Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor released a statement on Tuesday stressing that the Israeli occupation forces are not only starving Palestinians in northern Gaza but have also killed dozens of individuals who tried to receive the meager aid that is arriving there, continuing the genocide that the occupation has been committing against Palestinians since 7 October.

The human rights organization demanded that the United Nations agencies involved be held accountable for their persistent failure to guarantee suitable channels for providing the Palestinian people with humanitarian aid. 

There were Shocking testimonies of the Israeli forces killing and injuring dozens of Palestinians on Thursday, January 11, 2024, on al-Rashid Street, west of Gaza, as they attempted to receive humanitarian aid. It was shown that dozens of residents gathered on al-Rashid Street, which had been destroyed by Israeli bulldozers in recent weeks, awaiting the arrival of the UN trucks carrying flour. Out of nowhere, Israeli quadcopter drones opened fire on Palestinians, killing 50 of them and injuring many others. The residents who managed to survive this massacre transferred the wounded as the dead remained on the ground. 

In a second attempt to get a share of flour, later that day, hundreds of residents gathered again risking their lives as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the northern Gaza Valley are currently starving for the fourth consecutive month now.

Euro-Med Monitor testimonies further showed that the residents were forced to travel up to 10 kilometers to reach the distribution area, and as a result of the intense crowding in the area after the arrival of the trucks, there was no order for aid distribution amid fears of reported casualties. 

In a glimpse of "safety" hours after the murder of the Palestinians by quadrocopters occurred, Palestinians were finally able to transport their martyred on animal-drawn carts, according to the Monitor. 

“My brother and I went with a number of neighbors to al-Rashid Street,” A.F., a 27-year-old who chose to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, said to the Euro-Med Monitor team.

“After walking for five kilometers, we found people gathering and heading south, so we walked with them towards the road where the flour-carrying trucks were expected to arrive," A.F. said, as he proceeded to describe the horrific massacre of when the quadrocopters arrived, emphasizing that they started shooting at Palestinians randomly. A.F. talked about how they fled as soon as they felt bullets next to them and then later discovered the wounding of two of their neighbors. 

A.F. stressed deeply, “We are really starving. Neither flour nor any other food items are present. A bag of flour that previously sold for roughly 40 shekels [about $10.8 USD] is now sold for more than 600 shekels [about $162 USD] if it is available, which is frequently not the case.” 

Another 27-year-old, M.D., told Euro-Med Monitor that they started traveling to al-Rashid Street at 9:00 am with their two cousins after hearing that flour trucks would be arriving. “It took us an hour to get there,” M.D. stated, “as the streets were completely destroyed. After walking for five kilometers, we saw hundreds of people waiting and strolling along al-Rashid Street. We arrived at a point after the Nabulsi roundabout, close to the coastal point." 

“Out of nowhere, an Israeli army tank emerged from behind a mound of sand and opened fire at random,” M.D. expressed with horror. “We were attacked by two quadcopters at the same time; I observed a pair of them. Everybody in front was hurt or killed. In a matter of seconds, at least 50 people were killed and numerous others injured. We took off running, through destroyed stores, down smaller streets between the houses on al-Rashid Street, and anywhere else we thought would be safe from gunfire."

Witnesses also revealed that two people fell under the truck's tires and got run over because of the lack of order and chaos in the distribution process. This had a deep psychological impact on them as they were now afraid of even getting food because of all the death surrounding it. 

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On January 14, hundreds of Palestinians gathered on al-Rashid street by 7:00 am, adding to the hundreds of others that were already waiting there ever since they heard that new trucks would be coming. Once again, they were met by Israeli drones firing chaotically upon them. 

38-year-old M.D., (who coincidentally shares the aforementioned individual’s initials), told the Euro-Med Monitor team that the quadcopters arrived that day at 11 am and fired randomly on the Palestinians waiting to receive aid as no aid trucks had arrived by that time “for an hour and a half, which resulted in a number of deaths and injuries.”

Evidence from official Israeli statements and testimonies, as well as the real field data gathered by Euro-Med Monitor, perpetually confirm and prove that "Israel" is using starvation as a political and war tactic against Palestinians, making it a clear crime of genocide. The rights group contended and called for immediate action to ensure that Palestinians in the Strip can access food, drink, and basic necessities without hindrance, intimidation, or targeting.

Euro-Med Monitor emphasized that the UN and its humanitarian agencies are accountable for their inability to provide adequate humanitarian aid in a dignified manner to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are slowly dying due to true hunger for the fourth consecutive month, as well as for their loud silence toward the IOF's brutal murder of Palestinians attempting to receive aid.

Stephane Dujarric, a UN spokesperson, declared that "three out of the 21 planned aid deliveries of food, medicine, water, and other life-saving supplies to the north of Wadi Gaza were able to proceed between 1 and 10 January." This includes multiple missions to provide medical supplies to Gaza and fuel to water and sanitation facilities in Gaza and the north, according to Dujarric who proceeded to stress the fact that the planned deliveries were denied by the occupation. 

Dujarric declared that the UN’s ability to respond to the extensive needs of the Palestinians in the northern part of Gaza is being "curtailed by recurring denials of aid access and lack of coordinated, safe access by Israeli authorities." He warned that "these denials and severe access constraints are paralyzing the ability of humanitarian partners to respond meaningfully, consistently, and at scale."

International Humanitarian Law: a foreign concept for 'Israel' 

Euro-Med Monitor emphasized that Dujarric’s statement does not absolve the UN of responsibility for what is happening, as it is clearly submitting to the occupation's plans and conditions and cited the "Israeli legal team’s" spouting of propaganda during its plea before the International Court of Justice last week in which the occupation falsely claimed to have facilitated the passage of humanitarian aid and the arrival of a UN delegation to the north of Wadi Gaza.

They further emphasized that international humanitarian law strictly prohibits the use of starvation as a weapon of war. As an occupying power, "Israel" is obligated under international humanitarian law to provide basic needs and protection to the Gazan people.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court provides that "intentionally starving civilians by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies” is a war crime, said the Geneva-based rights group. 

"Israel" has been committing acts of genocide against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and pertinent international judicial rulings. These actions include depriving the Palestinians of enough potable water and food, which has seriously harmed them and trapped them in living conditions meant to actually destroy them.

UN OCHA: Aid workers are also at risk 

In the first two weeks of January, according to OCHA, only 24% of planned aid missions delivering basic human needs from food, medicine, and water were able to enter Gaza.

In addition, around 95% of missions involving the allocation of fuel and medicines to water reservoirs were stopped and denied access to enter by the occupation. Out of the latter, five missions were to aid the Central Drug Store, four to Jabalia Medical Center, and eight to aid four critical reservoirs and water and waste pumps.

In at least two reported instances, occupation forces detained and attacked convoy members. This, along with the deliberate prevention of aid by the occupation, shows that the behavior of the IOF is compromising the capacity of humanitarian agencies to operate safely and effectively, according to OCHA.