Starvation of civilians is undoubtedly a war crime

While the brutal warfare in Syria and the multiple parties' efforts to work with Tehran to seek a political settlement of the Iran nuclear issue catch wide attention, the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza should never be ignored.

Unfortunately, its long duration seems to be causing compassion fatigue among the international community. But it should not be forgotten that the Palestinian question is one of the root causes of the ongoing Middle East crisis.

Between July 8 and 15, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 11,600 people were newly displaced in Gaza, bringing the overall displacement since the breakdown of the ceasefire on March 18 to more than 737,000 people, about 35 percent of Gaza's population. Since the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza 21 months ago, nearly everyone has been displaced, in many cases multiple times.

Some senior officials of Israel called allowing aid into Gaza a "disastrous decision" and implied that starvation might be "justified and moral" until the remaining hostages are freed, indicating Tel Aviv's intention to use the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, which of course constitutes a war crime.

Israel's defense minister has talked openly about moving Palestinians into what he called a "humanitarian city", forcibly displacing Palestinians to a designated zone near Rafah. This proposal is as inhumane as the one earlier proposed by the United States, to permanently relocate up to 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.

Israel's dominance on the battlefield and the US' support should not mean that the two allies can ride roughshod over the basic norms of international law and waywardly infringe upon Palestinians' legal rights and interests in their homeland.

As UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said at a Security Council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza on Wednesday, Israel must not be allowed to act as a law unto itself.

"We hold all parties to the standards of international law in this conflict. We don't have to choose — and in fact, we must not choose — between demanding the end to the starvation of civilians in Gaza and demanding the unconditional release of all the hostages. And we must reject anti-Semitism. We must fight it with every fiber of our DNA. But we must also hold Israel to the same principles and laws of all other states," he said.

Civilians must be protected wherever they are, hostages must be released, humanitarian aid must be allowed to enter at scale, and humanitarian workers must be protected, as Fletcher stressed.

Last week, the Israeli strike on the Holy Family Church in Gaza, a sanctuary for civilians, caused heavy civilian casualties. "Attacks on places of worship are unacceptable," said Stephanie Tremblay, associate spokesperson for the UN chief. "People seeking shelter must be respected and protected, not hit by strikes."

With no end to the suffering in sight, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is understandably dire. Starvation rates among children hit their highest levels in June, with over 5,800 girls and boys in Gaza diagnosed as acutely malnourished, according to UN sources. In recent weeks, children and women have been killed while waiting for the food supplements to keep them alive.

The health system of Gaza is shattered. Only 17 of 36 hospitals and 63 of 170 primary health care centers are functioning, all only partially, even as mass casualties arrive daily. Water and sanitation systems are also broken.

Israel, as the occupying power, is obligated to ensure that people have food and medical supplies. But the militarized mode of humanitarian aid distribution carried out by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is run by the US with the approval of the Israeli authorities, is contrary to established international humanitarian norms for distributing relief in hundreds of local communities.

The GHF set up only four sites in the whole of Gaza in restricted Israeli military zones, where starving civilians enter through fenced lanes under the eyes of armed security contractors. No matter how long the Gaza crisis lasts, it cannot change the fact that the land belongs to the Palestinian people, and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory. Changing the status of Gaza by forceful means will not bring about peace, but only create more chaos.

China calls for efforts to promote a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire, ramp up humanitarian assistance, observe the principle of "the Palestinians governing Palestine", and the reconstruction of Gaza.

The Palestinian question has always been at the heart of the Middle East issue. China calls on the international community to focus more on the "two-state solution" and give more support to independent statehood for Palestine.