HRW: Israel Striking known Aid Worker Locations

At least eight strikes were carried out by Israeli occupation forces on aid workers’ convoys and premises in Gaza since October 2023, even though aid groups gave their coordinates to the Israeli occupation authorities to make sure they are protected, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Tuesday. 

HRW added that the Israeli occupation did not issue any warning to any of these organizations before the strikes that killed or injured at least 31 aid workers and others accompanying them. 

American-British weapons used against aid workers in Gaza

On January 18, 2024, an Israeli attack injured people staying in a joint guest house for two aid organizations, HRW said. 

According to one of these organizations and a report by UN investigators who checked the site following the attack – also reviewed by HRW – US-made munition was most likely used during this attack. 

UN inspectors found out that the bomb was delivered by an F-16 aircraft which, based on what campaigners revealed, uses British-made components, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said.

The Israeli occupation knows

HRW said that these eight attack incidents show major flaws in the “deconfliction system” set to shield aid workers and permit them to safely deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance in Gaza. 

A very prominent example of “Israel’s” targeting of aid workers in Gaza took place when “Israel” attacked a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy in April. Associate crisis, conflict, and arms director at HRW, Belkis Wille, labeled the Israeli killing of the seven WCK aid workers last month as shocking and stressed that it “should have never happened under international law.”

“Israel’s allies need to recognize that these attacks that have killed aid workers have happened over and over again, and they need to stop,” Wille emphasized. 

HRW said that the attack targeting the WCK convoy, far from being an isolated “mistake”, is just one of at least eight cases that it identified where aid organizations and UN agencies provided Israeli occupation authorities with GPS coordinates of aid convoy or premises. 

It stressed that this did not stop the Israeli occupation forces from attacking convoys or shelters without any warning. 

At least 15 people, two of whom are children, were killed in these eight attacks, and at least 16 others were injured, HRW said.

It added that five of these attacks were the center of a recent New York Times investigation, which also provided visual evidence and internal communications between aid organizations and the Israeli occupation forces. 

As for the other seven attacks as listed by HRW: 

• Attack on a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF or Doctors without Borders) convoy, November 18, 2023
• Attack on a guest house of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), December 9, 2023
• Attack on an MSF shelter, January 8, 2024
• Attack on an International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) guest house, January 18, 2024
• Attack on a UNRWA convoy, February 5, 2024
• Attack on an MSF guest house, February 20, 2024
• Attack on a home sheltering an American Near East Refugee Aid Organization (Anera) employee, March 8, 2024

UN reports on the Israeli killing of aid workers 

The UN reported that as of April 30 and since October 7, 254 aid workers had been killed by the IOF in Gaza, 188 of whom were UNRWA personnel. 

At least one UN staff member was killed and at least one more was injured on May 13, as a UN vehicle was hit on its way to a hospital in Gaza. 

The UN previously reported that the IOF have shot and shelled Palestinians gathering to get aid, killing and injuring hundreds of them, while also disrupting efforts to deliver lifesaving aid to Gaza. 

Ever since the IOF took control of the Rafah Crossing on May 7 and shut it down, aid workers have been stuck in Gaza. 

‘Israel’ killed 429 Palestinians sheltering at UNRWA since Oct 7

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reported on May 8 that the agency’s buildings in the Gaza Strip have been subjected to 368 attacks since the start of the war on the Strip.

The agency demanded an immediate ceasefire and posted on X that since the war on Gaza began, approximately 429 displaced Palestinians seeking shelter in its buildings were killed by Israeli strikes. 

Nowhere is safe in #Gaza@UNRWA premises have been attacked 368 times since the war began, and at least 429 displaced people seeking shelter in our structures have been killed.

Civilian lives must be protected at all times. Humanitarians are #NotATarget. We need a #CeasefireNow

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 8, 2024

 

UNRWA also denounced ‘Israel’s safe zones’ as false

The Chief of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini dismissed “Israel’s” assertion regarding the establishment of purported “safe zones” for forcibly displaced Palestinians as “false and misleading” via a post on X on May 12.

“The claim of ‘safe zones’ is false and misleading,” the UNRWA chief stressed.

Again and again.
The exodus continues.

The Israeli authorities continue to issue forced displacement orders also known as “evacuation orders”. This is forcing people in #Rafah to flee anywhere and everywhere.

Since the war began, most people in #Gaza have moved multiple… https://t.co/dnpAllLq3I

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) May 11, 2024

 

He added that Israeli authorities persist in issuing mandatory displacement directives, also referred to as ‘evacuation orders’, compelling residents in Rafah to evacuate hastily without designated destinations.

“Since the war began, most people in Gaza have moved multiple times: on average once a month. They desperately sought safety that they never found,” he further stated.

Lazzarini also highlighted that the Palestinians displaced from Gaza have no alternative but to seek refuge in UNRWA’s shelters, many of which have already been targeted and damaged by Israeli military actions.
 
“No place is safe in Gaza. Period,” he concluded.