Palestinian Territory – Israeli forces killed six Palestinian civilians today and injured 15 others as they attempted to collect humanitarian aid in northern Rafah, Gaza. This follows the Israeli killing of at least one civilian and the injury of dozens more yesterday during a similar attempt at obtaining aid in Tel al-Sultan, Rafah.
Israeli occupation forces have been directing civilians to aid distribution points in dangerous areas, without providing proper guidance, only to target them with bullets and shells once they arrive—killing them while they are hungry. This constitutes a dual crime: using humanitarian aid as a weapon of humiliation, subjugation, destruction, and death, and deliberately collapsing access to food.
The Euro-Med Monitor field team documented that today (Wednesday 28 May), Israeli forces opened fire on hundreds of civilians gathered in the Qizan Abu Rashwan area, south of Khan Younis. The civilians were attacked as they headed toward an aid distribution point established by Israeli forces in the “Morag” area, north of Rafah, resulting in a high number of casualties.
According to the Euro-Med Monitor team, Israeli forces had sent text messages to Palestiniancivilians via mobile phones, instructing them to go to the aid distribution point in “Morag”. Upon arrival, some were allowed to enter and receive food parcels under humiliating and degrading procedures, while others were fired upon. Six civilians were killed, including an elderly woman,Kifah Odeh al-Sawarka. The five other fatalitieswere identified as civilians Zuhair Zuweid Mohammad al-Shaer, Mohammad Imad Abdel Hadi, Khalil Anwar Khalil Abu Mousa, his brother Ashraf Anwar Khalil Abu Mousa, and Ashraf’s son Khalil Ashraf Abu Mousa. At least 15 others were injured.
Meanwhile, Salem Atta Salem Abu Mousa died today from injuries sustained after being shot yesterday (Tuesday 27 May) by Israeli forces near the aid distribution center in Tel al-Sultan, Rafah, where 50 others were also wounded. Seven people remain missing following the incident, with eyewitnesses confirming the deaths of at least two individuals.
Not only have the Israeli occupation forces ensured the aid distribution procedures aredegrading, but they have turned distribution points into new killing grounds—places where starving civilians are literally crushed to death. The occupation army has deliberately placed these aid distribution points in dangerous areas without designating secure access routes for civilians. Moreover, the humiliating treatment at thesedistribution points suggests they were designed not for relief, but for the killing and further degradation of civilians.
The dangerous chaos witnessed yesterday at the aid distribution centre confirms Euro-Med Monitor’s previously expressed concerns about the Israeli mechanism’s inability to properly carry out humanitarian operations. It is unacceptable that Israel has replaced hundreds of aid distribution points with only four, especially as the new points resemble illegal military detention centres and lack even the most basic infrastructure for safely and efficiently distributing aid to the population.
These events should not be treated as mere procedural issues that can be resolved by tweaking the aid mechanism. Rather, they must be viewed in the context of the grave consequences of allowing the Israeli military—which has been committing genocide for over 19 months—to manage the humanitarian aid file. The same party responsible for genocide cannot be entrusted with improving humanitarian conditions for the very population it is targeting.
Euro-Med Monitor’s field team stressed the urgent need to immediately end the US-Israeli-controlled aid distribution mechanism in the Gaza Strip, as it has effectively become another death trap for Palestinian civilians and fails to meet the most basic humanitarian standards. The previous UN-led mechanism must be reinstated at once to ensure the smooth and safe flow of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
All relevant states and entities must exert maximum pressure on Israel to abandon its plans to bypass and dismantle the operations of experienced UN agencies in the Gaza Strip, and must publicly reaffirm the vital and impartial role these institutions play in delivering humanitarian aid in the region.
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Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is a Geneva-based independent organization with regional offices across the MENA region and Europe
