More than 1,000 rabbis around the world have signed a letter asking the Government of Israel to stop using hunger as a “gun of war.” The document, published last Friday, also urges Tel Aviv to rescue the hostages and end the fighting in the Gaza Strip, according to The Times of Israel.
The signatories say that “the Jewish people face a serious moral crisis” and that “they cannot tolerate the massive killings of civilians, including a large number of women, children and the elderly, nor the use of hunger as a weapon of war.”
“The severe limitation imposed on humanitarian aid in Gaza and the policy of retention of food, water and medical supplies to a needy civilian population contradict the essential values of Judaism as we understand it,” denounced the rabbis.
Most of the rabbis signed by the letter reside in the United States and dozens in Israel.
Critical situation
Humanitarian organizations and international news agencies warned last week that the situation in the Gaza Strip is dramatic. According to the UN World Food Program, one third of the 2.1 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip “has not eat for days”, while 470,000 people are in a state similar to that of a famine and 90,000 women and minors need urgent treatment.
The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, described Friday the situation in Gaza as “a moral crisis that challenges global consciousness.” “Children say they want to go to heaven because, at least, they say, there is food there,” he said.
«Inaction distraction»
In response to the growing international concern, Israel took several measures on Sunday to increase supplies flow, including aerial releases, the opening of new runners for aid and 10 -hour breaks in fighting in certain areas.
Philippe Lazzarini, general commissioner of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA), condemned on Friday what he called “a massive, artificial and deliberate famine” in the Gaza Strip. “More children died, with their bodies demacrated by hunger,” he wrote in X.
«Air releases are the most expensive and inefficient way to deliver help. They are a distraction of inaction, ”he added. With RT
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