Gaza - Saba:
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that Israeli occupation forces killed and injured more than 600 starving Palestinians near three distribution points it established in areas under its absolute control in the Gaza Strip in just one week, in clear evidence of the traps these points serve to target and execute civilians on the spot.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor expressed its concern over the shameful international silence regarding the Israeli occupation's escalation of the genocidal crime it has been committing for nearly 20 months in the Gaza Strip.
It added: "Israel has not only starved civilians over the past months, but has also established so-called humanitarian centers to kill them on their outskirts as they attempt to obtain meager amounts of food in a humiliating manner, without any accountability or even an independent investigation into these serious crimes."
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported that its field team documented the Israeli occupation army opening fire on thousands of civilians who had gathered at dawn today in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, near a purported aid point it had set up there. This resulted in the deaths of at least 27 civilians and the injury of 161 others.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor noted that the Israeli occupation army and the American organization it founded, which manages the aid distribution points, direct Palestinians to receive aid from the area, requiring them to wait through inspection and humiliation gates to receive the aid. They are then targeted with direct fire from snipers, quadcopter drones, helicopters, and, at times, tank shells.
The Monitor emphasized that what is happening demonstrates that Israeli forces have deliberately positioned distribution points in dangerous areas under their control, without safe access corridors. This has become a deadly trap for thousands of starving people, driven by hunger and destitution after more than three months of border closures, who risk their lives to obtain a little food. However, most of them have now returned either martyred or wounded.
It noted that the occupation army typically denies that its forces have committed these serious crimes, or justifies its forces' firing by claiming that "suspects" are approaching areas where its forces are deployed. These accounts are often contradictory, demonstrating a disregard for the lives of starving civilians, a direct result of the policy of impunity that Israel has enjoyed since its inception.
The Monitor stressed that the international community is required to take immediate and decisive action to compel Israel to halt its inhumane aid distribution mechanism in the Gaza Strip, following the repeated daily massacres that, in just eight days, have resulted in the deaths of 102 Palestinians and the injury of nearly 500 others, many of whom are in critical condition.
The Monitor stated that the dangerous chaos witnessed at the aid distribution centers confirms previous assessments regarding the Israeli mechanism's inability to carry out humanitarian work as required. He noted that the hundreds of existing points cannot be replaced by four that resemble military detention centers and lack even the appropriate infrastructure to receive residents and distribute aid smoothly and safely.
It warned that these incidents should not be treated as procedural problems that can be resolved by amending the operating mechanisms. Rather, they must be viewed in the context of the serious consequences of the occupation army's control over the humanitarian aid file. It is inconceivable that the entity that has been committing genocide for nearly 20 months can assume responsibility for improving the humanitarian conditions of a population subjected to genocide.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called for the immediate termination of the Israeli aid distribution mechanism in the Gaza Strip, as it has become a site for field executions of Palestinian civilians and lacks the minimum humanitarian standards related to relief work.
It stressed the need to return to the previous UN mechanism to ensure the smooth and safe flow of humanitarian aid to the population of the Gaza Strip.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor urged all relevant states and entities to exert all possible pressure on Israel to dissuade it from its plans to bypass and nullify the work of experienced UN agencies in the Gaza Strip.
It also called for emphasizing the vital and neutral role of these institutions in implementing humanitarian interventions and managing the humanitarian response to aid more than 2.2 million Palestinians struggling with death and hunger in the Gaza Strip.
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