By Press TV Website Staff
In an interview with the Press TV website, Ben Saul, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, said the alarming humanitarian disaster is not a byproduct of war, but the direct result of Israel’s policies in Gaza.
“Israel’s failed experiment with militarized, privatized aid delivery by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has inflicted severe food shortages,” Saul stressed.
“This is a predictable result of disrupting effective, impartial humanitarian relief by trusted, experienced United Nations bodies.”
Since the launch of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in early October 2023, over 61,000 Palestinians — most of them women and children — have been killed.
With the war-ravaged territory now in the grip of famine, international agencies report catastrophic levels of hunger, with at least 193 people — including 96 children — already dying due to starvation in recent months.
Aid convoys remain blocked or severely limited, and over 1,500 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to access food.
According to Saul, Israel is under a legal obligation to ensure humanitarian access, yet it has consistently blocked agencies like UNRWA and OCHA from delivering aid.
The regime is “obstructing their operations and denying the unimpeded humanitarian relief as required by humanitarian law,” he said in a conversation with the Press TV website.
Israel’s actions, Saul noted, are enabled by the political and material support of its closest ally, the United States.
“It is unfortunate,” he said, “that the US not only fails to prevent Israel’s violations of international law but is actively supporting them by unconditionally providing weapons, ammunition, finance, and intelligence.”
He attributed Washington’s stance to “unprincipled domestic and international political and economic reasons.”
This alignment extends to punitive actions against international legal mechanisms.
Saul denounced the US for imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) after arrest warrants were issued for Israeli regime officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former military affairs minister Yoav Gallant.
He also condemned sanctions against UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese.
“Other countries and the UN should denounce these sanctions,” Saul said. “They violate her privileges and human rights and her immunity under international law.”
Such measures, he warned, “deter other human rights defenders from speaking out against illegal behaviour and calling for accountability for international crimes.”
Recent Israeli proposals to establish a so-called “humanitarian city” in Gaza are also a cause for alarm, Saul emphasized.
“Permanent forced displacement of the population is illegal and a war crime under international law, since it is not justified by military necessity or the safety of civilians,” the UN rapporteur warned.
The US-Israeli-backed “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” has similarly come under fire, with Saul highlighting how its distribution points have become death traps.
Rights groups report that over 1,500 Palestinians have been shot while waiting for food in different parts of Gaza.
Rights groups have also described the centers as “death traps,” reflecting the scale of Israel’s obstructionist policies and the ongoing genocide in the name of aid.
The legal implications of this starvation are now front and center in international proceedings.
“The United Nations has been urging Israel to allow humanitarian relief into Gaza for almost two years,” Saul noted. “It has frequently warned of the risks of starvation and famine.”
He pointed out that the ICC has already charged Israeli regime officials with the war crime of starvation, defined as “intentionally depriving civilians of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies.”
Although the UN has not formally declared a famine under the strict criteria of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), Saul emphasized that the inaction based on technicalities is unacceptable.
“The technical definition should not prevent urgent international action when it is clear that Israel is severely impeding humanitarian relief and this has resulted in widespread acute hunger and risks of famine,” he said.
Saul’s remarks come amid mounting calls from international human rights organizations for accountability and an end to deliberate and systematic starvation and displacement in Gaza.
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