By Ahmet Gencturk
ATHENS (AA) – European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Thursday that he is “horrified” by the news of an Israeli attack on a crowd waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza.
“I am horrified by (the) news of yet another carnage among civilians in Gaza desperate for humanitarian aid,” he said on X.
“These deaths are totally unacceptable.”
Emphasizing that depriving people of food aid is a serious violation of international humanitarian law, he said that “unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza must be granted.”
Borrell’s remarks came after Israeli forces fired on a crowd of Palestinians early Thursday as they awaited humanitarian in Gaza City, killing at least 112 people and injuring 760 others, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.
Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.
At least 30,035 Palestinians have since been killed and over 70,457 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.