Posted by: John Phoenix
Palestinians hope to receive hot meals distributed by charity organizations, as supplies run out amid the ongoing Israeli total blockade, in Gaza City, central Gaza on May 02, 2025. (Dawoud Abo Alkas – Anadolu Agency)
Reposted from Palestinian Centre For Human Rights, May 3, 2025
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the repeated attacks by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on community kitchens that have become the final lifeline for hundreds of thousands of starving and in-need individuals. These attacks come while IOF escalates mass killings and extermination of entire families as part of Israel’s ongoing military offensive against the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, and its systematic crime of genocide being committed for 19 months now.
In a heinous crime fully reflecting Israel’s absolute disregard for international humanitarian law and the humanitarian catastrophe it has inflicted in the Gaza Strip, at around 13:30 on Friday, 02 May 2025, Israeli warplanes targeted a community kitchen run by the Qawafel al-Kheir Group in al-Sheikh Redwan, northern Gaza City. As a result, 6 volunteers and workers were killed in the kitchen, and others sustained varied wounds. According to PCHR’s documentation, the community kitchen is established as part of local initiatives and one of the last sources of food for families amid the total collapse of the humanitarian system in the Gaza Strip.
This is the second crime committed within 24 hours only as the Israeli warplanes targeted at around 12:55 on Thursday, 02 May 2025, a tent inside a community kitchen in the Swiss displacement camp in Deir al-Balah. As a result, ‘Abdullah Ghazi Mohammed Abu Mugheiseb (55) and his 10-year-old daughter Rahaf were killed, and others were injured while trying to get a meal.
These targeted attacks on community kitchens come after 60 days of Israel’s closure of Gaza’s crossing and prevention of goods and aid, leading to widespread famine across the whole Gaza Strip. Food supplies have run out in markets amid a heightened rise in malnutrition cases, particularly among children, patients, and the elderly, and warnings of a growing number of deaths as a result.
IOF continues to directly target civilians in their houses, tents, and social occasions- crimes intended to carry out mass killings, instill fear, and target what has remained of the social fabric. Among these crimes in recent days are:
At around 02:40 on Saturday, 03 May 2025, Israeli warplanes bombed a house for the al-Biram family in the al-Haqouz area, Khan Younis. As a result, 10 people from the house residents and neighbors were killed, including 6 children and 3 women, while others remain missing under the rubble amid ongoing rescue efforts with hand tools by the civil defense teams and people. Among those killed were a father and his 4 children and two other children (one-year-old and one-month-old brothers).
At around 01:37 on Friday, 02 May 2025, Israeli warplanes targeted a house belonging to the Abu Zeinah family in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The attack killed 9 people, including 6 women and a child, and injured 12 others, amid reports of people still missing under the rubble.
In a heinous crime, at around 11:30 on the same day, Israeli warplanes bombed a mourning tent for the al-Masri family in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, killing 6 people, including two brothers, the son of one of them, and two of their cousins. All of them were from the al-Masri family, while others were injured.
At around 15:57 on the same day, an Israeli drone targeted a tent for a displaced family at al-Bureij Services Club in the central Gaza Strip, killing three people, including 2 children. Those killed were identified as Baraa’ Mohammad Maqdas (17) and two brothers, Abdullah and Karam Ramzi Maqdas (17) and (21). Their mother was also injured in the attack.
At around 07:00 on Thursday, 01 May 2025, an Israeli drone targeted a gathering of people in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. As a result, 3 Palestinians from the Ma’arouf and Ghaben families were killed, and others were injured.
At around 07:40 on Thursday, 01 May 2025, Israeli warplanes attacked a group of people in the al-Mawasi neighborhood, west of Rafah City. As a result, three people from the Shalouf and Abu Khatlah families were killed.
At around 11:00 on the same day, Israeli warplanes bombed a house for the Abu Sahloul family in the western camp in Khan Younis, killing eight, including 3 women and 3 children, among them 2 brothers.
Israel’s intensified military attacks alongside starvation undoubtedly prove that what is going on in the Gaza Strip is not only a military offensive but an Israeli systematic policy calculated to bring about the whole destruction of the Palestinian population through mass killings, deliberate starvation, forced displacement, and deprivation of all means for survival. All these acts constitute the essence of the crime of genocide that Israel has been committing for over a year and a half, with open support from the United States, complicity from several European countries, and the silence of the international community.
PCHR emphasizes that Israel’s targeting of community kitchens is a deliberate crime aimed at depriving the civilian population of their right to life and food, especially amid the widespread famine in the Gaza Strip.
PCHR emphasizes that silence towards these crimes is explicit complicity. The international community must rise to its responsibilities not merely under law, but towards the very essence of humanity. Immediate international action is urgently needed to end the systematic violations and crimes committed by the IOF against the Palestinian people.
PCHR calls for immediate and serious measures to stop the ongoing crime of genocide and hold the Israeli perpetrators of these crimes accountable before international courts. PCHR also urges the State Parties to the Genocide Convention to fulfil their legal and moral obligations and take urgent action to protect the Palestinian civilians from the mass killings and serious human rights violations.
The work of the Centre is conducted through documentation and investigation of human rights violations, provision of legal aid and counseling for both individuals and groups, and preparation of research articles relevant to such issues as the human rights situation and the rule of law. The Centre also provides comments on Palestinian Draft Laws and urges the adoption of legislation that incorporates international human rights standards and basic democratic principles. To achieve its goals, the Centre has recruited a committed staff of well-known human rights lawyers and activists.
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