Ireland backs bid to include blocking of aid in definition of genocide

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

Ireland is to seek to widen the definition of genocide to include blocking humanitarian aid in a landmark international court of justice (ICJ) case against Israel.

The Irish government will intervene in the case taken by South Africa and argue that restricting food and other essentials in Gaza may constitute genocidal intent, the foreign minister Micheál Martin said on Wednesday.
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A clear pattern of behaviour had impeded humanitarian aid, resulting in widespread suffering, he said. “Half the population of Gaza is facing famine and 100% is experiencing food insecurity.”
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In preliminary decision in January, the UN court in The Hague told Israel to prevent genocide but Martin, who is also Ireland’s tánaiste (deputy prime minister), said that since then humanitarian aid had halved, inflicting starvation. “We’ve experienced famine, we know what it’s like in our psyche.”



Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/27/gaza-ireland-joins-battle-to-include-the-blocking-of-vital-aid-in-definition-of-genocide

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Israel’s new aid ban on UNRWA in Gaza ‘a wrong move’: UN coordinator

On the heels of Israel’s announcement on Sunday that it would no longer approve aid shipments into northern Gaza by the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, UN Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick cautioned of current catastrophic food shortages and growing hunger across the enclave while offering swift solutions to averting a looming famine.

“Any interruption to a food supply that’s already very fragile is a wrong move,” he told UN News.

“We’ve seen a 70 per cent decrease in people’s ability to sustain themselves,” he said, emphasizing that the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report issued last week showed an imminent famine and the deterioration of malnutrition rates, in the north in particular.

Prior to the war, around 700 trucks delivered commercial and humanitarian goods into Gaza every day to serve the needs of the 2.3 million residents, but now 250 aid trucks enter Gaza “on a good day”, and in the north, the situation is worse, the UN Coordinator said.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147961

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Gaza starvation could amount to war crime, UN human rights chief tells BBC

After months of warnings, a recent UN-backed report offered hard statistical evidence that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is turning into a man-made famine.

It has increased the pressure on Israel to fulfil its legal responsibilities to protect Palestinian civilians, and to allow adequate supplies of humanitarian aid to reach the people who need it.

The UN's most senior human rights official, Volker Türk, said in a BBC interview that Israel bore significant blame, and that there was a "plausible" case that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

Mr Türk, who is the UN high commissioner for human rights, said that if intent was proven, that would amount to a war crime.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68679482