Israel targets Gaza's last lifeline for food, more civilian killings

Photo by Mohammed Ibrahim on Unsplash

Source: PCHR

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has condemned repeated attacks by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on community kitchens that have become the final lifeline for hundreds of thousands of starving individuals.

These attacks come while IOF escalates mass killings and extermination of entire families as part of Israel's ongoing military offensive against the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and its systematic crime of genocide being committed for 19 months now.

At around 13.30 on Friday, 02 May, Israeli warplanes targeted a community kitchen run by the Qawafel al-Kheir Group in al-Sheikh Redwan, northern Gaza City. As a result, six volunteers and workers were killed at the kitchen and others sustained varied wounds. According to PCHR's documentation, the community kitchen is established as part of local initiatives and one of the last sources of food for families amid the total collapse of the humanitarian system in the Gaza Strip.

The day before, at 12.55 on Thursday, 02 May, a tent inside a community kitchen in the Swiss displacement camp in Deir al-Balah was attacked. As a result, 'Abdullah Ghazi Mohammed Abu Mugheiseb (55) and his 10-year-old daughter Rahaf were killed, and others were injured while trying to get a meal.

These targeted attacks on community kitchens come after 60 days of Israel's closure of Gaza's crossing and prevention of goods and aid, leading to widespread famine across the whole Gaza Strip. Food supplies have run out of markets amid a heightened rise of malnutrition cases, particularly among children, patients and elderlies, and warnings of a growing number of deaths as a result.

The PCHR also document several deadly attacks by warplanes and drones on civilians in their houses, tents and gatherings.

They state: "Israel's intensified military attacks alongside starvation undoubtedly proves what is going on in the Gaza Strip is not only a military offensive but an Israeli systematic policy calculated to bring about the whole destruction of the Palestinian population through mass killings, deliberate starvation, forced displacement and deprivation of all means for survival. All these acts constitute the essence of the crime of genocide that Israel has been committing for over a year and a half, with open support from the United States, complicity from several European countries, and the silence of the international community.

"PCHR emphasizes Israel's targeting of community kitchens is a deliberate crime aimed at depriving the civilian population of their right to life and food, especially amid the widespread famine in the Gaza Strip.

"PCHR emphasizes that silence towards these crimes is explicit complicity. The international community must rise to its responsibilities not merely under law, but towards the very essence of humanity. Immediate international action is urgently needed to end the systematic violations and crimes committed by IOF against the Palestinian people.

"PCHR calls for immediate and serious measures to stop the ongoing crime of genocide and hold the Israeli perpetrators of these crimes accountable before international courts. PCHR also urges the State Parties to the Genocide Convention to fulfil their legal and moral obligations and take urgent action to protect the Palestinian civilians from the mass killings and serious human rights violations."

On Friday, a vessel operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the Conscience, attempting to deliver food and medicines to the Gaza Strip was attacked by two drones, reportedly from the Israeli air force. No one was injured in the attack but the ship needs to be repaired before it can continue its rescue mission.