The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said that Israel is using food and humanitarian aid as a weapon of war in the Gaza Strip, describing it as a "war crime."

"I have no doubt that what we have been witnessing for the past 19 months, and particularly in the last two, is the deliberate use of food and aid to achieve political or military objectives in Gaza," Lazzarini added in a statement published on the agency's official website on Tuesday.

He continued, "This amounts to a war crime, and the International Court will issue its assessment, but what we see on the ground confirms this inhumane use."

Lazzarini emphasized that the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip has reached indescribable levels, saying, "I cannot find enough words to describe the misery and tragedy that the population is experiencing. It has been more than two months without any humanitarian assistance. Hunger is spreading, people are exhausted, and they are hungry. If the situation continues without intervention, people may not die from bombing, but from hunger."

He pointed out that international reports, including the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report, confirm that Gaza is on the brink of famine, with all of the Strip's more than two million residents—nearly half of whom are children—suffering from severe food insecurity, meaning they are starving due to the Israeli blockade imposed on the Strip.

Lazzarini called on the international community to take immediate action to ensure the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, warning that the continuation of the blockade would lead to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.