On April 1, Israeli military forces struck a World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza, killing seven aid workers. The event garnered widespread condemnation, prompting the Israeli government to admit to what it called a “serious mistake.”
But the attack was no anomaly.
Since October 2023, Israeli forces have carried out at least eight strikes on aid workers’ convoys and premises in Gaza, even as aid groups had provided their coordinates to the authorities to ensure their protection. Israeli authorities issued no advance warning to the aid organizations before the strikes.
More than 250 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the October 7 assault in Israel by Hamas-led fighters.
The eight attacks detailed in a new Human Rights Watch report killed or injured at least 31 aid workers and others with them. One attack on a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) convoy on November 18 killed two people. Though the humanitarian group had communicated its movements to authorities, the Israeli army attacked the convoy as it approached MSF’s office.
On May 13, a UN vehicle was hit on the way to a hospital in Gaza, killing one UN staff member and injuring at least one other.
Attacking the people trying to deliver life-saving aid doesn’t just harm aid workers. It contributes to the starvation of residents in Gaza, which the Israeli government has been using as a method of warfare. Israeli authorities have deliberately blocked delivery of water, food, and fuel to Gaza. The military has also shot at and shelled people gathering to collect what little aid has made it through, killing and injuring hundreds, according to the UN.
The clear pattern of attacks on humanitarian groups and UN agencies operating in Gaza, and the lack of accountability so far raises serious questions, not least around the continued supply of weapons from Israel’s allies like the United States and United Kingdom.
Until Israeli authorities end these attacks and stop committing widespread laws-of-war violations against Palestinians, the government’s allies who continue to provide arms risk complicity in ongoing war crimes.
Read More
