. In this case, we commend the position of Secretary General of the United Nations, European Union agencies, and various UN and international organizations that reject the proposed mechanisms for controlling aid distribution. We are grateful for the Arab and international attitudes that oppose relocation," he said.

He added, "We will continue to do everything in our power to confront this aggression and hunger against our people, and work tirelessly with the international community to save lives, leading to recovery and reconstruction."