MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines expressed concern regarding Israel’s planned full military takeover of Gaza City, as this can worsen the “humanitarian catastrophe” in the region, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement on Monday.
“The Philippines joins the international community in its urgent call for an end to the ever-worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” the DFA said.
“The Philippines is deeply concerned by recent developments, including the Israeli government’s planned full military takeover of Gaza, the continuing restrictions on access to life-saving humanitarian aid such as food and water, large-scale displacement, attacks affecting civilians, and reports of settlement expansion in the West Bank,” the DFA added.
According to the Department, such developments aggravate an already “dire humanitarian situation” and further diminish prospects for a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
“The Philippines therefore strongly calls on Israel to heed the ceasefire proposal as a crucial step to protect civilians and revive the path to peace,” the DFA stated.
Reports from the United Nations reveal that Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine, and it will likely spread, according to a global hunger monitor, with the assessment that will escalate pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the Palestinian territory.
According to a report from Reuters, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system said 514,000 people - close to a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza - are experiencing famine, with the number due to rise to 641,000 by the end of September.
Some 280,000 of those people are in a northern region covering Gaza City - known as Gaza governorate - which the IPC said was in famine following nearly two years of war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.
It was the first time the IPC has recorded famine outside of Africa, and the global group predicted that famine conditions would spread to the central and southern areas of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month.
It added that the situation further north could be even worse than in Gaza City, but limited data prevented any precise classification, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, Israel dismissed the findings as false and biased, saying the IPC had based its survey on partial data largely provided by Hamas, which did not take into account a recent influx of food.
The report was an "outright lie", said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Israel does not have a policy of starvation," he said in a statement. "Israel has a policy of preventing starvation. Since the beginning of the war Israel has enabled 2 million tons of aid to enter the Gaza Strip, over one ton of aid per person."
(With reports by Michelle Nichols; Additional reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva, Lili Bayer and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Howard Goller in New York and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Writing by Michelle Nichols, Crispian Balmer and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Aidan Lewis, William Maclean, Toby Chopra / REUTERS)
