UN experts highlight ‘systemic hunger’ and destruction in Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens

HAMILTON, Canada

UN special rapporteur on the rights to food Michael Fakhri on Friday emphasized the systemic nature of the Gaza famine in Israel, arguing that it is not just a humanitarian issue but a consequence of decades of choices.

“Hunger doesn’t happen overnight. It doesn’t just happen in war. Hunger is the result of choices that are made over decades,” Fakhri said at a joint press conference with the special rapporteur on water rights, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo and special rapporteur on the right to housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal.

Fakhri noted that Israel’s actions led to the starvation of 2.3 million Palestinians, calling it an “unprecedented” and “systematic” attack on their rights.

“How did Israel manage to starve 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza so quickly?” he asked, adding that in December 2023, “everyone in Gaza was hungry.”

Citing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s annexation plan announced at the UN General Assembly in September 2023, Fakhri said: “Israel has neither denied nor provided a substantive argument against the claim that I and many of my colleagues have made, that that what they are doing is starvation and involvement in genocide.”

He highlighted the role of political economy in the Gaza genocide, citing “land grabbing, occupation and seed commodification.”

Fakhri further expressed concern about the lack of accountability, stating that it is essential to hold countries and companies accountable.

“It’s not just bad people who do bad things. How can these individuals do this? This is a systemic issue. We should be able to hold countries and companies accountable,” he added.

The UN special rapporteur on water, Arrojo-Agudo, noted that hunger and destruction of homes are strategies of war, stating that “the use of water as a silent weapon, a silent bomb” is a strategy particularly used in Gaza.

He stressed that ignoring international law in essential areas threatens the very existence of the United Nations.

UN special rapporteur on housing Rajagopal described the devastation in Gaza as “a biblical and unprecedented form of reign of destruction”, comparing it to the most destructive conflicts in modern history.

He questioned the military objectives behind such destruction, stating: “if indeed what is happening in Gaza is a war, the purpose of war is victory. But what is the metric of victory here? I couldn’t understand, given the scale of this destruction.”

Rajagopal concluded that rebuilding Gaza could take “around 80 years” given the extent of the damage and the ongoing occupation.

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