Amnesty International accused Israel of running a deliberate campaign of starvation in the Gaza Strip.
In a report released Monday, human rights groups said Israel is “systemically destroying the health, happiness and social structures of Palestinian life,” citing testimonies from hungry people.
The broad combination of starvation and disease in the besieged enclaves reported not as a by-product of military operations but as a result of Israeli plans designed to bring about “physical destruction” for the Palestinians.
“The testimony we have gathered is far more than an account of suffering, and they are burnt accusations of the international system that have given Palestinians licenses who have been almost immunized by Israel for decades.”
“The impact of Israeli lockdown and its ongoing genocide on civilians, especially children, people with disabilities, people with chronic illnesses, the elderly, pregnant and breastfeeding women, has been devastating,” Rosas added.
The latest report is based on testimony collected with starved displaced people and hungry civilians, Amnesty said.
Interviews at three different evacuation camps in Gaza City revealed that they had not consumed eggs, fish, meat, tomatoes or cucumbers for at least a month.
“This widespread shortage of fresh, nutritious food is the result of both the suffocating blockade of Israel and the systematic destruction of food production sources, including large flocks of farmland, poultry and other livestock farms, both through explosive destruction through artillery, fire or destruction.
Israeli policy has been “particularly catastrophic” for pregnant and breastfeeding women, adding that many people are talking about the difficulty of ensuring basic necessities needed for survival, such as food and water.