Gaza - Saba:
Dr. Ismail Al-Thawabteh, Director-General of the Government Media Office in Gaza, stated that the enemy’s targeting of charity kitchens and humanitarian aid centers in the Gaza Strip at this critical time reflects a systematic policy to cut off lifelines, especially amid the peak of famine gripping civilians due to the blockade and deliberate starvation.
In a statement to Shehab News Agency on Thursday, Al-Thawabteh emphasized that these kitchens are not merely places providing food but represent the last line of humanitarian support for the poor and needy, who have been left without shelter or sustenance.
He added that the enemy has prevented the entry of any aid or fuel trucks into the Strip since March 2, 2025, despite the urgent need for 500 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks daily to meet the bare minimum of basic needs.
Al-Thawabteh pointed out that the complete closure of crossings for over 80 days has blocked the entry of around 44,000 aid trucks during this period, constituting a blatant violation of all international laws and norms. He further stated that the enemy’s targeting of charity kitchens is part of a policy of "slow extermination," depriving the population of the most basic necessities of life and creating an uninhabitable humanitarian environment.
He stressed that targeting kitchens where vulnerable women and children gather exposes the enemy’s aggressive and inhumane nature, clarifying that these facilities are not used for any military purposes but are purely humanitarian spaces for compassion and food support.
Al-Thawabteh warned that the shocking statistics recorded in Gaza include 58 deaths due to malnutrition, 242 fatalities from lack of food and medicine, 26 deaths among kidney patients, and over 300 miscarriages among pregnant women.
The Director described this targeting as a full-fledged war crime and a deliberate strategy to exterminate civilians, condemning the international community’s failure to protect the most vulnerable groups—children, women, and the sick.
He noted that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels after more than 80 days of closed crossings, turning the Strip into a vast prison where people are slowly dying. With 326 lives lost due to shortages of food and medicine, the collapse of water and sanitation services, and 1.2 million internally displaced persons lacking safe shelter or adequate food, the crisis is unprecedented.
Al-Thawabteh called on the international community, particularly the United Nations and humanitarian organizations, to take immediate and serious action to pressure the enemy to open the crossings without delay, ensure international protection for relief , humanitarian facilities, and dispatch independent international fact-finding missions to document these crimes.
He also urged referring the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and initiating legal proceedings against the enemy’s leaders, holding the enemy, the U.S. administration, Britain, France, and Germany legally and morally responsible for supporting this genocide.
In conclusion, he stated that the Palestinian people in Gaza are facing a true existential test against a criminal system seeking their erasure, affirming that history will not forgive the complicit or the silent.
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