The
Palestinian Institute for Human Rights (Witness) condemns in the strongest
terms the horrific massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army on Sunday
morning, June 1, 2025, near a humanitarian aid distribution center in the city
of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, which resulted in the death of at least 30
civilians, and the injury of more than 100 others, most of them women, children
and the elderly, according to what has been documented from field sources and
live testimonies.
Targeting
civilians while gathering to obtain food aid in light of the catastrophic
humanitarian situation and a real famine hitting the Gaza Strip is a war crime
according to international humanitarian law, especially the Fourth Geneva
Convention, and constitutes a flagrant violation of the principles of
international human rights law, which prohibits killing civilians or
endangering them under any pretext.
It also
stresses that the use of humanitarian aid as a tool for killing, starvation and
humiliation is a systematic act practiced within an Israeli policy aimed at
forcibly displacing the population and imposing a new humanitarian and
political reality in the Gaza Strip, in light of shameful silence and
international complicity.
Today, more
than ever, the international community is required to take concrete and
immediate measures to stop the ongoing massacres, end the suffering of the
residents of the Gaza Strip, and work to hold the occupation accountable and
prosecute it in accordance with international standards. Accordingly, Shahid
demands the following:
1️⃣
Establish an independent and immediate international commission of inquiry to
uncover the circumstances of the massacre and hold accountable all those
responsible for it, including the occupation army and those who finance or
collude with it.
2️⃣
Urgent intervention by the United Nations and international humanitarian
organizations to stop the policy of starvation and systematic killing in the
Gaza Strip, and to ensure the unhindered or unconditional entry of humanitarian
aid.
3️⃣
Refer the file of the ongoing massacres in Gaza to the International Criminal
Court and hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its crimes against
civilians, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Beirut, 1
June 2025
Palestinian Association
for Human Rights (witness)