UN human rights experts warn of ‘unfolding genocide’ as ‘every single person in Gaza’ goes hungry

A Palestinian man prepares food for his family outside his tent at a camp for displaced people in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip where most civilians have taken refuge, on December 13, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 17 January 2024
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UN human rights experts warn of ‘unfolding genocide’ as ‘every single person in Gaza’ goes hungry

  • UN says Gazans now account for 80 percent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide
  • All children under the age of five, about 335,000 in total, highly susceptible to effects of severe malnutrition

NEW YORK CITY: Independent UN experts on Tuesday warned that Gazans now account for 80 per cent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide. It came as they highlighted the unprecedented humanitarian emergency in the Gaza Strip in the face of the ongoing Israeli assault on the besieged enclave.

“Currently, every single person in Gaza is hungry, a quarter of the population are starving and struggling to find food and drinkable water, and famine is imminent,” said the group of human rights experts.

A lack of sufficient nutrition and healthcare is endangering the lives of pregnant women and their unborn children, they added, and all children under the age of five, about 335,000 in total, are highly susceptible to the effects of severe malnutrition as the threat of famine continues to grow.

The experts expressed concern that an entire generation is at risk of stunting, a condition in which insufficient nourishment hinders the growth and development of young children, leading to irreversible physical and cognitive impairments, posing a significant threat to learning capacity.

The group of experts included Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967; Reem Alsalem, the special rapporteur on violence against women and girls; Pedro Arrojo Agudo, the special rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation; and the special rapporteurs on the right to food, the right to education, the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the right to adequate housing, and the human rights of internally displaced persons.

They said that “nowhere is safe in Gaza” since Israel’s “total siege” of the territory began on Oct. 9, depriving 2.3 million Palestinians of water, food, fuel, medicine and other medical supplies, “this against the backdrop of a 17-year Israeli blockade, which before this war made approximately half of the people in Gaza food insecure and more than 80 percent reliant on humanitarian aid.”

Most of the aid deliveries during the conflict to date have been concentrated in southern Gaza. As of Jan. 1, only five of 24 scheduled shipments of relief supplies, including food, have been delivered to regions north of Wadi Gaza.

Concerns have grown among the experts about the deteriorating conditions in northern Gaza in particular, where residents are experiencing prolonged food shortages and severely limited access to essential resources.

In southern Gaza, meanwhile, large numbers of displaced people are living in inadequate shelters or areas lacking basic amenities, which is exacerbating the problems created by already harsh living conditions.

“It is unprecedented to make an entire civilian population go hungry this completely and quickly,” the experts said. “Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system and using food as a weapon against the Palestinian people.”

They accused Israel of destroying or blocking access to farmland and the sea, saying that soldiers have razed 22 percent of agricultural land and facilities in the territory, including orchards and greenhouses in Northern Gaza, and destroyed 70 percent of Gaza’s fishing fleet.

“Even with what little humanitarian aid that has been allowed to enter, people still lack food and fuel to cook,” the experts said. “Most bakeries are not operational, due to the lack of fuel, water and wheat flour, along with structural damage.

“Livestock are starving and unable to provide food or be a source of food. Meanwhile access to safe water continues to diminish, while the healthcare system has collapsed due to the wide-spread destruction of hospitals, significantly heightening the spread of communicable diseases.”

Israeli forces have destroyed more than 60 percent of Palestinian homes in Gaza, they added, affecting the ability of families to cook and causing “domicide through the mass destruction of dwellings, making the territory uninhabitable.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that nearly 85 percent of Gaza’s population, amounting to about 1.9 million people, is internally displaced, including many who have been forced to move several times in search of safety.

“We have raised the alarm of the risk of genocide several times, reminding all governments they have a duty to prevent genocide,” the experts said.

“Not only is Israel killing and causing irreparable harm against Palestinian civilians with its indiscriminate bombardments, it is also knowingly and intentionally imposing a high rate of disease, prolonged malnutrition, dehydration and starvation by destroying civilian infrastructure.

“Aid needs to be delivered to Gazans immediately, and without any hindrance, to prevent starvation.”

They continued: “Our alarm for the unfolding genocide does not only refer to the ongoing bombardment of Gaza but also concerns the slow suffering and death caused by Israel’s long-standing occupation, blockade and current civic destruction, since genocide advances through an ongoing process and is not a singular event.

“The clear path to achieving peace, safety and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians lies in the realization of Palestinian self-determination. This can only be achieved through an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of the Israeli occupation.”

