Israel is still restricting aid entering Gaza, Palestine. Israel is only permitting 169 of the 500 needed daily trucks to enter Gaza. This is according to the very latest figures.
This flies in the face of the repeated International Court of Justice (ICJ) order for Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza through allowing sufficient aid through.
Israel: ignoring the ICJ and actively starving people in Gaza
Israel is additionally ignoring a UN Security Council resolution in March that ordered humanitarian access to Gaza.
The Euro-med Human Rights Monitor reported on 15 April that “Israel’s restriction of humanitarian access into the Gaza Strip, particularly the Strip’s northern parts, and its impeding the timely delivery of life-saving food supplies is drastically worsening the already-dire food insecurity faced by the Palestinian population there”.
It concluded that:
This puts them at risk of death from starvation, particularly given the rise in the number of children dying from acute malnutrition, hunger, and related diseases
Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians is illegal under international law. Another war crime on top of this is the IDF massacring Palestinians at aid collection points.
There have been at least 14 incidents of the state targeting Palestinian people while they receive aid – through firing and shelling – according to the UN.
Israel has also killed international food aid workers including three Britons as well as a Palestinian driver with a UK-made drone.
An IDF officer involved in the attack on World Central Kitchen staff had signed an open letter to Israel’s war cabinet and the IDF Chief of Staff calling on them not to allow “humanitarian supplies and the operation of hospitals inside Gaza City”.
A ceasefire doesn’t go far enough
On 15 April, UN experts condemned Israel for targeting civilian infrastructure – another war crime:
Six months into the current military offensive, more housing and civilian infrastructure has now been destroyed in Gaza as a percentage, compared to any conflict in memory.
Homes are gone, and with that, the memories, hopes and aspirations of Palestinians and their ability to realise other rights, including their rights to land, food, water, sanitation, health, security and privacy (especially of women and girls), education, development, a healthy environment and self-determination. And this comes on top of systematic demolitions of Palestinian homes over decades of occupation and previous bombardments.
In December 2023, the IDF had already destroyed 70% of Gaza’s homes. Comparing the assault on Gaza to other instances of civilian punishment, political scientist Robert Pape said:
Gaza is one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history… It now sits comfortably in the top quartile of the most devastating bombing campaigns ever.
We don’t just need a ceasefire. We need an end to Israel’s occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem alongside a lasting political settlement that ensures the human rights of Palestinians and Israelis.
Featured image via TRT World – YouTube
