Human Rights Commission: Gaza residents face an unacceptable option between shooting or getting food

During a press conference in Geneva today, Friday, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravenna Shamdasani said: “We have influenced our concerns about the terrible crimes committed and the risk of more of them, as people line up to obtain basic supplies such as food and medicine, are attacked, and find themselves again in front of two options: either shooting or get food.”

She expressed her dissatisfaction, saying: “This is unacceptable, and it is continuous.”

Mrs. Shamdasani said that the Human Rights Office is still considering the incident in which he was killed, according to media reports, at least 15 Palestinians, including women and children, in an air strike in front of a clinic in Deir Al -Balah, run by the American “Hope Project”, which is a partner of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

In a statement issued yesterday, Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, said that the killing of families who are trying to obtain life -saving aid is an order. “unbearable”.

It was reported that the Israeli army said that it was targeting a member of Hamas involved in the attacks of October 7, 2023. In response to a question about this justification for exposing civilians, including children, at a fatal danger when targeting one specific person, Ms. Shamdasani said that over the conflict in Gaza, the Commission expressed serious concerns about respecting the principles of basic international humanitarian law, including discrimination and proportionality In the attack.

Repeated killings

She said: “We have seen that a large percentage of the total number of deaths in Gaza is women and children. This raises serious questions about the extent of respect for these principles.”

The killing of Gaza residents in or around aid distribution sites and near humanitarian caravans has become repeated in the context of the restrictions imposed on the entry of food, fuel and relief materials to the sector, especially since the establishment of the United Nations food distribution sites, which are run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Since late May, this military model for the distribution of aid, backed by Israel and the United States, has sought to marginalize the United Nations and its humanitarian partners.

Ms. Shamdasani stated that since May 27, when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began its operations in Gaza, until July 7, the Commission recorded 798 murders “Of them 615 cases of killing in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites and 183 murders are supposed to be on relief convoys. This means that nearly 800 people were killed while trying to get aid, and most of the injuries were caused by gunshots.”

There are no words to describe what is happening

For his part, the World Health Organization spokesman, Christian Lindamayer, condemned the killings, saying it was “It is unable to express this scenario.”

He said: “The shooting of people in distribution sites … Dozens of women, children, men, boys and girls were killed while they get food or while it is assumed that they are safe shelters or on their way to or inside health clinics – this exceeds what is much unacceptable.”

When he was asked to comment on the receipt of 75,000 liters of fuel to Gaza on Wednesday, which is the first batch of this kind in more than 130 days, Mr. Lindamayer said: “Despite our good luck in the arrival of this amount of fuel recently … we should not rely on special news about special deliveries, whether it is fuel, food or other relief items.”

He continued, “There must be a frequent receipt of fuel to Gaza to keep the arteries of life open, and to supply ambulances, hospitals, water desalination plants and bakeries … Anything is necessary to maintain part of the arteries of life there, and to operate the incubators.”

A spokesman for the World Health Organization indicated that 94% of Gaza hospitals were damaged or destroyed, while displacement continues and civilians pushing smaller and smaller areas.

He also expressed his hope that the ongoing ceasefire will result in a positive result, and said: “Peace is the best drug, and opening the crossings remains the only applicable option.”