6 days ago
UN Humanitarian Chief Says Conditions in Gaza are ‘Beyond Vocabulary'
Food supplies are running out and civilians are being shot while seeking something to eat, Undersecretary-General Tom Fletcher said Wednesday.
"Civilians are exposed to death and injury, forcible displacement, stripped of dignity,' Fletcher told the UN Security Council, emphasizing Israel's obligation under the Geneva Conventions to provide food and medical aid as the occupying power in Gaza.
He also challenged the council to consider whether Israel's rules of engagement incorporate all the precautions to avoid and minimize civilian casualties.
Twenty Palestinians were killed at a food distribution center run by an Israeli-backed American organization in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, mostly from being trampled, the group said. They were the first deaths reported at one of the Gaza Humanitarian Fund sites, although hundreds have been killed by Israeli forces on the roads leading to them, according to witnesses and health officials.
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 54 others, including 14 children, according to hospital officials.
