The United Nations human rights office has documented more than two dozen attacks on Gazans awaiting desperately needed aid since January, with hunger spreading as a result of Israel’s near-total siege, blocking most food and water to enter the microscopic pocket.
The office has not blamed any side for the spate of attacks as people wait for help. In some UN reports and statements, the office has documented at least 26 such attacks since mid-January.
They include Thursday night’s attack on hundreds of Palestinians who were waiting at the Kuwaiti traffic circle in Gaza City for an expected convoy of aid trucks. Gaza health officials accused Israeli forces of carrying out a “targeted” attack on the crowd that killed 20, and three witnesses described shelling at the site.
The Israeli military blamed Palestinian gunmen for the bloodshed and said it was still investigating the incident. It said an “intensive preliminary review” found there had been “no tank fire, airstrikes or gunfire against Gazan civilians in the aid convoy”, although it did not say whether its forces had opened fire.
It was at least the 10th such incident in March in which people were shot and killed or wounded while waiting for help in either the Kuwaiti circles or Nabulsi, according to the United Nations. They are the two main southern entrances to Gaza City, where the few humanitarian aid trucks entering northern Gaza from the south arrive.
In the deadliest incident, more than 100 Palestinians were killed and many more wounded when Israeli forces opened fire around a convoy in Gaza City in late February. Witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians who rushed toward the aid trucks.
The Israeli military said its forces opened fire “when a mob moved in a way that put them at risk.” He has said that most of the people died in the stampede and that some were run over by trucks.
Aid agencies, including the United Nations, have said that instead of helping to facilitate humanitarian aid, Israel has blocked aid from either entering the Gaza Strip or the north, where the famine situation has become dire.
“Israel’s choices of methods and means of war have caused a humanitarian catastrophe,” the UN office said in a report this month. “Such options included imposing a siege on Gaza, other restrictions on humanitarian aid and the distribution of commercial goods, massive destruction of civilian infrastructure, including roads vital to the population’s access, and restrictions on movement between north and south Gaza. .”
Israel, which imposed a siege after the October 7 attack led by Hamas, has said throughout the war that it is committed to allowing as much aid as possible into Gaza. He blamed the delays on UN staff and logistics.
In a statement on Friday, the United Nations human rights office called on Israel to ensure that food and medical care is provided to meet Gaza’s needs. Aid agencies said that in addition to Israeli restrictions on aid convoys, looting by hungry Palestinians and growing lawlessness have made it difficult if not impossible to distribute aid.
If Israel cannot provide aid, it “has an obligation to facilitate humanitarian assistance activities, including by ensuring the security conditions required for such activities,” the human rights office said.
In February, a quarter of planned UN aid missions were facilitated by Israeli authorities, the UN’s humanitarian coordination office said.
UN officials and other aid groups have warned that Gaza is on the verge of famine as a result of insufficient food deliveries. At least 27 people, including 23 children, died from malnutrition, dehydration and a lack of infant formula, according to the health ministry.