Geneva – Saba:
UN experts have called for ensuring the safe passage of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s ship, carrying essential medical aid, food, and children’s supplies to Gaza, which departed from Italy on Sunday.
In a statement issued on Monday, the experts said: "The people of Gaza urgently need aid to avoid annihilation, and this initiative is a symbolic and powerful effort to deliver it. Israel must remember that the world is watching closely and refrain from any hostile acts against the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and its passengers," according to the official Palestinian news agency.
They added: "The people of Gaza have the right to receive aid through their territorial waters, even under 'occupation,' and the coalition’s ship has the right to free passage in international waters to reach Gaza’s population. Israel must not interfere with freedom of navigation, long recognized under international law."
The experts expressed deep concern over the safety of the flotilla’s participants, given Israel’s repeated violent attacks on human rights defenders, UN humanitarian missions, and civilian missions.
In early May, the coalition sent a similar ship, which was struck by a drone off the coast of Malta.
The UN experts stated: "Israel has imposed a comprehensive blockade on Gaza for 17 years. This siege has been total and absolute since March 2, 2025, preventing aid from entering the Strip for over 80 days, with only minimal amounts recently allowed in."
They continued: "As the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s ship approaches Palestinian territorial waters off Gaza, Israel must abide by international law and comply with the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) orders to ensure unimpeded humanitarian aid access."
In March 2024, the ICJ issued provisional measures recognizing the spread of famine in Gaza, signaling a risk of genocide. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, charging him with the war crime of starvation.
The experts noted: "Yet, on March 1, 2025, Netanyahu announced a halt to all goods and supplies entering Gaza, in blatant defiance of international law."
They added: "After over 600 days of Israel’s starvation campaign and genocidal violence against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the situation has reached unprecedented horror."
The experts emphasized that the so-called "Gaza Humanitarian Pier," backed by Israel and the U.S., is using aid as a weapon of war to displace, humiliate, and detain civilians.
"These practices violate international legal principles of dignity, humanity, integrity, independence, and neutrality," they said, pointing out that acute child malnutrition surged by over 80% last March.
"The pile-up of aid trucks at Rafah crossing while civilians starve and die is not a coordination failure but a deliberate use of humanitarian aid as a weapon, with apparent international complicity," the experts stated.
They urged UN member states to fulfill their "legal obligation and moral duty to stop famine and genocide in Gaza" and called on the General Assembly to deploy peacekeeping forces to escort aid trucks under the "Uniting for Peace" resolution in the UN Charter.
With U.S. and European support, the Israeli enemy army has committed genocidal crimes in Gaza since October 7, 2023, resulting in the martyrdom of 54,470 Palestinians, mostly children and women, and injuring 124,693 others—figures that remain non-final, as thousands remain trapped under rubble or in streets inaccessible to rescue teams.
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