It is unacceptable that civilians are risking – and losing – their lives just trying to get food in Gaza, a UN spokesperson said yesterday, after health officials said at least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded trying to reach an aid distribution site.
“The Secretary-General (Antonio Guterres) continues to call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for the perpetrators to be held to account,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
It was the third day running of chaos and bloodshed to blight the aid operation.
The Israeli military said its forces had opened fire on a group of people who had left designated access routes near the distribution centre in Rafah and approached their positions.
It added it was still investigating what had happened. The deaths came hours after Israel said three of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, as its forces pushed ahead with a months-long offensive against Hamas militants that has laid waste to much of the enclave.
A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross told Reuters that its field hospital in Rafah had received 184 casualties, adding that 19 of those were declared dead upon arrival, and eight died of their wounds shortly after.
Video showed injured people, including at least one woman, being rushed to a medical centre on carts drawn by donkeys, before being transferred onto stretchers or into ambulances. The United Nations human rights office in Geneva said yesterday the impediment of access to food relief for civilians in Gaza might constitute a war crime and described attacks on people trying to access food aid as “unconscionable”.
The head of the UN agency, Volker Turk, urged a prompt and impartial investigation into the killings. “Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law, and a war crime,” he said in a statement.
The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched its first distribution sites last week in an effort to alleviate widespread hunger amongst Gaza’s war-battered population, most of whom have been forced to abandon their homes to flee fighting. The foundation’s operation, which bypasses traditional aid groups, has come under fierce criticism from the United Nations and established charities which say it does not follow humanitarian principles.
The private group, which is endorsed by Israel, said it had distributed 21 truckloads of food yesterday and stressed that the reported violence had not happened within its site.
“This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site and control. We recognise the difficult nature of the situation and advise all civilians to remain in the safe corridor when travelling to our distribution sites.”
Palestinians who collected food boxes yesterday described scenes of pandemonium, with no-one overseeing the handover of supplies or checking IDs, as the crowds jostled for provisions.
“It is complete chaos and humiliation, and people have no choice but to keep coming because there is no food in Gaza,” said one Palestinian, adding that he was lucky to have survived the shootings outside the aid centre.
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