Special rapporteurs are part of what is known as the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council. They are independent experts who work on a voluntary basis, are not members of UN staff and are not paid for their work.


British Airways cancels Israel flights until August

Updated 20 sec ago
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British Airways cancels Israel flights until August

  • UK carrier suspended route to Tel Aviv after Houthi attack on Ben Gurion Airport in May
  • Air France flights remain suspended but Delta, Aegean flights recommenced this week

LONDON: There will be no British Airways flights from the UK to Israel until at least August, the airline has said.

BA cited security concerns for the decision, having suspended flights to Tel Aviv in May following a Houthi missile attack that injured six people at Ben Gurion International Airport. The airline subsequently evacuated staff staying in the city to the Austrian capital Vienna.

A BA spokesman said in a statement: “We continually monitor operating conditions and have made the decision to suspend our flights to and from Tel Aviv, up to and including 31 July. We’ve apologised to our customers for the inconvenience.”

A message on the airline’s website for the route reads: “Sorry, we have no flights available. Please edit your search to find other routes.” The next scheduled flight from London to Tel Aviv is on Aug. 1.

Air France has halted flights in and out of Israel until at least May 26. Greek airline Aegean resumed flights to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, while US carrier Delta commenced daily flights from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Ben Gurion on Monday.  Both had suspended their routes following the Houthi attack.


African Union urges permanent ceasefire in Libya after clashes

Updated 37 min 13 sec ago
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African Union urges permanent ceasefire in Libya after clashes

  • Libya is split between the UN-recognized government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah
  • The clashes were sparked by the killing of an armed faction leader by a group aligned with Dbeibah’s government

ADIS ABABA: The African Union called for a permanent ceasefire in Libya on Saturday after deadly clashes in the capital earlier this month and demonstrations demanding the prime minister’s resignation.
The latest fighting in the conflict-torn North African country pitted an armed group aligned with the Tripoli-based government against factions it has sought to dismantle, resulting in at least eight dead, according to the United Nations.
Despite a lack of a formal ceasefire, the clashes mostly ended last week, with the Libya Defense Ministry saying this week that efforts toward a truce were “ongoing.”
On Saturday, the AU’s Peace and Security Council condemned the recent violence, calling for an “unconditional and permanent ceasefire.”
In a statement on X, the council urged “inclusive, Libyan-led reconciliation,” adding that it “appeals for no external interference.”
Libya is split between the UN-recognized government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and a rival administration in the east.
The country has remained deeply divided since the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi.
The clashes were sparked by the killing of an armed faction leader by a group aligned with Dbeibah’s government — the 444 Brigade, which later fought a third group, the Radaa force that controls parts of eastern Tripoli and the city’s airport.
It came after Dbeibah announced a string of executive orders seeking to dismantle Radaa and dissolve other Tripoli-based armed groups but excluding the 444 Brigade.


South Lebanon votes in municipal elections that will test support for Hezbollah

Updated 33 min 40 sec ago
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South Lebanon votes in municipal elections that will test support for Hezbollah

  • Municipal elections are taking place in Lebanon as residents in the south cast their votes over the weekend
  • Hezbollah and Amal representatives are among those running for elections

BEIRUT: Residents of southern Lebanon voted Saturday in the country’s municipal elections that will test support for Hezbollah in the predominantly Shiite areas, months after the end of the destructive Israel-Hezbollah war.
Hezbollah is running in an alliance with the Amal group of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and both are expected to win mayoral races and the majority of seats in municipal councils. Both groups already won many municipalities uncontested.
South Lebanon is the fourth and last district to vote in the elections since May 4. Among those who voted Saturday were Hezbollah members wounded in the Sept. 17, 2024, explosions of thousands of pagers that blew up near-simultaneously in an operation carried out by Israel. More than a dozen were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded.
“The will of life is stronger than death and the will of construction is stronger than destruction,” President Joseph Aoun said during a tour of south Lebanon Saturday. He told reporters in his hometown of Aaichiyeh that he voted for the first time in 40 years.
Saturday’s vote came two days after Israel’s air force carried out intense airstrikes in different parts of south Lebanon.
Residents of villages and towns on the border with Israel, including the village of Kfar Kila that was almost completely destroyed during the war, cast their ballots at polling stations set up in the nearby city of Nabatiyeh. Residents of other border villages cast their ballots in the port city of Tyre.
“Southerners are proving again that they are with the choice of resistance,” Hezbollah legislator Ali Fayad, who represents border villages, said in Nabatiyeh.
Lebanon’s cash-strapped government has been scrambling to secure international funds for the war reconstruction, which the World Bank estimates at over $11 billion.
Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, one day after a deadly Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza. Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in Lebanon that escalated into a full-blown war that left more than 4,000 dead in Lebanon and more than 80 soldiers and 47 civilians in Israel. A US-brokered ceasefire went into effect in late November.


