Limited aid for Gaza under controversial new system
Israel has recently begun to allow limited aid into Gaza after a three-month blockade.
It is prioritising distribution through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the US but widely condemned by humanitarian groups.
The UN's human rights chief Volker Türk said last week that Palestinians were being presented with the "grimmest of choices: die from starvation or risk being killed while trying to access the meagre food that is being made available".
As the BBC's international editor Jeremy Bowen writes, the GHF system means that the people must travel through a war zone in the ruins of southern Gaza to collect a box of rations. Distribution seems to be chaotic, and so far has repeatedly broken down into a free for all.
The GHF has more than once paused its operations to deal with overcrowding and safety concerns.
And there have been a number of deadly incidents near aid points set up by the new organisation. At the weekend, at least four Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire as they were heading to get food.
Last week, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross told the BBC that Gaza had become worse than "hell on earth".
Amnesty International has issued a statement describing the flotilla's mission as "indictment of the international community’s failure to put an end to Israel’s inhumane blockade".
The human rights organisation goes on to say that Israel has an "international obligation to ensure safe access to food and essential supplies for Gaza's civilians", and that its actions show "chilling contempt" for international law.
"Activists would not have had to risk their lives if Israel’s allies had turned their words into forceful action to allow aid into Gaza", the group's leader Agnes Callamard says.
0 Comments