Gaza: UN records 613 killings near humanitarian convoys, aid distribution points

The UN human rights office said on Friday, 4 July, that it has recorded 613 killings in Gaza near humanitarian convoys and at aid distribution points run by an Israeli-backed American organisation since it first began operations in late May.

Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the rights office was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings. But she said “it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points” operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

She said it was not immediately clear how many of those killings had taken place at GHF sites and how many occurred near convoys.

Speaking to reporters at a regular briefing, Shamdasani said the figures covered the period from 27 May through 27 June, and “there have been further incidents” since then.

She said she was basing the information on an internal situation report at the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Shamdasani said the figures, compiled through its standard vetting processes, were not likely to tell a complete picture, and “we will perhaps never be able to grasp the full scale of what's happening here because of the lack of access” for UN teams to the areas.

Earlier, on 1 July, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, published a report on the corporate culpability in the Gaza genocide — titled ‘From economy of occupation to economy of genocide’.

In particular, the report 'investigates the corporate machinery sustaining Israel’s settler-colonial project of displacement and replacement of the Palestinians in the occupied territory'.

Albanese has called on global corporations to stop doing business with Israel in what she calls an ‘economy of genocide’.

The response from Israel’s ally the United States of America was reportedly for the US to send a private letter via its special representative to UN chief Antonio Guterres, demanding Albanese’s termination. Purportedly, this was because Albanese was sending ‘threatening letters to dozens of entities around the world, including corporations and nonprofit organizations’.

In these letters, apparently, Albanese pointed out these entities doing business with Israel could be held accountable for contributing to “gross human rights violations”, “apartheid” and “genocide” in the eyes of international law. This is because, according to what she states in her report, companies are obliged to ensure their supply chains and business dealings steer clear of human rights violations — even if they are operating in a nation that does not recognise such obligations.

Meanwhile, Gazans are fast running out of fuel — and chances to survive.

With AP/PTI inputs