Rights groups are criticising controversial comments by the UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) that suggested the "war" in Gaza may reduce obesity.

The controversial statement has brought criticism from rights groups, as UN agencies have long warned about the great risk of famine that Palestinians face.

The UK-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) said UKLFI's statement is "utterly sickening".

"As children in Gaza face the growing risk of starvation, illness and death, the suggestion by the head of UK Lawyers for Israel that they might benefit from weight loss is utterly sickening," the group wrote on X.

For Chris Doyle, the head of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), suggesting that the war may reduce obesity is "such an atrocious view".

"How very kind of Israel to put 2.3 million Palestinians on an enforced diet to improve their obesity levels," he wrote Friday on X.

"That such an atrocious view, devoid of any factual basis or legal standing, can be aired is just incredible. Such extremism should not be platformed."

The backlash came after a statement by UKLFI in response to a British consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses, The Co-operative Group, one of the world's largest consumer co-operatives, demanding that the retailer stop selling Israeli produce.

UKLFI claimed in a statement last week that the Co-op "ignores factors that may increase life expectancy, bearing in mind that obesity was one of the biggest health issues in Gaza before the current war."

Nearly 2.4 million people in Gaza completely depended on humanitarian aid, according to World Bank data.

Since March 2, Israel has kept Gaza’s crossings closed to food, medical and humanitarian aid, deepening an already humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

More than 52,800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.