Gazans under collective punishment as siege enters 3rd month: UN agency chief

By Ikram Kouachi

ANKARA (AA)— The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned on Friday that Israel's ongoing siege of Gaza amounts to collective punishment and continues to cause immense suffering among civilians.

“Today marks two months of siege on the people of Gaza,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement on X.

“It is a siege on children, women, older people, and ordinary men. They are collectively punished for being born and living in Gaza, something not of their making.”

Lazzarini emphasized that the blockade must end and called for the immediate release of all hostages.

“With every additional day, the siege will silently kill more children and women in addition to those killed by bombardments,” he warned. “It’s time to show we haven’t completely lost our humanity.”

The Israeli army renewed its assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering a Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

More than 52,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.