“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability, and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the foreign ministers and the European Union commissioner for equality, preparedness, and crisis management stated in a joint statement.
“We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.Â
“It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.”
The group, which also censured Hamas’ ongoing detention of hostages, urged Israel to lift aid restrictions and cooperate with the United Nations and non-governmental organizations. Hundreds of Palestinians attempting to access aid have been killed near locations managed by a controversial US- and Israel-backed aid group and other, unrelated distribution centers.
The Israeli military has said it fired warning shots “to remove an immediate threat” but has questioned the death toll reported by the Palestinians.
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a contractor supported by Israel and the US, has said that the majority of the reported violence has not occurred at its sites.
The foreign ministers also addressed plans Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz outlined earlier this month to pack hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into a closed zone of the Gaza Strip along the border with Egypt.
He called it a “humanitarian city” but human rights groups feared it would create catastrophic conditions that force Palestinians to flee. Many people, including former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, likened the plan to a concentration camp.
“We call on all parties to protect civilians and uphold the obligations of international humanitarian law,” Wong and her international counterparts said on Monday night.
“Proposals to remove the Palestinian population into a ‘humanitarian city’ are completely unacceptable.Â
“Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law.”
The foreign ministers also spoke out against the E1 settlement plan announced by Israel’s Civil Administration and settlement building in the West Bank.
They warned their countries were “prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire”.
“We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire,” they said.Â
“Further bloodshed serves no purpose. We reaffirm our complete support to the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this.”
The death toll in Gaza has climbed to more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
The UN estimates 90 per cent of the population has been displaced and a similar percentage of structures have been damaged or destroyed.Â
Hamas triggered the war when militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty remain in Gaza, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.
Israel on Monday widened its evacuation orders for the territory to include an area that has been somewhat less hard-hit than others, indicating a new battleground may be opening up and squeezing Palestinians into ever tinier stretches of Gaza.
– Reported with Associated Press.
