GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the Israeli army killed and injured over 600 Palestinians near three aid distribution centers it had established in areas under its control in the Gaza Strip, all within one week.
“This incident provides stark evidence that these sites function as killing zones, used to deliberately target and execute civilians in the field,” Euro-Med said in a report on Tuesday.
“The global silence in the face of Israel’s escalating genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip, now nearing its 20th month, is both shameful and deeply alarming. In recent months, Israel has not only subjected civilians to starvation but has also established so-called humanitarian centers, near which it has killed civilians as they desperately attempt to access meager rations under degrading conditions. To date, there has been neither accountability nor any credible, independent investigation into these grave violations,” Euro-Med underlined.
Euro-Med explained that its field team “documented Israeli forces opening fire on thousands of civilians gathered at dawn on Tuesday, June 3, near an aid distribution center in Tel al-Sultan, Rafah, in southern Gaza. At least 27 civilians were killed and 90 injured. The death toll is expected to rise due to the high number of critical injuries and the collapse of healthcare services caused by the blockade and repeated Israeli attacks on medical facilities.”
According to testimonies and information collected by Euro-Med’s field researchers, “Israeli army snipers deliberately targeted starving civilians with direct gunfire, mostly to the head, despite no apparent threat to Israeli forces.”
“The Israeli army, along with the US-backed organization managing the aid distribution centers, directs Palestinians to collect aid at designated sites, instructing them to wait through inspection and humiliation gates. Once there, they are subjected to direct fire from snipers, quadcopter drones, helicopters, and at times tank shells, under the pretext that Israeli forces stationed hundreds of meters away are under threat,” Euro-Med said.
“Incidents on the ground demonstrate that Israeli forces have deliberately positioned aid distribution centers in dangerous, militarized areas under their control, without providing safe corridors. This has created a deadly trap for thousands of starving civilians who, after more than three months of border closures, are risking their lives for a small amount of food. Many return wounded — if they return at all,” Euro-Med added.
“The Israeli army typically denies responsibility for these serious crimes or attempts to justify its use of live fire by claiming that “suspects” approached areas where its forces are deployed. These claims are made without presenting evidence and often contradict earlier accounts, reflecting a disregard for the lives of starving civilians. This pattern is a direct consequence of the impunity Israel has long enjoyed,” Euro-Med said.
Euro-Med stressed the need for the international community to take immediate and decisive action to compel Israel to end its inhumane aid distribution mechanism in the Gaza Strip.
“Over just eight days, this system has contributed to daily massacres that have killed 102 Palestinians and injured nearly 500 others, including many in critical condition,” Euro-Med highlighted.
“An immediate end to the Israeli aid distribution mechanism in the Gaza Strip is essential, as it has become a site of field executions and fails to meet even the most basic humanitarian standards,” Euro-Med said.
Euro-Med called for necessarily reinstating the previous UN-led mechanism to ensure the safe and effective delivery of aid to Gaza’s population.
Euro-Med also called on all countries and relevant actors to “exert maximum pressure on Israel to prevent it from bypassing or undermining the work of experienced UN agencies in the Gaza Strip.”
Euro-Med said it “underscores the critical and impartial role these agencies play in delivering humanitarian aid and coordinating the response for over 2.2 million Palestinians facing death and starvation.”
