The ministry recalled in a statement that the Israeli authorities have cut off electricity and water supplies to the Gaza Strip and are not allowing the transport of food, fuel, health supplies and other humanitarian supplies, worsening the already dire situation in the Gaza Strip.
Article 14 of the Geneva Convention, the text states, states that “starvation of the civilian population is prohibited as a method of combat.”
It is therefore forbidden to attack, destroy, remove or render unusable items vital to the livelihood of the civilian population, such as food, agricultural land for food production, crops, livestock, drinking water facilities and supplies, and irrigation functions.
The UN Commission on Human Rights has previously said Israel’s “persistent and serious violations” of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Additional Protocol I constitute war crimes.
International humanitarian law, the source emphasizes, includes the obligation not to attack civilians and the responsibility to protect civilians in armed conflicts.
The South African Foreign Ministry therefore emphasizes that the Israeli air, sea and land bombings of the entire Gaza Strip for six consecutive days constitute “a blatant violation of international humanitarian law”.
According to the latest report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the bombings in the Gaza Strip have already left more than 423,000 internally displaced. In the statement, the ministry emphasizes that Israel’s announcement that it will give 1.1 million residents of the northern Gaza Strip 24 hours to leave this area will lead to a major catastrophe because there are not enough resources to support so many people to accommodate.
In this situation, the text emphasizes, South Africa calls on Israel to immediately respond to the calls of the UN Secretary-General, humanitarian organizations working in Gaza and various governments around the world, and to immediately provide the people of Gaza with water, food, fuel and to supply electricity to the besieged strip.
South Africa is also calling for the release of between 100 and 150 hostages captured in Israel and brought to Gaza, the ministry said, in line with a similar call by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the text said.
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