UN warns of 'weaponized hunger' in Gaza
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announced June 24 that the recent killing 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, the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in 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 55 regards 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 63 requires 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.
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)
Israeli hostages as political pawns
Israel's ongoing political crisis, already dividing the country over Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial and proposed judicial reform even before the Oct. 7 attacks, is now augmented by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara's decision to indict an aide to the prime minister. Yonatan Urich is accused of leaking classified documents from the prime minister's office to the German newspaper Bild, in the so-called BibiLeaks affair. According to the attorney general's statement, the intent behind leaking the document was to influence Israeli public perception regarding Netanyahu and to shift the discourse following the killing of six hostages in Gaza in August 2024. (Haaretz)
Israel says 50 hostages are still being held in Gaza. Former hostage Ilana Gritzwesky just testified before the Knesset on sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her captors. The hearings came as the Dinah Project advocacy group issued a report on the question, finding widespread evidence of sexual abuse in the Oct. 7 attacks. (JP)
The BibiLeaks affair recalls claims in the New York Times on Nov. 30, 2023 that that the Israel's security establishment had known of plans for the Oct. 7 attack a year in advance. A document code-named "Jericho Wall," obtained by the Times, did not set a date for the attack but predicted Hamas' actions that day "with shocking precision."
Netanyahu has used accusations of foreknowledge of the attacks in his feud with recently ousted Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. (ToI)
Meanwhile, a controversial vote in the Knesset on July 14 to impeach leftist Hadash-Ta'al MK Ayman Odeh and oust him from the body failed after failing to receive the necessary 90 votes. The official grounds for the impeachment attempt was a post on X (Twitter) by Odeh in January following the announcement of a hostage deal with Hamas in which he wrote: "Happy about the release of hostages and [Palestinian] prisoners, from here both peoples need to be freed from the burden of the occupation, we were born free." This was taken to constitute "support for an armed struggle by an enemy state or a terrorist organization against the State of Israel." (JP, MEE)
Ofer Cassif, the lone Jewish MK in the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta'al party, was days earlier suspended from the body for two months by the Knesset Ethics Committee for a Twitter post in which he compared Israel's actions in Gaza to Nazi persecution of the Jews. (ToI)
At least 21 killed in stampede at GHF site in Gaza
At least 21 Palestinians have been killed in the latest carnage at the GHF aid distribution center in southern Gaza, with most of the victims reported to have died in a stampede. Gaza's Ministry of Health has disputed the allegation from the GHF that armed agitators were responsible for the incident on July 16 at the site in Khan Younis. (Al Jazeera)