Bolivian minister says people financing the war on Gaza need to be 'punished'

The minister of foreign affairs of Bolivia gave an emotive speech at the UN conference on a two-state solution on Tuesday.

Celinda Sosa Lunda said the situation in Palestine had grown more worrying in recent days as Israel intensified its use of hunger as a weapon of war – inflicting hunger on women and elderly people.

"As a mother, how much pain do I feel in my heart to see a child, to see a baby die because of a lack of milk and due to a lack of water," she said.

"That’s not something we can turn a blind eye to. Gaza has become a land of walking corpses. Hundreds of people have been killed on their way to find food and water".

She said that they all needed to make sure this meeting lead to results.

"Those who are financing this war are guilty and complicit in these crimes taking place in Palestine and that must be punished. We must establish precedence so this never happens in any other country again," she said.

She recommended two measures - all countries speak out about the situation of mass hunger and the UN declare relevant measures to stop starvation as a weapon of war and the International Court of Justice to sanction Israel for the crime of subjecting Palestinians to starvation.

"Lomg live a free Palestine," she said at the end of her speech.