\n<\/p>\n
UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in\u00a0Geneva on Friday that \u201cwe’ve raised concerns about atrocity crimes having been committed\u00a0and the risk of further atrocity crimes<\/strong>, where people are lining up for\u00a0essential supplies such as food and medicine and where they are being attacked, where\u00a0again\u2026 they have a choice between being shot or being fed\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is unacceptable and it’s continuing<\/strong>,\u201d she deplored.<\/p>\n Ms. Shamdasani said that her office is still looking into the incident in which at least 15 Palestinians including women and children were reportedly killed by a\u00a0strike in front of a clinic in Deir al-Balah run by US-based aid group Project Hope, a partner\u00a0organization of the UN Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF). \u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement on Thursday UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said that the killing of\u00a0families trying to access life-saving aid is \u201cunconscionable\u201d.<\/p>\n The Israeli military reportedly said that it was targeting a Hamas member involved in the\u00a0terror attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023.<\/p>\n Asked about the rationale of putting civilians, including children, in mortal danger when\u00a0targeting one specific person, Ms. Shamdasani said that over the course of the conflict in\u00a0Gaza OHCHR has had serious concerns about respect for essential international\u00a0humanitarian law principles, including that of distinction and proportionality.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen that of the overall death toll in Gaza; a large proportion are women and\u00a0children. And again, that raises serious questions about whether these principles are\u00a0being respected<\/strong>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Hungry people in Gaza run the risk being shot when picking up food aid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Killings of Gazans at or around aid distribution sites and near humanitarian convoys have\u00a0become a regular occurrence in a context of restrictions on the entry of food, fuel and\u00a0relief items into the Strip and particularly since the establishment of food\u00a0distribution sites bypassing the UN operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).<\/p>\n Since late May, this militarised aid distribution model, backed by Israel and the United\u00a0States, has sought to sideline the UN and its experienced humanitarian partners. \u00a0<\/p>\n OHCHR\u2019s Ms. Shamdasani said that from 27 May, when the GHF started operations in\u00a0Gaza, until 7 July, OHCHR recorded 798 killings \u201cincluding 615 in the vicinity of the GHF\u00a0sites and 183 presumably on the routes of aid convoys\u201d<\/strong>. \u00a0<\/p>\n The deaths of almost 800 people trying to access aid were \u201cmostly due to\u2026 gunshot\u00a0injuries\u201d, Ms. Shamdasani said.<\/p>\n Joining her in condemning the killings, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson\u00a0Christian Lindmeier said that he is \u201cslowly lacking words to describe the scenario<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople being shot at distribution sites\u2026 scores of women and children and men and\u00a0boys and girls being killed while either getting food or in what\u2019s supposedly safe shelters\u00a0or on the road to health clinics or inside health clinics – this is far beyond\u00a0unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked to comment on a 75,000-litre fuel delivery into Gaza on Wednesday, the first such\u00a0provision in over 130 days, Mr. Lindmeier said that \u201cas good as it is that these this\u00a0amount of fuel came finally in\u2026 we should not be relying on special news of special\u00a0deliveries,\u201d be it on fuel, food or other relief items.<\/p>\n \u201cThere should be a reoccurring delivery into Gaza to keep the lifelines open, to supply\u00a0the ambulances, the hospitals, the water desalination plants, the bakeries\u2026 whatever is\u00a0necessary to keep a little bit of lifeline open there, to run the incubators,\u201d he said. \u00a0<\/p>\nDeadly lottery<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Hundreds killed queuing for food<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Gunshot injuries<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Fuel crisis<\/strong><\/h2>\n