UN Human Rights Chief Condemns Attack Around Gaza Aid Distribution Location

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk. (Twitter/@volker_turk/OHCHR)

JAKARTA - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T\"urk said in a statement Tuesday that a deadly attack on desperate civilians trying to access food aid in very few quantities in Gaza was unjustified.

"For the third day in a row, people died around the distribution site managed by the 'Gaza Humanitarian Foundation'. This morning, we have received information that dozens of other people were killed and injured," Turk said, quoted from WAFA June 4.

"There must be a rapid and impartial investigation against any of these attacks, and those responsible must be held accountable. Attacks aimed at civilians constitute serious violations of international law and war crimes," he stressed.

T\"urk further condemns the systematic confiscation of Palestinians in Gaza.

"Palestinians have faced the most dire choice: dying from hunger or risk of being killed while trying to access the very few foods provided through Israel's military humanitarian aid mechanism," he said.

"This military system endangers lives and violates international standards on aid distribution, as the United Nations has repeatedly warned," Turk said.

Turk also warned about the legal consequences of Israel's actions.

"Deliberate deterrents to access to food and other life support supplies for civilians can constitute a war crime. The threat of starvation, along with the killing of civilians for 20 months and large-scale destruction, repeated forced transfer, intolerable and inhumane rhetoric, as well as threats by Israeli leaders to empty Gaza Strip from its inhabitants, are also the most serious elements of crimes under international law," Turk explained.

Referring to the previous ruling by the International Court, T\"urk asserted: "In 2024, the International Court found the real and urgent risk of unreparable prejudices against the rights of Palestinians in Gaza based on the Convention on the Prevention and Punishion of Genocide Crimes. The Court issued binding orders to Israel to take all necessary and effective steps to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, unrestricted provision on a large scale by all parties interested in basic services and much-needed humanitarian aid, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care for Palestinians throughout Gaza," he explained.

"There is no justification for not complying with this obligation," he concluded.

As previously reported, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said yesterday, for the third day in a row, its troops opened fire on Palestinian suspects who approached them about 500 meters from the distribution site for humanitarian aid in the Rafah region, southern Gaza.

The statement follows the death of Palestinians from gunfire near the distribution site in the Southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

According to the IDF, while crowds of Palestinians were heading to the aid distribution site in Rafah via organized routes, troops saw several suspects approaching their positions while deviating from the previously approved path, about half a kilometer from the aid complex.

"The troops fired warning shots, and after they did not disperse, additional shots were fired beside several suspects who approached the troops," the IDF said.