Genocide prevention group calls on world leaders to get food, water into Gaza

A leading global genocide prevention group called on all world leaders Monday to do everything in their power to ensure that Israel allows badly needed supplies of food and water into the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention called on all leaders to use their powers to rectify the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, warning that "history will demonstrate the rectitude of your actions."

"Even if it takes bypassing the reports, meetings, endless conferences, parliamentary sessions, UN sessions, and all the other regular diplomatic channels that have led nowhere. Just do it," the non-governmental organization said on X.

"Genocide must not be allowed to continue while we all watch. We must not allow mass starvation in Gaza. We cannot wait any longer," the institute, named after Holocaust survivor Richard Lemkin, added.

Lemkin is widely credited with coining the term "genocide."

Since October 2023, the Israeli military has killed nearly 59,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza. The relentless bombing has destroyed the enclave, nearly collapsed its health system, and created famine-like conditions.

At least 95 aid seekers were killed by Israeli forces since Sunday, while 19 other people died of starvation, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier Monday expressed grave alarm over Gaza's humanitarian crisis, warning that the last remaining lifelines "keeping people alive are collapsing."

"The Secretary-General is appalled by the accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing," a statement issued by his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and 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 over its war on the enclave.