Israel has killed an average of three Palestinians per day in Gaza since the beginning of the ceasefire deal in January, a rights group reports, denouncing Israel’s “genocidal tools” of violence and deprivation.
Since January 19, the Israeli military has killed at least 150 Palestininans and injured over 600 others, according to a report published Wednesday by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. These attacks have been carried out with drones and snipers, the report says.
This includes killings of numerous Palestinians in Israel’s “safe zone” in southern Gaza, as well as particular targeting of people in “buffer zones” near the border created by Israel. According to Euro-Med Monitor, Rafah, in the southernmost part of Gaza, has been targeted the most.
“This pattern underscores Israel’s systematic and ongoing targeting of Palestinians in the Strip, carried out with no military justification and in blatant disregard of the ceasefire and international law,” the group said.
The killings have escalated in the past day, reports have found, with Al Jazeera reporting that the Israeli military has killed at least eight Palestinians in the past 24 hours. This includes a drone strike near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza that killed six people.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Ministry of Health says that it has recovered 845 bodies from under rubble and places that were previously inaccessible since the beginning of the ceasefire, bringing the official death toll of the genocide to over 48,500 people. Gaza officials say they have recorded 962 Israeli violations of the ceasefire so far.
Euro-Med Monitor also raised alarm over Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid, which has been ongoing for 11 days now despite the ceasefire agreement stipulating that Israel allow a surge of humanitarian aid into the region. The human rights group said that the blockade is tantamount to a deliberate campaign of starvation and, thus, genocide against Palestinians.
Other aid groups have also strongly denounced Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid, saying that deliberately depriving Palestinians of basic needs is a war crime.
On Wednesday, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said that the blockade is “inhumane” and that it has brought “the entry of all aid to a screeching halt.”
“Israeli authorities are yet again normalizing the use of aid as a negotiation tool,” said Myriam Laaroussi, emergency coordinator for MSF, in a statement. “Humanitarian aid should never be used as a bargaining chip in war. The blockade on all supplies is inevitably hurting hundreds of thousands of people and is having deadly consequences.”
On Sunday, Israel once again cut electricity to Gaza, affecting a crucial water desalination plant that provided safe drinking water to 600,000 Palestinians, the UN has said.
As a result, 9 in 10 Palestinians lack access to safe drinking water, according to UNICEF, with 1.8 million in need of water and hygiene aid.
Israel appears to be using these extremist tactics in order to coerce Hamas into accepting new terms Israeli officials are imposing on the ceasefire deal, altering the framework agreed upon by both parties.
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