UN human rights chief Volker Turk denounced the rampant hunger and looming famine in Gaza.
In a statement slammed by Israel, Turk said, "The situation of hunger, starvation and famine is a result of Israel's extensive restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid and commercial goods." It was also linked to the "displacement of most of the population, as well as the destruction of crucial civilian infrastructure", he said.
"The extent of Israel's continued restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza, together with the manner in which it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime."
His spokesman, Jeremy Laurence, told reporters in Geneva that the final determination of whether "starvation is being used as a weapon of war" would be determined by a court.
The comments came after a UN-backed food security assessment determined that the war-torn Palestinian territory is facing imminent famine.
The devastating war since October 7 has left roughly half of Gazans — around 1.1 mn people — experiencing "catastrophic" hunger, the assessment warned.
Without a surge of aid, famine would hit the 300,000 people in Gaza's war-battered north by May, it said.
Israel's offensive against Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has killed more than 31,800 people, most of them women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Already, health workers are seeing "newborn babies simply dying because their too-low birthweight" and "children that are at the... brink of death through starvation", World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris said.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, spoke in Jerusalem of "a situation almost unseen when we talk about famine".
"It usually takes years (in other contexts). Here we talk about a famine in less than four months... So this is clearly an artificially created hunger crisis impacting more than 2.2 mn people", he said.
Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva rejected Turk's statement, insisting he was seeking "once again to blame Israel for the situation and completely absolve the responsibility of the UN and Hamas".
- Netanyahu spurns Biden plea
Netanyahu told lawmakers he had made it "supremely clear" to the US president "that we are determined to complete the elimination of these battalions in Rafah, and there's no way to do that except by going in on the ground".
The two leaders spoke by phone on Monday.
US and Israeli officials will likely meet early next week in Washington to discuss Israel's military operation in Rafah, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a trip to the Middle East in which he would meet senior leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia to "discuss the right architecture for a lasting peace".
