Israeli attacks on Palestinians seeking aid at a US-backed relief distribution centre in Rafah, southern Gaza, have resulted in the deaths of at least three people and injured 35 others.
On Monday, the Gaza Government Media Office released a statement describing Israel’s actions as “continuing the policy of starvation and systematic targeting of civilians for 93 days”.
“The ‘Israeli’ occupation forces committed a new crime by killing three starving civilians and injuring 35 others near so-called ‘aid’ distribution centers in Rafah,” the statement read.
Since the US-Israeli initiative of distributing aid began on 27 May, more than 75 people have been killed in assaults launched on starving civilians seeking food and essential supplies, with 400 more wounded, the Gaza Health Ministry reported.
On Sunday, Israeli forces carried out a massacre targeting Palestinian aid seekers in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 35 people and wounding scores more, the Palestinian health ministry said.
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According to eyewitnesses and local officials, Israeli troops opened fire directly on civilians gathered at two US-Israeli food distribution points in Rafah and central Gaza.
Israel kills 32 starving Palestinians in latest US aid point ‘massacre’
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Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has condemned these assaults, stressing that “weaponising aid in this manner may constitute crimes against humanity”.
Claire Manera, MSF emergency coordinator, said the attack on Sunday displayed how “dehumanising, dangerous and severely ineffective” the new Israeli-US aid distribution system is.
“It has resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians that could have been prevented. Humanitarian aid must be provided only by humanitarian organisations who have the competence and determination to do it safely and effectively,” she added.
Civilians in Gaza have been desperately seeking food supplies, as no essentials or humanitarian aid have entered the area since a complete Israeli siege began on 2 March.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial US organisation backed by Israel, was launched to bypass the UN’s aid infrastructure in Gaza.
In a statement from the CEO of the rights group War Child Alliance, Rob Williams criticised the aid model enacted by GHF, expressing that the scenes in Rafah are a “devastating indictment of a model that should never have existed”.
“War Child is deeply alarmed by this reckless experiment in outsourcing humanitarian aid to private contractors, under military oversight and outside of UN coordination,” he said.
Williams says that the GHF scheme, backed by Israel and the US, was not designed to save lives, but instead to “control, displace and punish civilians.”
“Corralling desperate families behind fences and placing aid under armed guard violates not only humanitarian principles but common decency.
“The true monstrosity of this ugly system lies the draping of a ‘humanitarian’ disguise over the military deployment of food as a means of displacing a population.”
Most humanitarian organisations, including the UN, have distanced themselves from GHF, arguing that the group violates humanitarian principles by restricting aid to south and central Gaza; requiring Palestinians to walk long distances to collect aid; and only providing limited aid, among other critiques.
