By Beyza Binnur Donmez
GENEVA (AA) - The UN experts on Tuesday accused Israel of "intentionally starving" people in Gaza since Oct. 8, 2023 and now targeting civilians seeking humanitarian aid and humanitarian convoys.
"Israel has been intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza since 8 October. Now it is targeting civilians seeking humanitarian aid and humanitarian convoys," the experts said in a statement.
"Israel must end its campaign of starvation and targeting of civilians," they urged, as 15 children have already died of malnutrition at the Kamal Adwan Hospital and there are fears that the figures could be higher in other hospitals.
They also condemned last week's Israeli attack, which killed at least 112 people and injured some 760 gathered to collect flour in Gaza, as a "massacre" amid the current conditions.
Noting that the attack came after Israel denied humanitarian aid into Gaza City and northern Gaza for more than a month, they said the attack marks a "pattern of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians seeking aid, with over 14 recorded incidents of shooting, shelling and targeting groups gathered to receive urgently needed supplies from trucks or airdrops between mid-January and the end of February."
"Israel has also opened fire on humanitarian aid convoys on several occasions, despite the fact that the convoys shared their coordinates with Israel," the experts lamented.
They stressed that the recent airdrops will "achieve little," and warned: "After months of Israel’s starvation campaign, Gaza may already be facing famine."
"The only way to prevent or end this famine is an immediate and permanent ceasefire," they said.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas in October 2023, in which nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 30,631 Palestinians have been killed and 72,043 others injured during the Israeli deadly onslaught on Gaza.
About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught, while all of them are food insecure, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in 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.