Israel's offensive in Gaza deals a severe blow to humanitarian aid with 200 aid workers killed in six months

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was recovering from hernia surgery in a Jerusalem hospital, an aerial bombardment in Gaza killed seven members of World Central Kitchen (WCK), the NGO of Spanish chef José Andrés that is distributing food in Gaza to alleviate the serious humanitarian crisis. From the hospital, as soon as he was discharged and aware of the international outrage over an attack in which citizens of Western countries such as the United Kingdom, Poland and Australia have lost their lives, he described the incident as “tragic” and “unintentional.” and promised an investigation before adding: “It happens in war.”

In this one, at least, a lot happens. Almost 200 humanitarian workers have died in Gaza between the start of the war – following the massive surprise attack by Hamas – and the 20th, according to UN data. Around triple the figure reached by other conflicts in the world, such as Syria, Afghanistan or Somalia, in their deadliest year, as the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Jamie McGoldrick, pointed out this Tuesday, recalling that This Tuesday's bombing “is not an isolated incident.” The deceased belong to United Nations agencies, NGOs or the Palestinian Red Crescent. They are almost all Palestinians, so their fate has gone more unnoticed and has not generated announcements of “exhaustive investigations.” “Since October 2023, the Occupied Palestinian Territories has become one of the most dangerous and difficult places in the world to work,” McGoldrick added.

The latest report from the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs, dated March 13, shows the disproportionate impact of the war on the Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), the largest and “beating heart of the humanitarian response in Gaza.” ”, in the words of the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths. Of the 174 deaths from United Nations agencies, 171 were from UNRWA. The other three, from the World Health Organization, the Development Program and the Project Services Office. Another 14 deceased worked in the Palestinian Red Crescent, the main emergency service.

One of the main NGOs, Doctors Without Borders, has lost five local workers. Two of them, in a bombing of their shelter in Al Mawasi, the area that the Israeli army declared as “safe” and to which it urged displaced people in the north and then Khan Yunis, in the south, to go in the face of the invasion.

In February, a convoy carrying humanitarian aid (clearly marked with UN markings and previously coordinated with the Israeli army) was bombed by the Israeli Navy while waiting at a military checkpoint. No one was injured. Only the vehicle suffered damage. A month earlier, another attack destroyed the Gaza City headquarters of the NGO Handicap International, focused on rehabilitating wounded and amputees in armed conflicts. The Israeli military knew the coordinates of the building through the UN system.

Paralyzed operations

Another organization in Gaza is American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera). It agrees with WCK in being based in the United States and in having announced this Tuesday that it is temporarily paralyzing its aid operations in the Strip, considering that “it is no longer viable” to deliver it “safely.” Its logistics coordinator, Mousa Shawwa, died on the 8th: also in an air attack in the Deir al Balah area. The army had received several times the coordinates of the place where he was taking refuge with his family, according to the NGO.

The seven bodies this Tuesday, said United Nations spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, are “the inevitable result of how” the siege is being carried out. Hamas has accused Israel of knowingly shooting at humanitarian workers to “terrorize” them and force them to desist.

The technical term “d“econfliction” It is often used these months in Gaza. It is coordination with the army to avoid situations like this Tuesday. The UN or the NGO inform the Israeli army of the day, time and route they will follow (in the case of a convoy) or the coordinates of the homes or hotels where they are staying. International law clearly protects humanitarian workers in the event of conflict.

Yagil Levy, professor of Political Science at the Open University of Israel, specialized in military sociology and the legitimacy of the use of force, links the incident to the “easy trigger” that Israeli forces are using in Gaza, where the number of deaths exceeds 32,500 and the destruction is immeasurable. “I wasn't surprised that it happened. Practically, true rules of combat are not being used,” he points out by phone. They are the famous ROEs, rules of engagementby which armies are governed.

Both the images captured by journalists or mobile phones, as well as recorded and disseminated by the Israeli soldiers themselves, show numerous cases of its violation, as well as war crimes. “There is an urge to kill Hamas people that means soldiers, including drone operators, are not carefully considering when to open fire. The troops do not understand the importance of protecting these humanitarian aid convoys,” says Levy.

There is also a prevailing mood in the country against the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza (the majority of the population opposes it) and the discourse that Hamas steals more than half of it for its benefit. In fact, the police of the Government of the Islamist movement in the Strip, who were in charge of order before October 7, hardly dare to protect the convoys, because they become the target of bombings when they are exposed.

Also criminalization of the UN, and in particular UNRWA. Last month, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the United Nations “has become” under the leadership of its Secretary General, António Guterres, “an anti-Semitic and Israeli organization that protects and encourages terrorism.”

UNRWA has reported mistreatment and humiliation of its staff in Israeli detention centers and estimates that more than 150 of its facilities have been attacked. Some have been completely destroyed. An Israeli attack on March 13 against an aid distribution center in Rafah (whose coordinates it had provided to the army the day before) killed one of its workers and injured 22 others. “How are we going to maintain aid operations when “Our equipment and supplies are constantly under threat?” protested the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.

The Israeli army is progressively preventing it from carrying out its mission, with a view to ensuring that it does not play any role in post-war Gaza, as Netanyahu has promised. He already prohibits his vehicles from crossing the military checkpoint to deliver aid in northern Gaza (the area from which the convoy of José Andrés' NGO came) and his top official, Philippe Lazzarini, from entering the Strip. .

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