The US and Israel are using aid and food as tools of political pressure against civilians in the Gaza Strip, “perpetuating famine and deliberately aggravating the humanitarian situation,” the Government Media Office in Gaza said yesterday, reported the Middle East Monitor.

“Since the beginning of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation and the American administration have been using aid and food as a card and as a tool for political pressure against civilians, especially children and the sick in the Gaza Strip, who number approximately 2.4 million people and who are living in harsh humanitarian conditions and real famine,” a statement by the media office said.

This, it added, “is considered a violation of moral and humanitarian values, a violation of international law, an exploitation of the needs of children, civilians and the sick, and aggravation of their suffering for political purposes, which puts their lives in danger.”

Conditions in the Gaza Strip are becoming “more disastrous and difficult”, it added, as all crossings are closed and aid, goods and merchandise are prohibited from entry.

The media office condemned, in the strongest terms, “the inhumane crime of starvation that the occupation and the American administration use in a hideous manner to achieve political goals,” demanding they be brought before international courts for committing these crimes against humanity and breaches of international law.

The UN and the international community must exercise pressure to stop the genocidal war on Gaza and to stop food and aid being used as tools of political pressure against civilians, it concluded.