Doha – Saba:
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) stated on Wednesday that the use of starvation as a weapon is a full-fledged war crime and a systematic genocide committed by the Zionist enemy’s army against the people of the Gaza Strip.
In a press statement received by the Yemeni News Agency (Saba), Hamas confirmed that the Gaza Strip is facing a catastrophic famine due to a comprehensive and ongoing siege, marking the most dangerous stage of genocide for more than five months.
It said that this most dangerous stage includes the closure of border crossings and the prevention of baby formula, food, and medicine for over two million people, among them 40,000 infants at immediate risk of death, in addition to 60,000 pregnant women.
Hamas pointed out that the Zionist enemy has turned food into a weapon of slow death and aid into a tool of chaos and looting under the direct supervision of its army and aircraft.
It noted that the majority of aid trucks entering Gaza are being looted and attacked as part of a systematic policy followed by the Zionist enemy aimed at “engineering chaos and starvation” to deprive civilians of the limited aid and obstruct its safe and organized distribution.
It added: “While the Strip needs more than 600 aid and fuel trucks daily to meet the minimum needs, the actual amount allowed in represents only a tiny fraction.”
“The catastrophe has reached a point where Gaza’s mothers are forced to feed their babies water instead of milk. So far, 154 Palestinians, including 89 children, have died of hunger, with hundreds of daily malnutrition cases amid the near-total collapse of the healthcare system,” it continued.
Hamas noted that despite increasing international condemnation, the Zionist enemy promotes staged air and land aid drops, most of which land in dangerous areas previously ordered evacuated by the enemy, rendering them useless and endangering civilians.
It added that in a repeated criminal pattern, the Zionist enemy targets aid security teams and opens corridors for looting gangs under its protection as part of a systematic plan to perpetuate famine as a weapon of war.
The movement called on international institutions to expose and legally and morally denounce the enemy’s “starvation engineering” policy, describing it as a deliberate and compound war crime no less dangerous than direct bombing and destruction.
Hamas stressed that breaking the siege and opening the crossings immediately and unconditionally is the only solution to end the catastrophe in Gaza, warning that any delay would lead to further genocide, particularly against vulnerable groups such as children, patients, and the elderly.
It also called on free peoples and human rights and humanitarian organizations around the world to intensify their actions and work to impose an independent and secure UN mechanism for the delivery and distribution of aid, away from the control and criminal policies of the occupation.