Brussels, March 18 (RHC)-- Thousands of people in the Gaza Strip are beset by “a state of famine” as Israel is using starvation as “a weapon of war” by deliberately blocking humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian territory, says the foreign policy chief of the European Union.

Speaking at the opening of a conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza in Brussels, Josep Borrell said Gaza is “no longer on the brink of famine, (in Gaza) we are in a state of famine affecting thousands of people.”  “This is unacceptable.  Starvation is used as a weapon of war.  Israel is provoking famine.”

Borrell said more than five months into Israel’s bloodiest ever war on Gaza, the territory has now turned into “the world’s greatest open-air graveyard.”  “Gaza was before the war the greatest open-air prison. Today it’s … a graveyard for tens of thousands of people and also a graveyard for many of the most important principles of humanitarian law.”

According to a new study released by Oxfam — a UK-based international aid organization — a meaningful and safe humanitarian response has been made impossible by the Israeli regime, which is “deliberately blocking and/or undermining” the international aid efforts in Gaza in several ways.

Israel’s “total military siege,” Oxfam said, amounts to “collective punishment.” The regime is also engaged in “decimation, destruction and disruption.”  The organization underscored “attacks on aid workers, humanitarian facilities and aid convoys” by the regime’s military and “systematic denial of humanitarian missions and access restrictions on humanitarian workers.”

The Israeli regime’s brutal campaign, which began in early October, has driven around 80 percent of Gaza’s population from homes.

Israel has killed more than 31,700 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, 2023.   Thousands more have also died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care. Those people are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals.