While the continuing Israel-Iran spat captivated global attention, innocent and unarmed Palestinians are being killed in Gaza. But the so-called Islamic countries remain silent
FOR the last two weeks, it seems the world has forgotten Gaza, yet again. During these weeks, several reports of unarmed Palestinians being gunned down by the Israel Defence Force (IDF) have appeared.
On June 17, 70 Palestinians were killed in a single day during the distribution of US-Israeli aid in southern Gaza — specifically in Khan Younis and Rafah — under the same repeated justification, “protecting American aid workers.”
The Times of Israel reported on June 25 that Israeli forces killed 71 Palestinians in Gaza the day before. The casualties included at least 50 people awaiting aid. Among the dead were 27 people killed in an Israeli strike on civilians waiting for food in central Gaza, an attack that also wounded dozens and turned a relief site into what one Palestinian official called an “open field of death.”
Responding to the reported deaths, the IDF later said that a gathering overnight had been identified in an area “adjacent” to its troops in the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, where the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid group is known to hand out food.
Earlier this month, the IDF had warned Palestinians not to approach routes leading to Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites between 6 pm and 6 am, local time, describing those roads as closed military zones.
In central Gaza, three witnesses told the Associated Press that the army opened fire as people advanced east toward aid trucks south of Wadi Gaza. “It was a massacre,” said Ahmed Halawa. He said tanks and drones were fired at people, “even as we were fleeing. Many people were either martyred or wounded.”
Another eyewitness, Hossam Abu Shahada said drones were flying over the area, watching the crowds, then there was gunfire from tanks and drones as people were moving eastward. He described a “chaotic and bloody” scene as people tried to escape. He said he saw at least three people lying motionless and many others wounded.
In the southernmost city of Rafah, witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire as crowds tried to reach another food distribution site run by the GHF. Two witnesses said Israeli troops started firing as thousands of Palestinians gathered at the Shakoush area, several hundred metres from the distribution site.
According to figures issued on Saturday by the Hamas health ministry, at least 450 people have been killed and nearly 3,500 injured by Israeli fire while seeking aid since late May. Many of the incidents have occurred near sites operated by the GHF, according to rescuers.
GHF, a US- and Israeli-backed organisation, which was established to circumvent Hamas in the distribution of aid, issued a complaint Tuesday to the Israeli military over “possible harassment by Israeli soldiers directed at our convoys” heading to the Wadi Gaza site.
Israel, which said that 79 humanitarian aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip Monday via the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings, has acknowledged firing warning shots at suspicious people near distribution sites, but denies targeting civilians or using starvation as a weapon of war, and has accused Hamas of hijacking aid deliveries and embedding itself among civilians.
International Response
Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, UN human rights spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said, “Israel has militarised the humanitarian assistance mechanism.”
Asked if Israel was guilty of weaponising the distribution of food, he said, “The legal qualification needs to be made by a court of law. But, the weaponisation of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services, constitutes a war crime and, under certain circumstances, may constitute elements of other crimes under international law.”
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees also hit out at the GHF system. “The newly created so-called aid mechanism is an abomination that humiliates and degrades desperate people,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said at a press conference in Berlin. “It is a death trap costing more lives than it saves.”
“The humanitarian community, including UNRWA, has the expertise and must be allowed to do their job and provide assistance with respect and dignity,” said Lazzarini. “There is no other alternative to address the challenges of spreading hunger in the Gaza Strip.”
Israel has accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas operatives and, earlier this year, banned the agency from operating on Israeli soil or contacting officials.
The UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF over concerns that it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. The GHF began operating in Gaza after a nearly three-month blockade Israel placed on the Strip following the collapse of the last ceasefire-hostage deal with Hamas in early March.
Aid deliveries to Gaza were allowed by Israel on May 19, after a pause since March 2. Since then, 2,033 trucks have entered the Strip.
BBC reported that without including the latest deaths, the UN has said that more than 410 Palestinians are reported to have been killed by Israeli gunfire or shelling since the GHF began work in late May.
However, one wonders where the so-called Islamic countries are, while this mayhem continues. None of them has voiced sincere condemnation on the killings or come out with an aid plan involving them. The largest grouping of the Islamic countries, the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), is more concerned about the plight of the Indian Muslims than those being killed nearer its home.
Dalia Abu Ramadan, in a first-person account written for the website Truthout.org, correctly says that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is not merely a human tragedy; it is a widespread catastrophe threatening every living being on this land. “Since the beginning of the war, even animals have not been spared — horses and donkeys are deliberately killed and destroyed to prevent them from assisting us in moving and surviving. This intentional targeting of animals is part of a systematic strategy to immobilise the population and deepen our suffering. These animals, once an inseparable part of our lives and a vital source of support, now teeter on the brink of death due to starvation and deliberate killing,” Dalia wrote.
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Asad Mirza is a New Delhi-based senior commentator on national, international, defence and strategic affairs, environmental issues, an interfaith practitioner, and a media consultant. The views expressed here are the author’s personal.
