A devastated street in Gaza City on November 2, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Getty Images)

Geneva, November 11 (RHC)-- The relevant international and UN organizations must formally declare famine in the northern Gaza Strip because Israel has blocked the entry of goods and aid to the besieged residents in the northern strip for more than 50 days now, according to a human rights group.

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said in a report on Sunday that Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon is one component of its ongoing genocide in the Strip, which also includes mass killings and forced displacement.

“Due to the illegal Israeli blockade on the enclave, 10s of thousands of Palestinians, including dozens of patients in three hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, are in immediate danger of starvation or long-term health consequences,” said the report.

Israel has been blocking the flow of any humanitarian aid into northern Gaza since 25 September, it said.  The people in North Gaza are being deliberately and continuously bombed, and are without food, water, and medical supplies, the report said.  “Anyone who tries to flee in search of these necessities is targeted by Israeli drones and killed,” it added.  

The Euro-Med Monitor said its field team has documented shocking testimonies from Palestinians forced to leave the northern Gaza Strip regarding the intense hunger and scarcity of food there.

“The international community has both an ethical and legal responsibility to stop the spread of famine in the Gaza Strip,” the report said.  Israel must be pressured to restore health, water, and sanitation services in the Gaza Strip and to supply safe, it stated.  

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has estimated that between 75,000 and 95,000 people are still trapped in northern Gaza, facing the dual risks of being killed in Israeli strikes or starving to death.

On Saturday, the WHO chief also warned about the escalating crisis in northern Gaza, noting that a famine is imminent there.  “Deeply alarming,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, referring to new findings from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

The data, he noted, indicates that "there is a strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas within the northern Gaza Strip."

The Israeli regime's genocidal war on Gaza, which began to intensify on October 7, 2023, has killed approximately 44,000 Palestinians, injured another 102,700, and displaced almost 2.2 million people. 

Israel has also imposed a blockade on free movement, which has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.