The death of seven humanitarian workers on Monday in an Israeli strike symbolizes Israel’s “systematic” attacks against NGOs in Gaza, several of them denounce, hoping for strong “actions” from the international community to prevent new tragedies.
Because this attack against a humanitarian target, if it killed Western personnel for the first time in nearly six months of war, above all illustrates the inability of NGOs to work in security in the devastated Palestinian territory, denounce those interviewed by the AFP. Several of them have been affected since the start of the war.
In total, more than 200 humanitarian workers have died in Gaza since October 7, according to NGOs, at least 165 of whom worked for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
On Monday, the seven victims had just left a warehouse in Deir al-Balah (center), where they had “unloaded more than 100 tons of food aid”, aboard “two armored vehicles bearing the logo” of World Central Kitchen ( WCK) and a classic vehicle, reports the American NGO.
Their convoy was then hit by a strike by the Israeli army, with whom they had previously “coordinated”, asserts WCK, which denounces in a press release a “targeted attack”.
Like WCK, a number of NGOs operating in Gaza are trying to protect themselves from possible Israeli attacks by indicating the movements of their teams and the coordinates of their buildings on an Israeli “platform”, reports Benjamin Gaudin, responsible for First emergency operations in the Middle East.
A measure that is part of Israel’s deconfliction strategy, namely the limitation of civilian losses through better military coordination, but which did not prevent “multiple incidents”, according to Mr. Gaudin.
” In danger “
“The humanitarian community,” he said, “feels in danger in its operations in Gaza” since October 7 — when Hamas commandos carried out an unprecedented attack in southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count. According to Israel, around 250 people were kidnapped, 130 of whom are still hostages in Gaza.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an intense bombing campaign on Gaza, followed by a ground offensive that saw its soldiers advance from the north to the south of the territory. Nearly 33,000 people, most of them civilians, were killed in Israeli operations, according to the Hamas health ministry.
The level of risk that humanitarian workers face is “very high in certain areas of southern and central Gaza and unacceptable in all other areas”, estimates Camilla Dogliotti, of Handicap International, whose premises in Gaza City were bombed at the end January.
“This new attack is above all the consequence of Israel’s permanent non-compliance with international humanitarian law and the required protection of civilians, including humanitarian workers,” she denounces.
Among the intense destruction inflicted on Gaza over the past six months, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) counts 21 “strikes” or “incidents” against hospitals or clinics benefiting from its support or even ambulances, all of which were duly reported to the Israeli authorities.
“The level of danger we face in Gaza is unprecedented in the history of MSF,” adds the spokesperson for this NGO, Claire Magone. Five Palestinian employees of the organization were killed “either in Israeli bombings or […] fired at point blank range at an Israeli roadblock,” she notes.
“Unforgivable”
Generally sparing with comments on its strikes on Gaza, Israel, via its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this time regretted a “tragic” and “unintentional” incident.
The response makes Bushra Khalidi, of Oxfam, jump, for whom the seven humanitarian workers killed only “underline” Israel’s “deliberate and systematic assaults” “against the humanitarian effort” and its “contempt” for the “system of deconfliction.”
“It is necessary to completely review our relations with the Israeli army,” confirms Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
“The deliberate attack on three civilian cars that had been (announced) shows either that Israel has no control over its forces,” or that the information provided by WCK was “never communicated” to its army, which which “in both cases” is “unforgivable”, he thunders.
The Israeli army indicated that it was opening “an investigation” to determine the circumstances of this strike, without however convincing the NGOs contacted.
“Internal investigations by the Israeli army into its own errors, I don’t really see what that can lead to,” judges Caroline Seguin, of MSF, who calls for “an independent investigation.”
Bushra Khalidi, from Oxfam, hopes that the incident will provoke attention but above all strong “actions” from the international community, because “the protection of humanitarian workers and the guarantee of the delivery of aid should not not be negotiable”, especially when Gaza is on the edge of a humanitarian precipice.