A number of countries stated that hunger was used as part of the warfare in Gaza, in contravention of international humanitarian law. Several UN ambassadors at the Security Council meeting in New York again demanded that emergency transports be immediately allowed into the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military.
Additionally, international demands for a ceasefire in Gaza were repeated, as well as for those taken hostage by the terrorist-stamped Hamas to be immediately released.
Starvation increases
UN experts were also summoned to the council meeting. Jouyce Msuya, who is the deputy head of the UN's humanitarian section Ocha, said that starvation has been confirmed in the Gaza region, and that Deir el-Balah and Khan Yunis may be affected by starvation as early as September.
– Over half a million people are affected by starvation, distress and death. By the end of September, the number may have risen to 640,000.
The UN-supported body for monitoring global food availability, IPC, has also recently classified the situation as starvation.
But when the council was to agree on a critical statement, the US chose to break with the other 14 member states.
"Partisan report"
US UN Ambassador Dorothy Shea emphasized her support for Israel and placed the blame for the situation in Gaza on the Islamist movement Hamas.
We must all recognize that hunger is a real problem in Gaza and that the humanitarian needs must be met, said Shea.
But we can only solve this through credibility and integrity. IPC does not pass this test, she continued.
Shea accused one of the main authors of the IPC report of having preconceived notions about Israel, which made the report biased – instead, she claimed that the famine cannot be blamed on Israel's actions.
But the Trump administration's representative in the council was fairly alone in that opinion.
