'Seun Ibukun-Oni, Abuja
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned and denounced the Israeli decision to block all aid from entering the Gaza Strip and “to use it as a tool for blackmail and collective punishment”.
The kingdom called the move “a blatant violation of international law and a direct violation of the rules of international humanitarian law” in light of the catastrophe that Palestinians in the enclave have been exposed to as a result of Israeli attacks.
The ministry said Riyadh renews its call on the international community to stop the Israeli violations, activate international accountability mechanisms, and ensure sustainable access to aid.
The Egyptian foreign ministry called the Israeli block a “flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement and international humanitarian law”.
It said there is “no justification, circumstance, or logic that allows the use of starvation of innocent civilians and imposing a siege on them”.
Israel’s decision to halt Gaza aid ‘alarming’: UN relief chief
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, says international law makes it clear that humanitarian assistance must be allowed into the Gaza Strip.
Doctors Without Borders condemns Israel’s use of aid as ‘bargaining chip’
The decision is “outrageous and will have devastating consequences”, said the group’s emergency coordinator Caroline Seguin.
“Humanitarian aid should never be used as a tool of war,” added the charity, known by its French acronym MSF, in a statement. “Regardless of negotiations between warring parties, people in Gaza still need an immediate and massive scale-up of humanitarian supplies.”
Israel accused of ‘war-crime starvation strategy’
Israel’s decision to block all aid going into the Gaza Strip is a war crime under international law, a human rights expert says.
Kenneth Roth – former head of Human Rights Watch who is now a visiting professor at Princeton University – said Israel as an occupying power has an “absolute duty” to facilitate humanitarian aid under the Geneva Conventions.
“Israel’s latest threat to cut off all aid is a resumption of the war-crime starvation strategy” that led to the arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court, he said.
