Massacres of people trying to get food aid must not go without consequence.
Three months since Israel tightened its total siege of Gaza, dozens of Palestinian children, babies and elderly people have starved to death and desperate parents are being shot and killed as they try to get food aid at new militarised distribution sites.
These new sites have become death traps where people come in search of bread, only to be gunned down, arrested or humiliated.
Many more people across Gaza will soon die from hunger and disease unless international governments urgently put meaningful pressure on Israel to fully end its siege, reopen all crossings and allow large-scale, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access.
The latest deadly attacks on people trying to get food aid must not be allowed to go without consequence and accountability. Medics and eyewitnesses have given horrific reports of dozens of people killed and many more wounded as Israeli tanks and soldiers opened fire on people trying to get aid on multiple occasions over the past week. Critically injured people have had to be piled onto donkey carts because ambulances are banned from reaching them.
Palestinians and humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that the controversial new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) system is not about getting aid to people and saving lives – it’s about weaponising aid and entrenching Israeli control. It violates all core humanitarian principles and is putting even more lives in danger.
The starvation and suffering we are seeing in Gaza is not an accident; it is a deliberate decision. International governments have a moral and legal responsibility to act to prevent genocide, as demanded by the International Court of Justice. While many countries are now issuing words of condemnation, they are failing to back it up with real pressure. Words alone will not save Palestinian lives – they must be matched by meaningful actions such as suspending arms sales and trade agreements until international law is upheld.
The humanitarian catastrophe is getting worse by the hour. The trickle of aid now allowed in is pitifully small compared to the hundreds of trucks a day that are needed. Many more trucks full of lifesaving food and medical supplies are still blocked from entering. Other vital non-food aid such as tents for displaced families, cooking gas, and equipment to purify the contaminated water supplies are still completely banned. Israel continues to bomb civilian shelters and hospitals relentlessly. Over 80% of Gaza is now closed to Palestinians, with families forced into ever-shrinking confined areas where diseases are spreading.
The only way to address this magnitude of suffering, and ensure that aid reaches the most vulnerable people, is to pressure Israel to allow full humanitarian access in accordance with humanitarian principles and international law.
