Israel Has Killed Hundreds At Its Militarized Aid Sites In Gaza. Where Is The Accountability?
HuffPost
Israeli soldiers have shelled and shot starving Palestinians every day since launching the widely condemned Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in May.
Since setting up its widely condemned aid distribution sites in Gaza two months ago, Israel’s military has killed hundreds of hungry Palestinians trying to access desperately needed food amid a starvation crisis created by Israeli forces themselves.
Israeli soldiers overseeing the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s distribution sites have opened fire on Palestinians waiting for food nearly every day, worsening the territory’s humanitarian crisis by continuing to bomb families and block most aid from entering.
The United Nations’ human rights office said Tuesday that at least 410 Palestinians have been killed trying to reach the GHF sites since May 27, when they were launched. Israeli forces have also killed at least 93 others who were trying to approach the few aid convoys belonging to the UN and other humanitarian groups. According to the Gaza Government Media Office, the number of those killed while getting aid is closer to 549.
“Desperate, hungry people in Gaza continue to face the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risk being killed while trying to get food,” Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the human rights office, said on Tuesday, adding that GHF is “in contradiction with international standards” on aid distribution.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said this week that its 60-bed field hospital in the southernmost city of Rafah has had to activate its mass casualty procedures 20 times since the aid sites launched. On Tuesday, the hospital received a mass casualty influx of 149 cases, the majority of which were gunshot wounds. All responsive patients said they were wounded on their way to an aid site, according to the ICRC.
