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Manila Bulletin devider World devider EU's Borrell says hunger being used as 'war arm' in Gaza

EU's Borrell says hunger being used as 'war arm' in Gaza

Published Mar 12, 2024 11:37 pm

UNITED NATIONS, United States - EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell criticized the lack of aid entering Gaza as a "manmade" disaster on Tuesday, telling the UN Security Council that hunger was being used as a "war arm."

"This humanitarian crisis... is not a natural disaster, is not a flood, is not an earthquake, it is manmade," said Borrell at UN headquarters in New York.

The EU official has repeatedly criticized Israel over its conduct during the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

The war started with the October 7 Hamas attack that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli official figures.

With aid entering Gaza by land far below pre-war levels and relief agencies warning of famine, foreign governments have turned to airdrops and are also trying to set up a maritime aid corridor.

"When we look for alternative ways of providing support, by sea or by air, we have to remind that we have to do it because the natural way of providing support through roads is being closed, artificially closed," said Borrell, a former Spanish minister.

"Starvation is being used as a war arm," he said, adding that "when we condemn this happening in Ukraine, we have to use the same words of what's happening in Gaza."

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