The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announced June 24 that the recent killings of Palestinians trying to receive food from aid hubs may constitute a war crime, warning of a policy of “weaponized hunger” in the Gaza Strip. Jonathan Whittall, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for Gaza and the West Bank, reported that more than 400 people have now died in the process of trying to reach food distribution points. “We see a chilling pattern of Israeli forces opening fire on crowds gathering to get food,” Whittall said, adding that “Israel’s militarized humanitarian assistance mechanism is in contradiction with international standards on aid distribution.”
“Israel has clear responsibilities as an occupying power,” Whittall declared. “This is not what fulfilling those responsibilities looks like.”
He added: “It is weaponized hunger. It is forced displacement. It’s a death sentence for people just trying to survive. All combined, it appears to be the erasure of Palestinian life from Gaza.”
Under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, occupying powers in an international armed conflict have obligations to the civilian populations of occupied areas. Article 55regards the responsibility of an occupying force to ensure access to food and medical supplies, requiring an occupying power to “bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.” Article 63requires an occupying power to allow Red Cross societies and other relief organizations to pursue humanitarian activities. Israel is a state party to the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The OHCHR’s warning comes nearly a month after the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating on May 27, bypassing the UN and established NGOs, including the Red Cross. While the UN rejects the GHF system, backed by Israel and the US, as inadequate and a violation of humanitarian impartiality, Israel insists that it is necessary to prevent Hamas fighters from diverting aid deliveries. Looting of aid convoys is commonplace in Gaza, a reality attributed to Israel’s tight control over aid entering the Strip. The UN and other aid providers are reliant on Israeli authorities, who last week approved only eight out of 16 humanitarian operations requesting access.
The OHCHR has also condemned the killing of GHF staff by armed men allegedly affiliated with Hamas. According to UN information, GHF staff were attacked, beaten, and tortured, resulting in the death of 12 Palestinians. The OHCHR said that such killings would amount to war crimes.
From JURIST, June 25. Used with permission.
See our last reports on the GHF and genocide accusations against Israel.
Photo: Maan News Agency
IDF ‘deliberately’ killing Palestinians at GHF sites
Palestinian officials say Israeli air-strikes killed more than 60 people June 30, including at a cafe in northern Gaza and outside a food distribution site in southern Gaza.
Last week, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that IDF officers ordered soldiers to fire at Palestinians near GHF sites “deliberately.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz called the report malicious falsehoods and blood libels. But, the Israeli military has acknowledged a review into its actions and said it would close one GHF site and create another one nearby to “reduce friction with the population and enable the safe and efficient passage of Gazan civilians.” (NewsHour)
UN protests ‘collective punishment of Palestinian people’
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is deepening at an alarming rate, a senior United Nations official warned June 30, calling the suffering “unbearable” and condemning the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
Speaking to the UN Security Council, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East Khaled Khiari reported that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since mid-June alone, many while seeking aid. Gaza health authorities report over 56,500 Palestinian fatalities since Oct. 7, 2023. (Jurist)
Condemn Israeli air-strike that killed Palestinian journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on July 1 criticized the deadly Israeli airstrike on al-Baqa Café in Gaza that resulted in the death of Palestinian filmmaker and photojournalist Ismail Abu Hatab, and injured freelance journalist Bayan Abusultan.
In commenting on the latest wave of Israeli attacks on civilians, CPJ regional director Sara Qudah stated: “The world must not ignore these deliberate assaults, and the targeting of the popular café must be independently investigated.”
Al-Baqa was a haven where journalists and residents relied on access the internet, share stories, and momentarily escape the pressures of life under siege. Over 20 civilians also lost their lives in the blast. The death of Ismail Abu Hatab contributes to an alarming toll of at least 185 journalist deaths documented by the CPJ since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza conflict on Oct. 7, 2023. (Jurist)
GHF security contractor: ‘shoot to kill and ask questions later’
A former security contractor for the GHF told the BBC that he witnessed colleagues opening fire several times on hungry Palestinians who had posed no threat, including with machine guns. On one occasion, he said, a guard opened fire from a watchtower with a machine gun because a group of women, children and elderly people were moving too slowly away from the site.
Describing a culture of impunity with few rules, he said guards were told by one team leader: “If you feel threatened, shoot—shoot to kill and ask questions later.”
GHF dismissed the allegations as false.
Paramilitary role for US security firm overseeing Gaza aid
Internal communications obtained by the Israeli media suggest that Safe Reach Solutions (SRS), the American company contracted to secure humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza, is also carrying out distinctly military-intelligence tasks. These include operating roadblocks, processing visual data from cameras, drones and satellites and using it to identify Hamas operatives and armed individuals. (YNet)