UN condemns 'acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes' in Gaza

A top UN official on Tuesday condemned "daily cruelty" in Gaza, describing "acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes" as Israel continues its daily bombardment of the Palestinian territory.

Speaking to the Security Council, Joyce Msuya, interim chief of the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA), described civilians driven from their homes and "forced to witness their family members killed, burned and buried alive" in Gaza, which she called "a wasteland of rubble."

"What distinction was made, and what precautions were taken, if more than 70 percent of civilian housing is either damaged or destroyed?" Msuya said. "We are witnessing acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes."

"The daily cruelty we see in Gaza seems to have no limits," she added.

Msuya's comments come amid an Israeli campaign in northern Gaza that she described as an "intensified, extreme, and accelerated version of the horrors of the past year."

The Security Council meeting Msuya addressed was focused on a recent UN-backed report that warned of "an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine."

Aid has been routinely blocked from entering the territory and international anti-poverty charity Oxfam over the weekend accused Israel of using "starvation as a weapon of war."

October saw the lowest amount of aid entering Gaza this year, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, even as Israel announced Tuesday the opening of a new border crossing point for aid trucks.

War has raged in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 43,665 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.