Grand Ayatollah Sistani Urges Action to Break Gaza Blockade Amid Worsening Famine

Grand Ayatollah Sistani Urges Action to Break Gaza Blockade Amid Worsening Famine
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Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has urged the international community to intensify efforts to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza amid a worsening famine devastating the population, Iqna.ir reported. In a statement released on Friday, Grand Ayatullah Sistani condemned Israel’s use of starvation as a warfare tactic and described Gaza’s humanitarian situation as “dire and unbearable.”

The statement highlighted severe food shortages causing widespread famine affecting children, the sick, and the elderly. Sistani criticized the international community’s failure to act decisively and called particularly on Muslim and Arab countries to pressure Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Since October 2023, at least 122 Palestinians, including 83 children, have died from starvation, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. Despite international appeals, Israel continues to restrict essential supplies, with reports of Israeli forces firing on Palestinians seeking aid. More than 1,000 aid seekers have reportedly been killed and over 5,000 injured in recent months.

The Gaza Media Office demands the daily entry of 500 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks and calls for an international commission to investigate alleged systematic starvation crimes. The ongoing siege has killed over 59,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly the entire population of 2.2 million.