The United Nations strongly condemned Israel on Tuesday for what it called the “weaponisation of food” in Gaza, describing it as a war crime. The UN human rights office urged Israel’s military to immediately stop targeting civilians who are trying to access humanitarian aid.
“Israel’s militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism is in contradiction with international standards on aid distribution,” the UN said in a written statement. “The weaponisation of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services, constitutes a war crime.”
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The condemnation comes amid reports of fresh violence against aid-seekers. Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that 21 Palestinians were killed and around 150 others injured on Tuesday after Israeli forces targeted a crowd waiting for food aid in the central Gaza Strip. The attack involved both bullets and tank shells, according to civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal.
In a separate incident, five people were reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential home in Gaza City during the early hours of the same day. The violence comes as thousands of desperate Palestinians continue to gather daily at aid sites, with famine now looming across the war-torn territory after over 20 months of conflict.
