Israeli forces attacked ‘known aid worker sites’ in Gaza: human rights group | Israeli War on Gaza News

According to Human Rights Watch, aid convoys and facilities have been attacked at least eight times since last October.

Israeli forces have attacked humanitarian aid convoys and buildings in the Gaza Strip at least eight times since October, despite being given coordinates to ensure their protection, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW).

At least 31 aid workers and their companions were killed, the international human rights group said in a new report released Tuesday.

“Israeli authorities did not warn any aid organizations in advance of the attacks,” the report said.

“The eight incidents reveal fundamental flaws in the so-called deconfliction system designed to protect aid workers and enable them to safely deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance in Gaza,” it said.

According to the United Nations, at least 254 aid workers were killed in Gaza when the current conflict broke out on October 7. 188 of them are employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the report says.

On Monday, a UN vehicle en route to a hospital in Gaza was struck, killing at least one UN staff member and injuring at least one other.

According to the HRW report, aid workers have also been unable to leave Gaza since Israeli forces took control of the Rafah crossing on May 7 and closed it.

During a recent visit to Cairo and northern Sinai, near the Egypt-Gaza border, HRW met with staff from 11 humanitarian and UN relief agencies working in Gaza.

They said Israeli attacks on aid workers had forced them to take various measures, which for some included suspending their activities for a period of time, reducing their staffing levels in Gaza or otherwise severely restricting their aid activities.

In a report from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker said the United States had begun pressuring Israel to stop striking aid workers after a convoy broke out in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on April 1 from the US-based charity World Central Kitchen. Seven people were killed, sparking global outrage.

“It just didn’t hit in a different way, in a different way, when 35,000 Palestinians were dead,” Dekker said.

The deadly attack on a UN vehicle showed that Israel has not changed anything, said Dekker. He added that Israel also had not done enough to prevent Israeli protesters from blocking and destroying aid trucks heading to Gaza.

The latest target was a Jordanian convoy that had to travel through the occupied West Bank to reach the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip. Dekker reported that right-wing Israeli protesters blocked it and set it on fire after looting it.

Other attacks documented by HRW include one on a Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF) convoy on November 18, on a UNRWA guesthouse on December 9, and on an International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP). Guesthouse on January 18th.

“Israel’s allies must recognize that these attacks that have killed aid workers are happening again and again, and they must stop,” said Belkis Wille, deputy director at HRW.

The HRW report also found that Israeli authorities in Gaza are using starvation as a method of war.

“In accordance with a policy established by Israeli officials and implemented by Israeli forces, Israeli authorities are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel, deliberately obstructing humanitarian assistance, apparently destroying agricultural land and depriving civilians of essential items for its survival,” said the organization.

“Children in Gaza have died as a result of hunger,” it continued.