Israeli ‘starvation’ of Gaza is a ‘war crime’: Sweden

STOCKHOLM - Israel’s refusal to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and its targeting of aid distribution points are causing civilians to starve, which constitutes a war crime, Sweden’s Foreign Minister said on June 12.

In early June, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said deadly attacks on civilians around aid distribution sites in the Gaza Strip

constituted “a war crime”

, while several rights groups including Amnesty International have accused Israel of genocide.

Israel has vehemently rejected that term.

“To use starvation of civilians as a method of war is a war crime. Life-saving humanitarian help must never be politicised or militarised,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said at a press conference.

“There are strong indications right now that Israel is not living up to its commitments under international humanitarian law,” she added.

“It is crucial that food, water and medicine swiftly reach the civilian population, many of whom are women and children living under wholly inhumane conditions.”

Sweden announced in December 2024 it was halting funding to the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA after Israel banned the organisation, accusing it of providing cover for Hamas militants.

Swedish International Development Minister Benjamin Dousa told the press conference on June 12 that Stockholm was now channelling aid through other UN organisations, and was “the fifth-biggest donor in the world... (and) the second-largest donor in the EU to the humanitarian aid response in Gaza”.

The country’s humanitarian aid to Gaza since the

start of the war in October 2023

currently amounts to more than one billion kronor (S$135 million), while funding earmarked for Gaza for 2025 totals 800 million kronor, he said. AFP