‘War Crimes Are Not an Appropriate Response for Other War Crimes’
Withholding of food, water from Palestinians criticized
Israel is coming under scrutiny for actions its taking in Gaza in retaliation for the October 7 attacks launched by Hamas.
Specifically, Israel is coming under fire for withholding food, water and other necessities from the 2.2 million Palestinians living in Gaza.
The Israeli military has been bombarding Gaza intensely in response to the attacks by Hamas which sparked this latest round of violence in the region.
Further, the entire Gaza Strip is under a total blockade, and Israel has cut off all supplies of food, water and fuel.
Although aid has begun flowing through a border crossing with Egypt, the United Nations has said that it is a tiny fraction of what's needed.
“The message is very clear. Food and water cannot be a weapon. I think everybody will agree with me, even in a moment that the tensions are high, that every single human being deserves to live in a peaceful environment where water and food is able to reach every single human,” said José Andrés, the renowned chef and founder of World Central Kitchen, a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. “So let’s hope that we can find a way to open that southern point, find hopefully maybe all the places that they can open because this is a real emergency. To feed 2 million people inside Gaza is going to be a very big endeavor.”
Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was more pointed in her criticism.
“I think one of the things that’s important to recognize about this situation is the asymmetry of what is going on, as well as the collective punishment of what is happening to the Palestinian people at this moment,” she said. “Hamas is absolutely engaged in horrific attacks, and every single day there are more details that are released about what occurred on October 7 that shocks the human consciousness and shocks our conscience, our collective conscience.
“However, we do know, as well, that war crimes do not constitute and are not an appropriate response for other war crimes,” the congresswoman added. “Hamas's hostage-taking — their hostage-taking of children, of the disabled, of elderly, civilians —are a war crime. But when we are talking about the blockading of water, food, electricity to a population of 2.2 million Palestinians, [and] we are talking about dropping — what we are seeing from Human Rights Watch, reports and confirmation, and from organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch — the dropping and deployment of white phosphorus, which is also a war crime.
“It is unacceptable to think that 1,700 Palestinian children alone, that their deaths will somehow make up for or justify the violence of what we saw on October 7,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
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