Palestinians in Gaza subjected to ‘genocide’: Arab League chief

CAIRO

The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are subjected to “genocide” amid a deadly Israeli offensive, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said Wednesday.

“What is happening in Gaza is a disgrace to all humanity, which stands idly by while Palestinians are being killed by starvation and bombing,” Aboul-Gheit said at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

“The people of Gaza are facing a genocidal war to displace them from the strip,” he added.

The Arab League chief accused Israel of starving the Gazans and denying access to humanitarian aid “to bring the Palestinians in Gaza to their knees.”

“The forced displacement of Palestinians from their land is unacceptable,” he stressed.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive, now in its 152nd day, on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv said killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 30,700 Palestinians have since been killed and over 72,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala