Geneva: UN rights chief Volker Turk was “shocked and appalled” by comments by Israel’s finance minister suggesting it might be “justified” to starve the population of Gaza to free hostages, his spokesman said Friday.
The United Nations high commissioner for human rights “condemns these words in the strongest terms, which also incite hatred against innocent civilians,” his spokesman Jeremy Laurence told a press conference.
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stoked controversy earlier this week, telling a conference: “No one in the world will allow us to starve two million people, even though it might be justified and moral in order to free the hostages.”
“We are bringing in humanitarian aid because we have no choice. We are in a situation that requires international legitimacy to conduct this war,” Smotrich said.
Turk’s spokesman told reporters that “the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime.
“This direct and public statement risks inciting other atrocity crimes. Such statements, especially by public officials, must cease immediately, they must be investigated and if found to amount to a crime, must be prosecuted and punished,” Laurence said.
The unprecedented October 7 Hamas attack that triggered the war in Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,699 people, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.
Since the war in Gaza broke out, the humanitarian situation in the besieged Palestinian territory remains dire, with almost all of its 2.4 million population displaced and suffering from food shortages.
UN ‘shocked’ by Israel minister’s Gaza starvation comment
https://arab.news/my8eb
UN ‘shocked’ by Israel minister’s Gaza starvation comment
- Almost all of Gaza, 2.4 million population is displaced and suffering from food shortages
Iran unrest persists, top judge warns protesters
- Demonstrations sparked by soaring inflation
- Western provinces worst affected
DUBAI: Iran’s top judge warned protesters on Wednesday there would be “no leniency for those who help the enemy against the Islamic Republic,” while accusing Israel and the US of pursuing hybrid methods to disrupt the country.
The current protests, the biggest wave of dissent in three years, began last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar by shopkeepers condemning the currency’s free fall.
Unrest has since spread nationwide amid deepening distress over economic hardships, including rocketing inflation driven by mismanagement and Western sanctions, and curbs on political and social freedoms.
“Following announcements by Israel and the US president, there is no excuse for those coming to the streets for riots and unrest, chief justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of Iran’s judiciary, was quoted as saying by state media.
“From now on, there will be no leniency for whoever helps the enemy against the Islamic Republic and the calm of the people,” Ejei said.
Iranian authorities have not given a death toll for protesters, but have said at least two members of the security services have died and more than a dozen have been injured.
Iran’s western provinces have witnessed the most violent protests.
“During the funeral of two people in Malekshahi on Tuesday, a number of attendees began chanting harsh, anti-system slogans,” said Iran’s Fars, news agency.
After the funeral, Fars said, “about 100 mourners went into the city and trashed three banks ... Some started shooting at the police trying to disperse them.”
The semi-official Mehr news agency said protesters stormed a food store and emptied bags of rice, which has been affected by galloping inflation that has made ordinary staples increasingly unaffordable for many Iranians.
