Israel lashes out at UN experts over ‘starvation campaign’ report

Israel has lashed out at a UN report that accused Israel of carrying out a “targeted starvation campaign” which has resulted in the deaths of children in Gaza.

The report by a group of independent experts, including UN special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri, insisted there was no denying famine was underway in Gaza due to the campaign.

The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) published in June found that over 20 percent of Gaza's 2.2 million population households go entire days and nights without eating, amid the eight-month Israeli war and siege on Gaza. 

“Mr Fakhri and many so-called experts who joined [him] are as much accustomed to spreading misinformation as they are to supporting Hamas propaganda and shielding the terrorist organisation from scrutiny,” Israel’s mission to the UN in Geneva said.

At least 33 children have died of malnutrition since the war began, mostly in northern Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The group of 11 rights experts cited the deaths of three children aged 13, nine and six months, from malnutrition in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah since the end of May.