Canada warns of ‘catastrophic’ humanitarian conditions in Gaza

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly speaks during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, in Lima, Peru on Thursday. REUTERS

Canada’s foreign minister on Thursday expressed deep concern about “catastrophic” humanitarian conditions across Gaza and warned about “the life-threatening levels of acute malnutrition.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly cited a Nov. 8 report by the Famine Review Committee that found a strong likelihood that famine is occurring or imminent in areas within the northern Gaza Strip. The committee has previously found that 133,000 people in Gaza were facing catastrophic food insecurity.

“This means that civilians – men, women and children – are dying because of the lack of humanitarian assistance allowed into Gaza,” she said in a joint statement with International Development Minister Ahmend Hussen.

The statement said not enough aid is reaching those who rely on it for survival and humanitarian agencies and humanitarian workers continue to face preventable impediments.

Israel must abide by its obligations under international humanitarian law and provide a significant and sustained increase to humanitarian assistance for the civilian population, it added.