DaysofPal- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) issued a stark warning on Tuesday about the continued killing of civilians in Gaza as they struggle to find food amid a worsening humanitarian catastrophe.
In a press statement, UNRWA stressed that only the United Nations and its agencies are capable of safely delivering humanitarian aid to those in need in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The agency strongly criticized the new US-Israeli aid coordination mechanism, describing it as a “field of death”, where vulnerable civilians are being targeted and killed while waiting in line for food assistance.
Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that at least 500 civilians have been killed attempting to access food. He stated that Israeli forces use artillery and live ammunition to disperse crowds at distribution sites, and those who survive the initial attacks are often shot by snipers.
Al-Bursh reported that the majority of the injured who reached the hospitals involved head and chest wounds, indicating deliberate targeting that he said constitutes genocidal acts. He added that Gaza’s humanitarian conditions have reached an unprecedented level of catastrophe since the war began.
This targeting occurs against the backdrop of a deepening food crisis, as international humanitarian organizations warn that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians face imminent famine, particularly in northern Gaza. According to UN reports, Israeli occupation forces are blocking aid convoys and disrupting aid distribution.
Last Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the Israeli occupation is actively working to sabotage the delivery of humanitarian aid and undermine local relief initiatives.
The organization reported that shortly after a local initiative successfully delivered aid to warehouses in Gaza City, Israeli authorities blocked further aid shipments to northern Gaza.
It also dismissed repeated Israeli claims that armed Palestinian groups are stealing aid, calling them false pretexts aimed at justifying the denial of essential supplies like food, medicine, and fuel.
The international NGO ANERA, which operates in Gaza, confirmed that its aid deliveries arrived safely at its warehouses, according to Euro-Med. The watchdog noted that the Israeli occupation has provided no credible evidence to support its accusations and is instead using starvation as a weapon of war.
More than half of Gaza’s population is currently facing catastrophic hunger, with over 5,000 children hospitalized in May alone due to acute malnutrition.
Euro-Med called on the international community to reject Israel’s unfounded claims and to exert pressure on Tel Aviv to immediately allow unrestricted aid access to Gaza.
Backed by unwavering US support, the Israeli occupation has waged a genocidal war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, involving mass killings, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, in defiance of international appeals and legally binding orders from the International Court of Justice.
The onslaught has so far resulted in more than 190,000 Palestinians killed or wounded, the majority being women and children, in addition to over 11,000 missing persons and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands, with famine already claiming numerous lives, including children.
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