The killings of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip looking for humanitarian aid must stop. Those who stand up for humanity must not remain silent on this system of starvation and violence.
While the world is still under the impression of the Israeli and US attack on Iran, dozens of starving and desperate people die in the Gaza Strip every day while trying to get food.
With the refusal of aid goods, the Israeli military has driven the starvation of the population immeasurably over four months. With the implementation of a militarily controlled distribution mechanism since May, international humanitarian standards have now been completely undermined. The daily news about the killing of people at one of the three alleged humanitarian distribution centers of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in the southern Gaza Strip is highly alarming.
More than 600 people have been killed since the end of May while waiting at the distribution points,. Eyewitnesses reported to the dpa news agency that people were on their way to distribution point when the Israeli army shelled them with artillery. In addition to the disturbing fact that military personnel are entrusted with the distribution of aid as part of the GHF programme, according to eyewitnesses, armed forces are stationed near the distribution points, shooting at starving civilians with live ammunition.
The fact that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is supported by the US and Israel, allowed better provision of humanitarian aid, was not questioned by the United Nations. Even the Foundation's first managing director, Jake Wood, resigned before the operation began in May and announced that it was not possible to carry out the planned operations according to humanitarian principles. The Foundation is a kind of Pandora Box: Location, financing and organizational structure remain largely in the dark even for investigative journalists. Experts question the humanitarian character of the Foundation.
The GHF maintains distribution agencies only in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Before this regulation, there were 400 contact points, which were well situated to also distribute to the weaker people. A public GHF plan provided that in the first phase only 1.2 million people in the Gaza Strip could be supplied with limited relief supplies, with a potential expansion to two million at a later date. Political observers explain, that de facto only 15 percent of the population is being supplied with the most basic items by the GHF.
The aid plan of the Gaza Foundation with distribution centers exclusively in the south of the Gaza Strip clearly serves the Israeli government's plan to expel the Palestinians from the north of the Gaza Strip. Humanitarian aid becomes a weapon against people who are at the end of their strength and have no choice but to turn to the distribution centers.
Human rights organizations and the United Nations have documented and warned about the intention of further expulsion. The Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for instance publicly spoke in favor of “voluntary emigration" of the Gazan population.
The distribution mechanism of the GHF and the daily killings are a frontal attack on the international aid system established after Second World War. The Geneva Conventions and its additional protocols clearly require compliance with the principles of impartiality, neutrality, humanity and independence in the distribution of aid. To meet these standards, only experienced humanitarian organizations should coordinate the much-needed aid for the nearly two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The intended starvation and killings, as well as the threat of expulsion must be countered with a humanistic approach. The German government should do this too.
The text is a secondary publication and was first published by Security.Table.