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.
