New Israeli ‘flour massacre’ targets dozens of starving people north of Gaza City
Bags of flour to be distributed by UNRWA
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports on 14 November 2024:
In a new ‘flour massacre’, the Israeli occupation army has killed dozens of Palestinians who were gathering in the Sudaniya roundabout area, northwest of Gaza City. The victims were waiting for the arrival of humanitarian aid after roughly 50 consecutive days of a complete denial of aid.
Israeli army forces opened fire on dozens of Palestinian civilians waiting for aid trucks on the sea road northwest of Gaza City on Wednesday 13 November at around 10:00 am. The Israeli forces killed and injured dozens of them when they attempted to seek refuge inside a nearby house, and then bombed the building, destroying it. Many more individuals are now missing and presumably trapped beneath the debris.
According to an eyewitness, the Israeli army targeted a group of civilians who had been enduring weeks of famine as a result of the occupation army blocking the entry of food and aid supplies into the Gaza City and North Gaza. When they went to get flour, the army opened fire on them with shells and bullets, forcing them to take cover in a two-storey residential house nearby. As soon as they reached the building, the Israeli army bombed it. Screams from those still inside the targeted house were heard, but the victims’ cries for help could not be answered, as the area was inaccessible to ambulance and civil defence personnel.
Initial reports indicate that there were around 200 people gathered in the area at the time of the attack, 70 of whom were killed and injured. Many more are still unaccounted for and likely stuck beneath the rubble, and no rescue efforts have been conducted as the Israeli army has effectively shut down Palestinian civil defense and ambulance services after threatening, confiscating, shelling, and burning fire trucks and ambulances in the northern Gaza Strip for 23 days now.
The international community must take immediate action to ensure that rescue and civil defense teams can safely work and transport victims to hospitals, since there may be survivors of yesterday’s attack.
After 41 days of Israel’s ground invasion of northern Gaza, the situation has descended into an unprecedented catastrophe, with the occupation army still bombing and destroying hundreds of homes, killing and injuring thousands, and forcing 10s of thousands to flee the area.
The ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip, which uses starvation as one of its main tools of implementation, must be stopped. Additionally, efforts must be made to quickly and efficiently bring in life-saving supplies via land routes and crossings to the entire Gaza Strip, particularly Gaza City and the northern part of the Strip. This will allow municipal crews to repair and restore water, sanitation, and health services, as well as provide safe and sufficient food for the entire population, including baby formula, which is nearly nonexistent in the northern Strip. The restoration of local production systems and the entry of commercial goods must also be allowed. The international community is both legally and morally obligated to take swift action to preserve the lives of the Gaza Strip’s roughly 2.3 million residents.
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