UN says 'deadly attacks' around Gaza aid sites 'a war crime'
GAZA CITY
U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said on Tuesday that "deadly attacks" on civilians around aid distribution sites in the Gaza Strip constituted "a war crime.”
Rescuers in the Palestinian territory said Israeli fire targeting civilians near an aid distribution center in the southern city of Rafah killed 27 people Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 102 for those seeking aid from from Israeli-designated centers in eight days.
It came after a similar incident on June 1 when rescuers said 31 people were killed at the same location, witnesses saying they had been on their way to collect aid.
"Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza are unconscionable," Türk said in a statement.
Türk called for a prompt and impartial investigation into each attack, and for those responsible to be held to account.
"Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law, and a war crime," he said.
"Palestinians have been presented the grimmest of choices: Die from starvation or risk being killed while
trying to access the meagre food that is being made available through Israel's militarized humanitarian assistance mechanism.
"This militarized system endangers lives and violates international standards on aid distribution, as the United Nations has repeatedly warned."
The Israeli army said that it fired “near a few individual suspects” who left the designated route, approached its forces and ignored warning shots.
Neima al-Aaraj, a woman from Khan Younis, said the Israeli fire was “indiscriminate." She added that when she managed to reach the distribution site there was no aid left.
“After the martyrs and wounded, I won’t return,” she said.
“Either way we will die.”
Rasha al-Nahal, another witness, said “there was gunfire from all directions.” She said she counted more than a dozen dead and several wounded along the road.
When she reached the distribution site, she also found that there was no aid left, she said. So she gathered pasta from the ground and salvaged rice from a bag that had been dropped and trampled upon.
“We’d rather die than deal with this," she said. "Death is more dignified than what’s happening to us.”
Public support for Israel falls to record lows across western Europe
The mechanism came after Israel imposed an aid blockade on Gaza to pressure Hamas, which sparked widespread backlash.
Israel drew criticism from many countries, including Germany, its closest ally in Europe.
A survey conducted by the U.K.-based polling firm YouGov across Western Europe revealed that public support for Israel has dropped to its lowest levels.
Conducted between May 12 and 26 in six countries with 8,625 participants, the poll showed that fewer than one in five respondents had a positive view of Israel.
The proportion of those sympathetic to Israel ranged from 13 to 21 percent across the countries, while those with negative views ranged from 63 to 70 percent. When the percentage of positive opinions was subtracted from the negative ones, the results showed a net negative rating of 44 percent in Germany, 48 percent in France and 54 percent in Denmark — the worst figures recorded in these countries since 2016.
In Italy and Spain, the results were the most negative since 2021.
However, in the United Kingdom, negative perceptions of Israel slightly declined from 49 percent at the end of last year to 46 percent.
