Former US president Jimmy Carter on Tuesday denounced the deprivations facing Palestinians in Gaza as unique in history, asserting that they are being treated "like animals.""Tragically, the international community too often ignores the cries for help and the citizens of Palestine are treated more like animals than like human beings," he said as he toured the war-torn, blockaded Gaza Strip."The starving of 1.5 million human beings of the necessities of life - never before in history has a large community like this been savaged by bombs and missiles and then denied the means to repair itself," Carter said at a UN school graduation ceremony in Gaza City.He was referring to the blockade that Israel and Egypt have maintained on Gaza since June 2007 when Hamas, a group pledged to the destruction of the Jewish state, violently seized power in the territory.The US and Europe "must try to do all that is necessary to convince Israel and Egypt to allow basic goods into Gaza," he said. "At same time, there must be no more rockets" from Gaza into Israel."Palestinian statehood cannot come at the expense of Israel's security, just as Israel's security cannot come at the expense of Palestinian statehood."