Rights group says Israel has killed 560 people in attacks involving aid convoys in Gaza

Aid workers as well as those attempting to receive aid have been targets, the group said.

“Israel uses hunger as a standalone war crime,” the rights group added.

At least 19 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli attack targeting civilians who were waiting for aid southeast of Gaza City, Gaza’s Ministry of Health and its Media Office reproted on Saturday.

Half of Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing “catastrophic” hunger, with famine projected to hit the north of the territory by May unless there is urgent intervention, a United Nations-backed food assessment warned on Monday.

But aid distribution has become increasingly dangerous and sometimes lethal.

Last Tuesday, 23 Palestinians were killed, and several others were injured by Israeli bombing that targeted Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in the northern Gaza Strip.

On February 29, Israeli forces opened fire on hundreds of Palestinians as they gathered south of Gaza City waiting to receive humanitarian aid in what is known as the “flour massacre”, leaving 118 dead and 760 wounded, according to the Health Ministry in the enclave.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Saturday during a visit to the Rafah crossing that the line of blocked aid trucks stuck on Egypt’s side of the border with the Gaza Strip while Palestinians face starvation on the other side is a “moral outrage”.