Brussels (Brussels Morning) – EU Council President Charles Michel demands end to hunger as a war tactic in Gaza, urges substantial relief efforts; Israel’s aid deemed insufficient. UN rapporteur accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza.
The President of the European Council Charles Michel demanded an end to the use of hunger as a means of war in Gaza.
“Gazan children and infants are dying of malnutrition. Substantial and urgent efforts are required to immediately end hunger as an instrument of war in Gaza,” he wrote on X.
According to MiddleEastEye, Noting that the international community has frequently called for more humanitarian assistance to enter Gaza notably to control, he said: “Israel’s announcement to reopen temporarily the Erez crossing point as well as to allow aid to enter through the Ashdod port is not enough.”
EU Council Urges Compliance with International Law
As reported by the EU Council, in November last year, he stated that “the European Council supports Israel’s right to defend itself, but as many have stated and as I now say loudly and clearly: there can be no dual standards. This means that the right to self-defence must be exerted in line with international law and international humanitarian law. Every life matters. The European Union believes that the safety of civilians should be in our DNA and, as others have already done, I would like to pay tribute to the commitment of the UN and UN agencies, which are bearing a heavy price in this extremely serious competition, and to thank the other international organisations that have borne witness. We see what is happening, our eyes are open.”
“It is clear that the problem in Gaza is dire from a humanitarian perspective and it is our collective commitment to be genuinely engaged and rallied. This is the reason for the call for humanitarian pauses, for humanitarian corridors. I welcome, as do others, the very functional work being carried out by many around this table, particularly by you, President Macron, in junction with Cyprus and with Greece, for example, for maritime corridors and mobilisations, so that assistance can be delivered. This shows that, beyond rhetoric, there is a need for operational solutions to ensure that medicines, food, water and all necessities can reach those in need of them.”
Israel’s Genocidal Acts in Gaza
In her latest announcement, “Anatomy of a Genocide,” the UN Special Rapporteur on the standing of human rights in the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, figured that the threshold for genocide has been fulfilled in Israel’s military assault on Gaza.
Albanese cites several causes for reaching that conclusion. First, the Special Rapporteur claims that Israel committed several acts forbidden under the Genocide Convention, including killing members of the secure Palestinian group, causing serious bodily or mental damage to group members and deliberately imposing conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical collapse, in whole or in part.
The report notes the widespread destruction and killing of over 30,000 Palestinians, including 13,000 children—the death toll has since risen to 33,000—the displacement of 80 per cent of Gaza’s population and the devastating effect on critical civilian infrastructure and health care as evidence of these genocidal actions.
Second, the report claims there is direct evidence of genocidal purpose by Israeli leaders, including public statements directing to Palestinians in dehumanising terms and calling for the collapse of the group. It argues this genocidal speech has been internalised by Israeli forces carrying out attacks, noting soldiers’ social media posts boasting about massacring Palestinian families. The Special Rapporteur argues the systematic and indiscriminate character of the attacks, in combination with authorised genocidal rhetoric, can only lead to an assumption of genocidal intent as required under international law.
