‘Horrifying’: UN slams Israeli actions in Gaza as more aid seekers killed
The United Nations human rights chief has condemned Israel’s conduct of its war in the besieged Gaza Strip, where deadly Israeli attacks continue unabated and dozens more Palestinians have been killed trying to access aid as the country exchanges missile attacks with regional foe Iran.
Speaking on Monday, Volker Turk said Israel’s “means and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza”, where more than 20 months of Israeli attacks have killed at least 55,362 people, including thousands of children, according to health officials in Gaza.His comments came as medical sources told Al Jazeera that at least 48 Palestinians have been killed since dawn across Gaza on Monday, including 34 seeking aid for their hungry families at distribution points, mostly in the Rafah area in the south. The sites are operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by the United States and Israel and operates in areas tightly controlled by the Israeli military.
Two Palestinians trying to get food at the Rafah site, Heba Jouda and Mohammed Abed, told The Associated Press news agency that Israeli forces fired on crowds about 4am (01:00 GMT) at the Flag Roundabout, a traffic circle just metres from the GHF centre, which has repeatedly been the scene of shootings.
Three more aid seekers were reported killed in northern Gaza and two in an attack on Gaza City.
“Israel has weaponised food and blocked lifesaving aid,” Turk said as he presented his annual report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.“I urge immediate, impartial investigations into deadly attacks on desperate civilians to reach food distribution centres,” he added. “Disturbing, dehumanising rhetoric from senior Israeli government officials is reminiscent of the gravest of crimes.”
Hungry Palestinians ‘running out of options’
The GHF began distributing a trickle of food aid in Gaza at the end of May after Israel partially lifted a nearly three-month total blockade on food, medicines and other essential items, leading to fears of famine. No other aid has been allowed in by Israel, which in effect has kept the punishing blockade in place.
The UN and major humanitarian groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, citing concerns that it prioritises Israeli military objectives over humanitarian needs.This month, operations at the GHF aid distribution hubs were temporarily halted after several incidents of deadly violence in Rafah and the Netzarim Corridor, where Israeli forces opened fire on aid seekers.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement that at least 274 people have been killed so far and more than 2,000 wounded near aid distribution sites since the GHF began its operations.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said the current aid distribution mechanism has caused “chaos and despair” among Palestinians.
“Many hungry Palestinians have run out of options, forced to choose between staying in their homes and starving or risking their lives to obtain a bag of flour,” he said.
Israel-Iran conflict
Separately on Monday, Turk expressed deep concern over the fighting between Israel and Iran that has killed hundreds of people, including many civilians.
The UN high commissioner for human rights called on the countries to engage in “urgent diplomatic negotiations to end these attacks and find a way forward”.
“The military escalation between Israel and Iran is deeply worrying,” Turk said, calling “for full respect of international law by both sides, in particular the protection of civilians in densely populated areas”.
