Ottawa, May 15 (RHC)-- Canada's new foreign minister says Israel has used the lack of food as a political tool in its campaign of genocide in the Gaza Strip.  Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand made the remarks on Wednesday and called on the international community to find a solution for the current humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

"We cannot allow the continued use of food as a political tool ... Over 50,000 people have died as a result of the aggression caused against the Palestinians and the Gaza people in Palestine.  Using food as a political tool is simply unacceptable," said Anand.

Israel has closed the Gaza Strip since early March and resumed its genocidal military campaign against Hamas resistance groups since March 18th.  Israel has denied there is a risk of famine while all international humanitarian aid organizations have affirmed the presense of starvation.

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and several International organizations, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), have categorically rejected the Israeli regime’s claims and said the regime has utilized these excuses to continue the blockade.

Unless the blockade is lifted, the enclave will remain on the brink of one of the most severe cases of famine in human history.  According to the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), Gaza’s population suffers from Phase 5 Famine.

Phase 5 Famine is the highest phase of the IPC Acute Food Insecurity scale.  It classifies an area that suffers from the deaths of two people or four children for every 10,000 people each day due to outright starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and disease.