Israeli occupation targets 68 food distribution centers and shelters in Gaza.

The Government Media Office in Gaza announced on Saturday that the number of food distribution centers and shelters targeted by the Israeli occupation army has risen to 68 since the start of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

The media office said in a statement that the Israeli occupation army bombed a food aid distribution warehouse in the Deir al-Balah area in the central Gaza Strip, killing five civilians and wounding a large number of others who had gathered to receive humanitarian aid amid a stifling famine affecting all areas of the Strip.

This brings the number of food distribution centers and targeted humanitarian aid to:

39 food and aid distribution centers.

29 food banks provide daily meals to the needy and hungry.

Using food as a weapon of war

These attacks are part of an ongoing policy pursued by the occupation to use food as a weapon of war, in flagrant violation of international and humanitarian laws, most notably the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the targeting of humanitarian facilities and civilians under any circumstances.

According to a statement from the media office, "This criminal policy has led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians as they attempted to receive food aid from relief centers and hospices, in bloody scenes that reflect the magnitude of the humanitarian tragedy being experienced by a defenseless, besieged people."

This policy also reveals the true face of the occupation, which adopts a policy of genocide and systematic starvation against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The media office held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for these heinous crimes, strongly condemning the repeated targeting of relief and social solidarity facilities.

The office called on the international community, the United Nations, the Security Council, and all humanitarian and human rights organizations to take urgent, immediate, and effective action to halt these brutal massacres, provide protection for food distribution centers, open crossings, and ensure the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.

He also called on human rights and media institutions to document these heinous crimes and work to hold the Israeli occupation accountable in international courts for its crimes, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The statement concluded by stressing that continued international silence amounts to "effective complicity in this slow-motion genocide of a defenseless, besieged people, dying of starvation and bombing before the eyes of the world."

In early March, the first phase of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel, which had gone into effect on January 19, through Egyptian and Qatari mediation and US support, concluded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reneged on the start of the second phase of the agreement and resumed the genocide in the Gaza Strip on March 18.

With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving approximately 173,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing.