US stands back as all UN Security Council members back Gaza famine declaration
US stands back as all UN Security Council members back Gaza famine declaration
M.U.H
28/08/202519
All members of the United Nations Security Council, except the US, have backed a recent declaration of famine in the Gaza Strip’s largest urban area by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed body.
The 14-strong countries offered their confirmation in a joint statement that followed a meeting on Wednesday, less than a week after the IPC issued the grim account on the situation on the ground in the Gaza City and its surroundings.
The declaration that was later verified by the UN itself came amid the Israeli regime’s October 2023-present war of genocide on Gaza.
The war has killed around 62,900 Palestinians, either through direct military aggression or use of starvation as a weapon of war. The latter method has seen Tel Aviv almost entirely ban entry of all vital foodstuffs into the territory.
The regime has even enforced a so-called distribution mechanism on whatever little aid that passes through. As part of the mechanism, starving Gazans are forced to swarm around “distribution points,” where Israeli forces have been deliberately opening fire on them.
The nations endorsed the IPC’s statement that has referred to the famine as a “man-made crisis.”
“We express our deep concern about the presence of famine in Gaza Governorate,” they said in the statement, pointing to the area that comprises the city and its suburbs.
“Famine in Gaza must be stopped immediately and international law respected,” they added, warning, “Approximately 41,000 children are at risk of death due to malnutrition in Gaza.”
“The use of starvation as a weapon of war is prohibited under the international law.”
They, meanwhile, lambasted a simultaneous decision by the regime to expand its military strikes in Gaza even further, demanding “an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire.”
The development came amid numerous reports that Israeli officials have deliberately employed stalling tactics on more than a dozen occasions to derail prospects for a ceasefire deal.
Commenting on the US’s refusal to fall into line with the rest of the council’s member states, observers reminded that the snub mirrored Washington’s unexceptional way of throwing all-out military and political support behind Tel Aviv’s deadly regional atrocities.
