More Than 100 Killed While Desperately Trying to Get Food Aid in Gaza
The following statement was issued by Islamic Relief Worldwide on Feb. 29, 2024.
Today’s killing of more than 100 desperate Palestinians trying to get food for their starving families is a shocking new low in the crisis and comes as people are being starved to death, Islamic Relief says. It shows yet again why there must be an immediate ceasefire.
The scenes in northern Gaza today are utterly horrific and we are appalled that people have been killed and injured as they queued for some flour. With hundreds also injured, doctors say they are overwhelmed with casualties and don’t have supplies to treat them.
This latest atrocity comes as the death toll from almost five months of Israeli bombardment passes another shameful milestone of 30,000 people killed, and when more than half a million people are on the verge of famine. Food aid is now literally a matter of life or death for civilians in Gaza, yet Palestinians are being starved and now killed as they try and get food.
One in six young children in the north are now malnourished and infants are dying from hunger and dehydration. Young children are eating leaves or grass to survive. Children and pregnant and breastfeeding women are particularly at risk as famine looms.
Humanitarian agencies, like Islamic Relief, are doing all we can to provide people with food but there are Israeli barriers at every step. The Israeli blockade restricts the quantity and type of aid that can enter Gaza, with the number of aid trucks dropping by around 50% over the past month as the humanitarian crisis deteriorates. The Israeli military has repeatedly prevented UN convoys from entering the north, where the needs are greatest of all. Aid workers and humanitarian convoys have been attacked.
Tens of thousands more people could die from hunger and disease unless there is an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid is massively increased. Only an immediate ceasefire can prevent famine.
Israel has a duty under international law to ensure that people in Gaza can safely access food and other essentials, and this obligation must be upheld. Humanitarian aid and commercial supplies must be allowed into Gaza in sufficient quantity. Restrictions on agriculture and fishing must be lifted so that food can again be produced locally. More crossing points must be opened and hundreds more trucks must be allowed in every day.
