Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the “height of brutality” by the Israeli regime, denouncing the mass starvation policy and killing of Palestinian aid seekers in Gaza as acts of genocide and war crimes.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the ministry expressed deep concern over the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, noting that the situation is a result of “horrific crimes” committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.
Slamming the continuation of massacres alongside the denial of food, water, medicine, and other basic necessities to the defenseless people of Gaza, the ministry urged the international community and regional countries to take swift and decisive action to stop the genocide and alleviate Palestinian sufferings.
“The continued inhumane blockade of Gaza, the brutal bombardment of shelters for displaced people, and the transformation of humanitarian aid distribution points into traps for targeting and massacring starving and thirsty civilians are clear evidence of the extreme cruelty and brutality of the Israeli apartheid regime and its supporters,” reads the statement.
The ministry referred to the heavy toll of starvation and attacks on aid seekers, saying, “The killing of over 1,000 innocent people waiting in food lines and the death of more than 600 others from hunger mark the height of the Zionist regime’s brutality and clear examples of war crimes and genocide.”
The statement comes as humanitarian groups, including the UN and its children’s agency UNICEF, warn of catastrophic levels of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza. On Tuesday alone, at least 15 Palestinians, including four children, starved to death while Israeli strikes killed at least 81 people. The United Nations described the situation in the territory as a “horror show with a level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times.”
The ministry also cited United Nations reports indicating that 90% of Gaza is now uninhabitable, and that 1.2 million residents face life-threatening levels of hunger.
Denouncing the paralysis of the UN Security Council, the ministry said, “The Council’s failure to fulfill its legal duties, due to persistent obstruction by the United States, has emboldened the Israeli regime and normalized its criminal behavior.”
It added that the US and several European nations, especially Germany, have provided “comprehensive military, economic, and political support” to Israel, granting it effective impunity and enabling further atrocities, including the “ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians.”
“The backers and apologists of the Israeli regime, particularly the United States, who not only supply weapons and political cover but also obstruct any accountability measures, are complicit in these crimes and must be held responsible,” the statement continued.
Pointing to the collapse of Gaza’s health system and the five-month-long Israeli ban on food and medicine entry, the ministry said Gaza is now facing a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe, where “a plan to exterminate the Palestinian people is being carried out in its most horrific form by the most ruthless of criminals.”
It called on all states, international bodies, and humanitarian organizations—especially the UN Human Rights Council, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF—to act urgently and effectively to stop Israel’s crimes and end the suffering in Gaza.
“This legal and moral obligation has its basis in the UN Charter, international humanitarian law, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their protocols, and the Genocide Convention,” the statement emphasized.
Iran also urged Muslim and regional countries to fulfill their “obvious moral and religious duty” by using all available tools, including through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the United Nations, to pressure Israel’s backers—especially the United States—to end the aggression and to facilitate the urgent delivery of food, water, and medical aid to Palestinians.
The statement also reaffirmed Iran’s support for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and their legitimate struggle to resist occupation and colonial apartheid, stressing the need for further unity among free nations and Muslim states to stop “a colonial genocide in occupied Palestine.”
Aid groups warn of ‘mass starvation’ in Gaza Strip
Meanwhile, aid groups have also called for action against Israel, warning that “mass starvation is spreading” across the territory.
The group, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Oxfam, say that their colleagues in the Gaza Strip are wasting away from hunger.
“Doctors report record rates of acute malnutrition, especially among children and older people,” they said in a statement. “Illnesses like acute watery diarrhoea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration.”
“Distributions in Gaza average just 28 trucks a day, far from enough for over two million people, many of whom have gone weeks without assistance,” they said. “The UN-led humanitarian system has not failed, it has been prevented from functioning.”
The NGOs called for decisive action, saying symbolic gestures like airdrops or flawed aid deals “serve as a smokescreen for inaction, noting, “They cannot replace states’ legal and moral obligations to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure meaningful access at scale. States can and must save lives before there are none left to save.”
The Israeli genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 59,106 Palestinians—mostly women and children—and wounded over 142,500 others since October 2023.