GENEVA — According to the Euro-Mediterranean
Human Rights Observatory Monitor, the latest instance of the
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) opening direct fire on Palestinians waiting for humanitarian
supplies to enter Gaza City and the Strip’s northern areas has resulted in the
killing of 20 people and injury of numerous others. The organization strongly
denounces the crime, calling it a strategic offense to starve and terrorize
civilians across the
Gaza Strip.
اضافة اعلان
Additionally, it added that it is part of a
broader strategy to impose additional restrictions on the entry and
distribution of the already limited aid allowed to enter the besieged enclave.
Euro-Med Monitor highlighted that
IOF deliberately targeted dozens of starving Palestinian civilians with artillery
shells at the Kuwait roundabout leading to Gaza City, killing at least 20
individuals and wounding more than 150 others, many of whom remain in critical
condition.
It added that the
humanitarian crisis that the
Palestinian people are facing amid Israel’s creation of a
famine in the Strip has already had dire consequences, the human rights organization noted. It
stated that Palestinian civilians are paying a heavy price while the
international community and its capable institutions continue to ignore calls
to stop Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza, including
hungry people seeking humanitarian supplies.
Similar incidents reported
Similar incidents were reported by Euro-Med
Monitor on January 22, after hundreds of starved civilians gathered on Salah
al-Din Road, southeast of Gaza City, were targeted by Israeli artillery shells
as they waited for UN relief trucks, resulting in several casualties.
Israeli quadcopter drones had previously
opened fire on Palestinians on 11 January, said the rights group. The civilians
had gathered to receive flour via United Nations trucks on Al-Rashid Street, in
the west of Gaza City. Nearly 50 Palestinians were killed and numerous others
were wounded in the attack.
It added that IOF is intentionally using
starvation as a weapon of
war against civilians in Gaza City and the Strip’s
northern areas, contended Euro-Med Monitor. This is demonstrated not only by
Israel’s prevention of aid from reaching these areas but also by its killing
and injuring people attempting to receive such aid—aid which the rights group
reiterated is extremely limited. These actions are part of Israel’s ongoing
genocide against the Strip’s population.
IOF has purposefully created a state of chaos
and targeted those in charge of setting up the distribution of humanitarian
supplies in the Gaza Strip, according to Euro-Med Monitor. At the same time,
Israel’s army and its officials use this chaos before international forums as a
pretext to obstruct the entry of further humanitarian aid.
The Geneva-based organization warned of
frequent bombing and shooting by the Israelis of aid convoys, particularly when
they are entering Gaza City and the Strip’s northern areas, pointing to the
deliberate targeting of civilians as well as security crews who are in charge
of protecting and distributing the aid.
A vehicle transporting officials in charge of
organizing aid distribution in Gaza was targeted on January 21, for example,
said Euro-Med Monitor. As a result, three individuals were killed, including
Imad Jamal Abu Mansour, Head of the Emergency Committee of the Ministry of
Social Development in the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli army previously
targeted a group of police officers on 9 January as they attempted to secure
the entry of
humanitarian supplies into Gaza City, killing and injuring many of
them.
IOF has been systematically attacking teams
that are organizing and protecting aid convoys, said Euro-Med Monitor. This
allows some individuals to steal aid and create havoc, preventing it from
reaching all of the intended recipients and prolonging the starvation of
civilians. Israel’s creation of a man-made famine is part of its genocide, said
the rights group, which has been ongoing in the Gaza Strip for more than 100
days now.
Israel’s targeting of intensely vulnerable
people awaiting aid in the east and west of Gaza is a clear indication of the
UN’s unwillingness—and the world’s unwillingness—to provide adequate aid to a
starving populace. It serves as a crystal-clear affirmation of Israel’s
perpetration of its genocide and related starvation policy, as both unfold
before the eyes of the international community without any hindrance or
intervention.
Euro-Med Monitor said it holds the UN and its
humanitarian agencies accountable for their inability to provide adequate
humanitarian aid in a dignified manner to the hundreds of thousands of
residents who are experiencing true hunger for the fourth consecutive month, as
well as for their silence on the Israeli army’s killing of Palestinian
civilians attempting to receive aid. It further emphasized that international
humanitarian law strictly prohibits the use of starvation as a weapon of war;
as an occupying power, Israel is legally obligated to provide basic needs and
protection to the Gazan people.
It noted that the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court provides that intentionally starving civilians by
“depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully
impeding relief supplies” is a war crime, added the rights group. Israel is
also breaking its international obligations by attacking humanitarian relief
workers, denying them the freedom of movement required to do their jobs, and
making sure that aid is distributed to the needy without prejudice or unfair
discrimination.
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