Human Rights Watch calls on world leaders to speak out against “heinous war crimes.”

An international NGO has accused Israel of using hunger in Gaza as a weapon of war.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement released Monday that Israel is intentionally denying Palestinians access to food, water and other basic needs. The use of starvation against the civilian population is a war crime, the NGO said, calling on world leaders to act.

The press release cites statements from Israeli officials, interviews with survivors, reports from aid organizations and evidence from satellite images to show that Israel is “deliberately taking measures to deprive Palestinians of the resources necessary for their daily lives.”

“For more than two months, Israel has been depriving the population of Gaza of food and water, a policy promoted or supported by senior Israeli officials and reflecting the intent to starve civilians as a means of warfare,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch.

“World leaders should speak out against this heinous war crime, which is having a devastating impact on the people of Gaza,” he added.

The statement comes as Israel faces a surge internal and external pressure regarding increasing civilian casualties due to its “indiscriminately“Bombing the Gaza Strip.”

According to recent figures, Israel has killed 18,787 people and injured another 50,897, probably in the thousands buried under the rubble.

Speeches and statements by Israeli officials promoting a campaign to deliberately block access to necessary resources for Gaza’s population as a strategy indicate that Israel has not kept these intentions secret, HRW said.

Already at the beginning of the Israeli offensive, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was notorious specified that Israel is “completely besieging Gaza.” … No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – everything is closed,” he justified the move by describing the Palestinians as a “beastly people.”

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court stipulates that the deliberate starvation of civilians through “deprivation of essential items, including the deliberate obstruction of aid deliveries,” is a war crime, HRW said in the statement.

The situation of the 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip has become even worse as a result of the war, which has now been going on for over two months. Around 80 percent of Palestinians living in the enclave have been displaced by the violence, while efforts to bring aid to the enclave have been difficult.

Images showing the massive devastation of the Gaza Strip and the desperate Palestinians raids on food banks, humanitarian aid delivery trucks and reports of intentional Destruction of agricultural land support the allegations.

Alarmed humanitarian organizations have called for a ceasefire in vain denounce the shocking cost of doing so catastrophic War that amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza.

The Israeli government hit back at HRW, accusing it of being an “anti-Semitic and anti-Israel” organization.

“Human Rights Watch… has not condemned the attack on Israeli citizens and the October 7 massacre and has no moral basis to speak about what is happening in Gaza when they turn a blind eye to the suffering and human rights of Israelis close,” foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat told AFP.