By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

“We recall that targeting critical life-saving infrastructure constitutes a war crime and urge all parties to take all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civilians, humanitarian workers, and critical civilian infrastructure.”

The EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell has said he is “gravely concerned” over the continuing destruction of key civilian infrastructure, including a water treatment plant in Rafah.

“The ever-worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is creating life-threatening conditions for an already severely weakened civilian population,” Borrell said in a statement on Monday.

The population, he said, “continues to be subject to starvation and repeated displacement into overcrowded tent camps for the tenth consecutive month, with no end in sight and nowhere to go.”

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Borrell said the EU was “deeply concerned about the collapse of the sanitation, solid waste management, and health systems, causing the spread of diseases, including polio, skin and respiratory infections, in particular among children.”

“We recall that targeting critical life-saving infrastructure constitutes a war crime and urge all parties to take all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civilians, humanitarian workers, and critical civilian infrastructure”, the EU chief stated.

Urgency of Aid

He reiterated “the urgency of full, rapid, safe and unhindered access” to humanitarian aid at the necessary scale for Palestinians.

“In this context, we reemphasize the importance of respecting and implementing the orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which are legally binding,” he added.

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Borrell emphasized that violations of international humanitarian law “need to be thoroughly and independently investigated and accountability ensured.”

The EU urged the Israeli government “to desist from actions that worsen the living conditions of the civilian population” in Gaza and to comply with its obligations under international law.

“An immediate ceasefire is urgently needed to end the plight of civilians in Gaza, including Israeli hostages,” he said.

Staggering Death Toll

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.

Tel Aviv is currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, since October 7.

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According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 39,653 Palestinians have been killed, and 91,535 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.

(The Palestine Chronicle)