UN condemns 'weaponisation of food for civilians' in Gaza

GENEVA, Switzerland: The United Nations condemned on Tuesday the “weaponisation of food” in Gaza as a war crime and urged Israel’s military to “stop shooting at people trying to get food”.

“Israel’s militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism is in contradiction with international standards on aid distribution,” the UN human rights office said in written notes provided before a briefing.

“The weaponisation of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services, constitutes a war crime.”

Earlier, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed 21 people waiting for aid near a distribution site in the centre of the Palestinian territory on Tuesday, the latest deadly incident targeting aid-seekers.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 21 people were killed and around 150 wounded “as a result of the Israeli occupation forces’ targeting of gatherings of citizens waiting for aid… in the central Gaza Strip with bullets and tank shells” in the early hours of Tuesday.

Bassal added that five people were killed and several injured in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in Gaza City at dawn.

Thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving food rations in Gaza, as famine looms across the territory after more than 20 months of war.