The United Nations Calls Israel Not Allowing Sufficient Supply To Prevent The Expansion Of Starvation In Gaza

JAKARTA - Israel has allowed a number of supplies into the Gaza Strip, but the amount is not enough to prevent widespread hunger, the United Nations (UN) human rights office said.

"In recent weeks, Israeli authorities have only allowed aid to come in in large quantities below the amount needed to prevent widespread hunger," UN Human Rights Office spokesman Thameen Al Kheetan said at a news conference in Geneva, reported The National August 19.

He added that the risk of starvation in Gaza was "a direct result of the Israeli government's policy to block humanitarian aid".

Meanwhile, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Region (COGAT), the military agency and Israel's Ministry of Defense in charge of coordinating aid deliveries to Gaza said Israel had invested "large enough effort" in the distribution of aid.

As previously reported, Amnesty International in its report compiled for the United Nations and non-governmental organizations, the Gaza Strip, Palestine is on the verge of an imminent famine.

After interviewing 19 displaced Palestinians and two medical personnel caring for malnourished children, the organization stated, "Israel is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip, systematically destroying the health, safety, and social order of Palestinian life," the WAFA said.

The organization explained that the testimony it collected confirmed, "the deliberate results of the plans and policies designed and implemented by Israel over the past 22 months intentionally imposed life conditions on Palestinians in Gaza which are expected to cause their physical destruction, and are part of the ongoing genocide carried out by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza."