“Countries MUST Act”

"Israel had intended to starve the Palestinians in Gaza." UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, as well as others, argue there is an obligation to act.

AntiWar.com reports: “Fifteen More Palestinians Starve to Death in Gaza Due to US-Backed Israeli Blockade.”

Mosab Abu Toha: “Yousef Mohammad al-Safadi, 40 days old, died of malnutrition” on Tuesday.

Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has been warning of this — and argues there is an obligation to act:

“We knew that Israel had intended to starve the Palestinians in Gaza since October 9, 2023 when Israel announced explicitly its plan to starve the Palestinians in Gaza. For 20 months, the governments of the world were on notice and had many opportunities to stop what’s happening. There are arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for the war crime of starvation against Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Gallant. In fact, the International Court of Justice itself in January, recognized there is famine and starvation in Gaza. That creates a mandatory obligation. Countries MUST act to stop starvation. So it creates a legal obligation for every country in the world to step in and end this starvation and famine in Gaza today. So what must happen now? Governments can [should] act through the General Assembly because the United States keeps exercising its veto at the Security Council. When that happens, the General Assembly has the authority to call upon peacekeepers to accompany humanitarian convoys into Gaza to protect the convoys and bring aid.”

On Feb. 5, 2025, Fakhri ran counter to the conventional wisdom: “This Is Not a Ceasefire — It’s a Slowing of Israel’s Genocide and Starvation Campaign.” May 22, The Guardian published his piece: “If aid doesn’t enter Gaza now, 14,000 babies may die. UN peacekeepers must step in.” And in June, The Guardian published a news piece which quoted him: “Send in armed UN troops to protect aid convoys or risk ‘dystopia’, says expert.”

Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim seems to call for an international coalition to break the siege on Gaza and deliver aid “This is the hour for moral leadership. This is the time to uphold the values we claim to defend…Malaysia stands ready to work with all nations — North and South, East and West — to bring relief to Gaza, and to restore the basic principles of humanity. Let us not be remembered as those who stood by. Let us be guided by our conscience, to answer suffering with compassion, and to pursue peace for the sake of our humanity.”

Countries like Malaysia should act multilaterally when they can and unilaterally when they must.

Ousman Noor started Protect Palestine which features some important resources and has been calling for a “global campaign for an international military force to protect Palestinian civilians, ensure aid and safeguard the Palestinian right to self-determination.”

There’s the petition “UN General Assembly: Deploy an Emergency Armed Multinational Protection Force to Gaza!” by DAWN, Welcome to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and People Against Genocide Everywhere.

Back in November of 2023, I posted information about various countries so people could urge them to invoke the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. That same contact info can be used now to call for a peace force, though it should probably be updated.

Special thanks to Kelley Lane.