Israeli settlers force Palestinian families to leave village

Updated 24 May 2025
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Israeli settlers force Palestinian families to leave village

  • Mughayyir Al-Deir in occupied West Bank was home to shepherds, farming families
  • Settlers built illegal outpost under protection of Israeli police, military

LONDON: Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have forced about 150 Palestinians from their village through a violent five-day campaign carried out under the protection of Israeli authorities.

Last weekend, the settler group had constructed an illegal outpost close to a Palestinian home in Mughayyir Al-Deir, east of Ramallah, The Guardian reported.

The village is home to shepherds and farmers, and by Friday this week dozens of villagers had moved their flocks away and had gathered their belongings to leave the area.

“Settlers stalked between Palestinian men who worked fast and largely in silence, grappling with the grim reality of leaving the place where most were born and grew up,” The Guardian reported. “A child cried as he was driven away on a truck loaded with the family’s red sofas.”

Israeli settlers belonging to the extremist group Hilltop Youth celebrated as Palestinian families left the village.

The group’s unofficial spokesperson, Elisha Yered, said: “This is what redemption looks like! This is a relatively large outpost that contained about 150 people from the enemy population, but it was broken.”

Several of the settlers involved in the illegal campaign, including Yered, are subject to UK and EU sanctions.

Yered was “part of a group of armed settlers” that carried out an attack in 2023 that killed Qusai Jammal Mi’tan, a 19-year-old Palestinian, sanctions files show.

Neria Ben Pazi and Zohar Sabah, two Israeli settlers under British sanctions, visited the illegal outpost at Mughayyir Al-Deir this week.

The hills surrounding the village are dotted with the ruins of other abandoned Palestinian homes, as settlers have waged a campaign to clear the area of locals.

In Mughayyir Al-Deir, Israeli police and military personnel stood guard and patrolled as the settlers began to build the outpost.

Zvi Sukkot, a far-right MP who said on TV last week that Israel “can kill 100 Gazans in one night during a war and nobody in the world cares,” visited the village to support the settlers.

A Palestinian family from Mughayyir Al-Deir filed a petition in Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday.

They demanded an injunction and urgent hearing on the settler campaign, and asked why Israeli authorities had failed to intervene over the illegal outpost and evictions.

Many of the Palestinian families forced to leave the village had relatives who were forced to leave Beersheba during the Nakba in 1948, when some 750,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their homeland.

An Israeli military spokesperson said troops worked “to ensure the security of the state of Israel and Judea and Samaria (Israel’s name for the occupied West Bank).” The military will respond to the Palestinian family’s petition in court, the spokesperson said.

A hearing is scheduled for next week, but all Palestinian families will have left Mughayyir Al-Deir by then.


Egypt flies home 71 nationals from Libya after unrest

Updated 32 min 26 sec ago
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Egypt flies home 71 nationals from Libya after unrest

  • 71 Egyptians were flown back to Egypt following a rise in violence in Libya as a result of anti government protests
  • Protests calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah continue to grow amid deadly clashes with security forces

CAIRO: Egypt has flown 71 nationals home from the Libyan capital Tripoli after deadly clashes between rival militias rocked the city earlier this month, the foreign ministry said.
Friday’s special flight by flag carrier EgyptAir “enabled the repatriation of 71 Egyptian citizens who had expressed a desire to come home,” the ministry said.
From May 12 to 15, the Libyan capital was rocked by fighting between an armed group aligned with the Tripoli-based government and factions it has sought to dismantle.
The clashes, which saw artillery exchanges in the city center, killed at least eight people, according to the United Nations.
Although relative calm has since returned to the city, the situation remains highly volatile as calls grow for the resignation of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah.
Turkiye evacuated 82 of its nationals from Tripoli on a similar repatriation flight last week.
Libya is split between the UN-recognized government in Tripoli led by Dbeibah, and a rival administration in the east.
The North African country has remained deeply divided since the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi.