A boy holds out an empty pot as he waits with other displaced Palestinians queueing for meals in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 16, 2024. (AFP)

Brussels, March 17 (RHC)-- Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo says Israel’s inhumane “tactics of starvation” in Gaza are “inadmissible."  In a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Belgian leader said the regime in Tel Aviv has to urgently “provide more humanitarian access to Gaza.”

In separate remarks to journalists, during a visit to Jordan’s capital Amman, he condemned Israel for using hunger as a "weapon of war" in the besieged Gaza Strip.  “I see today there is a very large population [in Gaza] at risk of famine,” he said.  “It’s up to Israel to prove that famine won’t be used as a weapon of war.”

The Belgian leader said that his country continues to support UNRWA, calling it "the backbone of aid to the people in Gaza."

De Croo also called on Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abandon plans for a ground offensive into the southern city of Rafah in Gaza.

Netanyahu approved the military's plan for a ground invasion in Rafah, which has become home to over 1 million displaced Palestinians.

Israel’s war on Gaza, which began in early October, has driven around 80 percent of the territory’s population from their homes and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine.