Palestinian UN envoy says Israel’s bombardment of Gaza “genocidal”

According to the Palestinian representative to the UN, Israel’s assault of the Gaza Strip and its threat to encircle the Palestinian territory completely with a siege are “nothing less than genocidal.”

The biggest attack by the Hamas group on Israel has occurred on Saturday, when gunmen rampaged through Israeli cities, killing over 1,000 people and capturing a large number of hostages and transporting them to Gaza.

In retaliation, Israel has launched airstrikes on Gaza that have destroyed entire neighborhoods as it gets ready for a potential ground attack.

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant drew international condemnation by announcing on Monday a “total blockade” to stop food and fuel reaching Gaza, home to 2.3 million people. Gallant said Israel was battling “beastly people.”

“Such blatant dehumanization and attempts to bomb a people into submission, to use starvation as a method of warfare, and to eradicate their national existence are nothing less than genocidal,” Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour wrote in a letter to the U.N. Security Council, seen by Reuters.

“These acts constitute war crimes,” he wrote.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that his understanding was that “the concept of siege is not something that in fact is going to be pursued by the Israeli government,” adding that Washington was speaking with the Israeli government “about their actions in this regard.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply distressed” by Israel’s announcement of a complete siege on Gaza.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza was extremely dire before these hostilities; now it will only deteriorate exponentially,” Guterres said.