Israeli forces killed 27 Palestinians on Tuesday as they attempted to reach a US aid distribution site in Rafah, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Crowds had gathered early in the al-Alam area, west of Rafah, seeking basic food supplies from the scandal-plagued Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), amid worsening, famine-like conditions in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli artillery and warplanes then targeted civilians, eyewitnesses told Wafa news agency.
The killings mark the latest in a string of Israeli attacks on Palestinians seeking aid at newly established GHF-run distribution points.
At least 102 Palestinians have been killed and over 490 wounded in similar attacks over the past eight days since the initiative’s launch, according to the Gaza-based Government Media Office.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on
Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
“The so-called ‘aid’ distribution centres, situated in exposed and perilous red zones controlled by the occupying forces, have become bloodbaths. Starving civilians are lured there due to the crippling famine and tight siege,” the office said in a statement.
“They are then deliberately and coldly shot, a scene that exposes the true malice of the operation and its real objectives.”
The office described these actions as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, calling for immediate global action and an investigation into the latest Israeli assaults.
“The continuation of these crimes, amid shameful international silence, is a stain on humanity and proves that the occupation continues to perpetrate the most heinous forms of genocide under the world’s gaze, without deterrence or accountability,” the statement concluded.
‘Death trap’
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), on Monday called the new Israeli-US aid initiative a “humiliating system” that has put civilians at risk, with relief distribution becoming a “death trap”.
Lazzarini indicated that the new scheme requires hunger-stricken Palestinians to walk long – and often dangerous – distances to reach aid centres which are often limited to just three or four areas.
“Aid deliveries and distribution must be at scale and safe. In Gaza, this can be done only through the United Nations including Unrwa. The State of Israel must lift the siege and allow the UN safe and unhindered access to bring in aid and distribute it safely.
Israel kills 32 starving Palestinians in latest US aid point ‘massacre’
Read More »
“With competing narratives and disinformation campaigns in full gear, international media must be allowed into Gaza to independently report on the ongoing atrocities including this morning’s heinous crime.”
Since launching operations last Tuesday, GHF has said – without providing evidence – that it handed out tens of thousands of food boxes to Palestinians, a fraction of what aid agencies say is needed to address the mass starvation unfolding in the Strip.
The new aid system, which limits food distribution to a small number of hubs guarded by American security contractors, seeks to wrest distribution away from aid groups led by the United Nations.
The UN and other major humanitarian organisations have repeatedly criticised the mechanism, with warnings that these actions could constitute crimes against humanity.
