Data published by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory in a report it issued entitled “Killing the Hungry and Bombing Aid: A Deliberate Israeli Approach to Perpetuate Famine in Gaza” showed that the Israeli army killed 563 Palestinians and injured 1,523 others during its military operations in which it directly targeted those waiting for aid, distribution centers, and workers. They are responsible for organizing, protecting and distributing aid in the Gaza Strip.

Between January 11 and March 23, the report documented the killing of 256 Palestinians in the Kuwait Roundabout area, south-east of Gaza City, 230 on Al-Rashid Street, south-west of the city, and 21 in the targeting of aid distribution centres.

It also documented the killing of 12 aid distribution workers, two of whom were from UNRWA, while 41 members of the police and the People’s Protection Committees responsible for ensuring the distribution of aid were killed.

The report concluded that the measures implemented by Israel and the collective punishments it imposes on the Gaza Strip directly and clearly aim to starve the entire population, not only as a method of war, as a war crime in itself, but to expose them to the risk of actual destruction.

It pointed out that these actions constitute an essential part of the crime of genocide committed against all residents of the Gaza Strip, since the seventh of last October.

It explained that the use of starvation as a weapon resulted from an official political decision from the first day of the war, as expressed by the Israeli Minister of Security, and was implemented in several integrated stages, which included tightening the siege, closing the crossings, preventing the entry of commercial goods, destroying all components of local production and local food sources, and establishing the need for... Residents of the Gaza Strip for humanitarian aid, becoming the primary source of food for the residents of the Gaza Strip.

At the same time, this humanitarian aid became an illegal military target for the Israeli army, and it targeted it in all ways and wherever it was found. Israel has continuously and severely obstructed the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, subjected it to arbitrary and lengthy inspection standards and procedures, targeted it while it was on trucks and in storage and distribution centers, and targeted those waiting for it and those responsible for securing and distributing it.

Israel does all of this to deprive the Palestinians of obtaining it, even to the extent sufficient to satisfy their hunger or ward off the risk of death because of it, and to perpetuate a state of chaos and internal fighting due to its absence of mechanisms to control and secure the distribution of this aid, by killing or wounding, or by refusing to cooperate with international institutions working in this field. Or by trying to liquidate UNRWA, which is the main international agency currently responsible for the process of introducing and distributing humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.

The Euro-Med Monitor stated that when Israel allowed the entry of aid, it restricted its entry in quantity, type, and places of arrival, and then bombed food stores, malls, and shops, all the way to bombing targeting aid and those working on it and protecting it.

Euro-Med stressed that Israel is using starvation, preventing aid, and killing the hungry as part of a clear plan to complete the crime of forced displacement against the Palestinians, especially in the northern Gaza Strip, where it is still preventing humanitarian aid trucks from arriving there, and only allowing limited numbers to arrive, which has led to An outbreak of hunger in northern Gaza, with almost complete depletion of all foodstuffs from the markets, and pockets of famine beginning to form and spread rapidly, which resulted in an increase in the number of deaths due to hunger, malnutrition, dehydration, and associated diseases, especially among children and infants.

The report highlighted that Israel worked systematically during its war to target all necessities of life in the Gaza Strip, including bombing mills, bakeries, food stores, shops and markets, destroying crops and agricultural lands, killing livestock, and targeting boats and fishing equipment, water tanks and their extensions, to deprive all residents of the country. The sector, which numbers 2.3 million people, half of whom are children, has access to the food resources and potable water that keep them alive, and the ability to produce food at the local level, which was already limited, amid intense attacks, raids, and bombing through the air, land and sea. During which the Israeli army dropped thousands of tons of explosives, at a time when any relief supplies stopped through the crossings that were closed for weeks before they were partially reopened under harsh Israeli conditions on October 21, 2023, after pressure from the international community.

The report came in seven axes, the first of which dealt with the numbers of victims of crimes targeting humanitarian aid, based on documentation by the Euro-Mediterranean field team. The second axis reviewed the most prominent crimes of targeting starving civilians waiting for humanitarian aid. The third touched on crimes of targeting humanitarian aid distribution centers, while the fourth shed light on crimes of Targeting humanitarian aid convoys, the fifth dealt with targeting aid distribution workers, and the crimes targeting those responsible for securing and protecting aid as mentioned in the sixth, and finally, the seventh axis dealt with Israel’s attempts to evade responsibility for the massacres, and concluded by presenting the most prominent findings and recommendations.