Human Rights Watch says aid worker convoys and facilities have been targeted at least eight times since last October.
Israeli forces have attacked humanitarian aid convoys and buildings in the Gaza Strip at least eight times since October, despite being provided with coordinates for protection, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report. report.
At least 31 aid workers and their companions have been killed, the international rights organization said in a new report released Tuesday.
“Israeli authorities did not warn any of the humanitarian organizations before the strikes,” the report said.
“These eight incidents reveal fundamental flaws in the so-called deconfliction system, which is supposed to protect aid workers and allow them to safely deliver vital humanitarian aid to Gaza,” the text adds.
At least 254 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the United Nations, when the current conflict erupted. Among them, 188 are staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), according to the report.
On Monday, a UN vehicle was struck while heading to a hospital in Gaza, killing at least one UN staff member and injuring at least one other.
The HRW report said aid workers have also been unable to leave Gaza since Israeli forces took control and closed the Rafah crossing on May 7.
During a recent visit to Cairo and North Sinai, near the Egypt-Gaza border, HRW met with staff from 11 humanitarian organizations and UN aid agencies operating in Gaza.
They said Israeli attacks on aid workers had forced them to take various measures, including suspending their activities for a period of time, reducing their staff in Gaza, or severely restricting their humanitarian activities in other ways. .
Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Stefanie Dekker said the United States began pressuring Israel to stop the aid workers’ strike after it struck a convoy of the American charity World Central Kitchen in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on April 1. killing seven people and sparking global outrage.
“It hit us in a different way, in a different way, unfortunately, that 35,000 dead Palestinians just weren’t dead,” Dekker said.
The deadly attack on a UN vehicle showed that Israel has changed nothing, according to Dekker, who added that Israel has also not done enough to prevent Israeli protesters from blocking and destroying the aid trucks heading towards Gaza.
The latest target was a Jordanian convoy which was to cross the occupied West Bank to reach the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, in the south of the Gaza Strip. Right-wing Israeli protesters blocked it and set it on fire after looting it, Dekker reported.
Other attacks documented by HRW include one against a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) convoy on November 18, against an UNRWA guesthouse on December 9, and against an International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Medical Aid to the Palestinians (MAP). guest house on January 18.
“Israel’s allies must recognize that these attacks that have killed aid workers are happening again and again, and they must stop,” said Belkis Wille, associate director of HRW.
The HRW report also reveals that Israeli authorities are using starvation as a method of warfare in Gaza.
“In accordance with a policy set by Israeli officials and implemented by Israeli forces, Israeli authorities are deliberately blocking the supply of water, food and fuel, deliberately obstructing humanitarian aid, apparently razing agricultural areas and depriving the civilian population with essential objects. to its survival,” the organization said.
“Children in Gaza are dying from complications related to starvation,” the statement added.