The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, reiterated this Monday that Israel is causing famine in Gaza and using hunger as a weapon of war in its offensive against Hamasurging European countries to take measures so that Tel Aviv allows the delivery of aid and open more border crossings with Gaza.
“It is unacceptable that hunger is used as a weapon of war. Let’s say it. “It is not a question of lack of supplies, there is food for months that is withheld”he assured in a speech at the European Humanitarian Forum.
The head of European diplomacy has stated that in the case of Gaza “we are not at risk of famine, but rather in a state of famine that affects thousands of people” and has called for European action in the face of a crisis that is not a ” natural disaster” and that is entirely caused by human decisions.
In this sense, has pointed out Israel for the situation in the Strip, ensuring that it is responsible for hundreds of trucks with humanitarian cargo waiting to enter Gaza and to open more border crossings. “It is absolutely imperative that the steps work efficiently. It is a matter of political will to open it and Israel has to do it,” she said.
For all these reasons, the High Representative has stressed that aid by air and sea is an alternative that the international community must undertake because the “natural way” of providing aid is “artificially closed.
Borrell already denounced the situation in his speech at the annual session of the UN Security Council dedicated to cooperation with the EU last week in New York. “It is not a flood. It is not an earthquake. It is caused by man”he indicated, alluding to the humanitarian crisis triggered by Israel’s offensive after the Hamas attacks on October 7.
“When we look for alternative ways to deliver aid — by sea or by air — we have to remember that we have to do it because the natural way of delivering aid through roads is being artificially closed. And hunger is being used as a weapon of war,” criticized the Foreign Minister from the United States.
The worst forecasts for Gaza
Subsequently, Borrel and the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, have issued a joint statement to denounce the results collected by the latest Integrated Classification of the Phases of Food Safety (IPC), which has recorded the “worst prognosis” possible for the Gaza Strip.
“This is unprecedented. No CPI analysis has ever recorded such levels of food insecurity anywhere in the world,” they warned. “What we are seeing is not a natural danger, but a man-made disaster, and it is our moral duty to stop it,” they stressed.
According to this analysis, The entire population of Gaza suffers from acute food insecurity, while in the northernmost territories of the Palestinian enclave, 70 percent of its inhabitants are facing a situation of imminent famine.
In the central and southern Gaza Strip, 50 percent of the population facing “catastrophic conditions of food insecurity,” warns the IPC, which expects the situation to deteriorate rapidly in the coming weeks.
“The situation has gone beyond catastrophic. It is absolutely imperative to act now,” he claimed, while urging Israel to allow humanitarian aid access “without obstacles,” as well as to cooperate with the United Nations agency. United Nations for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and other organizations.
In that sense, they have pointed out that although “possible” alternatives have been presented to deliver all this assistance, including the launch of aid and maritime corridors, “The most viable and effective solution” involves the “total and unconditional opening” of land routes.
Finally, Borrell and Lenarcic have pointed out that levels of acute malnutrition have increased at such an “alarming” rate and that the international community is already witnessing “with horror” the death of children from hunger.
