Gaza (Quds News Network)- At least 27 starving civilians were killed by Israeli forces near an aid distribution center run by the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in Rafah in southern Gaza, early Tuesday morning.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 24 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as they waited for aid distribution in the al-Alam area of Rafah city.
Over 90 others were also injured, including several in critical condition, the Ministry added.
The Israeli military admitted its troops fired shots at Palestinians about 500 metres from the aid distribution site of the US-backed GHF.
In a statement, the military said, “… troops identified several suspects moving toward them, deviating from the designated access routes. The troops carried out warning fire, and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops.”
This is at least the fourth massacre to take place near GHF aid distribution sites, where Israeli forces have opened fire deliberately on Gazan civilians seeking aid.
“Mass Death Traps and Bloodshed”: 102 Starving Aid Seekers Killed by Israeli Forces Near US-Backed Distribution Points in Gaza: Media Office
At least 102 starving civilians have been killed by Israeli forces over the past eight days near aid distribution centers run by the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
According to Gaza’s Government Media Office on Tuesday, 102 starving Gazans have been killed and 490 others injured by Israeli fire near GHF aid distribution points in southern Gaza’s Rafah and the so-called Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza since Israel’s new aid mechanism was launched on May 27.
The Office accused Israel of “a horrific, intentionally repeated crime”, saying it has been luring starving Palestinians to its US-backed aid distribution centres and then opening fire on them.
“The so-called ‘aid’ distribution centres, which are located in exposed and dangerous red zones under the control of the occupation army, have turned into mass bloodbaths, luring starving civilians to them as a result of the crippling famine and the tightening siege,” the Office said.
“They are then deliberately and coldly shot, in a scene that epitomises the malice of the project and exposes its true objectives,” it added.
The Office called on “the United Nations, its Security Council and human rights organisations to assume their moral and legal responsibilities, take immediate action, and exert pressure using all available means to open official crossings without interference or conditions from the occupation”.
The latest attack occurred early Tuesday morning, when Israeli fire killed 27 aid seekers and injured 90 others as they waited for food distribution in the al-Alam area of Rafah.
UN Calls for Investigation into Israeli Killings of Gaza Aid Seekers Near US-Backed Sites
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for an independent investigation into the mass shooting of aid seekers near distribution sites in Gaza that have been reported daily since May 27, when the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began its operations.
Guterres said in a statement on Monday: “I am appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza yesterday.”
“I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.”
Later on Monday, UN human rights chief Volker Türk told the BBC the way humanitarian aid is now being delivered is “unacceptable” and “dehumanising”.
“I think what it shows is utter disregard for civilians. Can you imagine people that have been absolutely desperate for food, for medicine, for almost three months and then they have to run for it or try to get it in the most desperate circumstances?” he told the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme.
“It does show a huge dehumanisation of the people who are desperately in need.”
At least four deadly massacres took place near GHF aid distribution sites, where Israeli forces have opened fire deliberately on Gazan civilians seeking aid. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, around 102 starving people have been killed and 490 others injured near these distribution points by Israeli fire since the controversial foundation began its operations on May 27.
The GHF claimed in a statement on Monday that the killing reports were “the most egregious in terms of outright fabrications and misinformation fed to the international media community.”
“There were no injuries, fatalities or incidents during our operations yesterday. Period. We have yet to see any evidence that there was an attack at or near our facility.”
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also denied on Monday that Israeli forces killed or injured Palestinians at aid centers in Gaza. Huckabee accused US media of spreading “false” stories about Israeli attacks at aid distribution points. “There were no injuries, no fatalities, no shooting, no chaos,” Huckabee claimed, referring to massacres at Israeli-US so-called “aid centers” in Rafah.
Drone footage, eyewitness videos, and testimonies from medical teams in Rafah all confirmed that Israeli forces opened fire directly and intensively on civilians, with many of the fatalities receiving gunshot wounds to their head or chest.
On March 2, Israel announced the closure of Gaza’s main crossings, cutting off food, medical and humanitarian supplies, worsening a humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians, according to reports by human rights organisations who have accused it of using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinains.
An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report last month warned that almost a quarter of the civilian population would face catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase Five) in the coming months.
After more than 80 days of total blockade, starvation, and growing international outrage, limited aid has allegedly been distributed since last week by the GHF, a scandal-plagued organization backed by the US and Israel, created to bypass the UN’s established aid delivery infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.
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.
The UN confirmed that Israel is still blocking food from reaching starving Palestinians with only a few trucks of aid having reached Gaza.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned that “weaponizing aid in this manner may constitute crimes against humanity.”
“Today’s events have shown once again that this new system of aid delivery is dehumanising, dangerous and severely ineffective,” Claire Manera, MSF’s emergency coordinator, said in a statement on Sunday.
“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.
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