UN rights office: Israel’s Gaza aid restrictions may amount to war crime

GENEVA (Agencies): The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday that Israel’s restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza could amount to a war crime.

“The extent of Israel’s continued restrictions on entry of aid into Gaza, together with the manner in which it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime,” said UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence.

Anti-poverty charity Oxfam also accused Israel of intentionally preventing the delivery of aid into Gaza during its war with Hamas, in violation of international humanitarian law.

The nongovernmental organization said on Monday in a report that Israel continued to “systematically and deliberately block and undermine any meaningful international humanitarian response” in the Palestinian territory.

It alleged that Israel was defying an order by the International Court of Justice in January to boost aid in Gaza, and was failing its legal responsibility to protect people in land it occupies.

“The ICJ order should have shocked Israeli leaders to change course, but since then conditions in Gaza have actually worsened,” said Oxfam Middle East and North Africa director Sally Abi Khalil.

“Israeli authorities are not only failing to facilitate the international aid effort but are actively hindering it. We believe that Israel is failing to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide.”

Oxfam said that “unjustifiably inefficient” inspection rules were causing aid trucks trying to get into Gaza to be stuck in queues for 20 days on average.

It said that Israeli authorities arbitrarily reject “dual-use” items — civilian goods that also have potential military use such as backup generators and torches.

“The list of rejected items is overwhelming and ever changing,” Oxfam said.

It recalled that water bags and water testing kits in an Oxfam shipment were rejected with no reason provided, before later being permitted entry.

The group also denounced “attacks on aid workers, humanitarian facilities and aid convoys” and “access restrictions” for relief staff, particularly to northern Gaza.

Israel has denied obstructing the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.