This is why Israeli military is killing even foreign aid workers in Gaza

Israel’s “systematic” killing of seven aid workers belonging to the World Central Kitchen (WCK) has put a spotlight on a deliberate military campaign to disrupt relief work, which is essential for the survival of civilians in Gaza.

At least 196 humanitarian workers have been killed since October, 2023, when Israel began its deadly offensive on Palestinians in Gaza, according to the United Nations.

International NGOs have routinely blamed the Israeli military for targeting aid convoys carrying food and medical supplies. Food shortage has pushed hundreds of thousands of civilians in the besieged enclave to the brink of famine.

“When it comes to food aid, the Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war. They're doing so by obstructing the entry and distribution of aid and strikes on aid convoys and aid workers,” says Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The WCK volunteers, including citizens of Australia, Poland and the UK, were killed while on their way back from a warehouse in the Deir al Balah city in central Gaza where they oversaw the delivery of 100 tons of food supplies.

The Washington DC-based charity says the Israeli military knew about the movement of its workers and the cars they were travelling in were marked by the charity's logo. Yet they were targeted.

This is not the first time something like this has happened.

In January, an Israeli strike on a Red Crescent ambulance near the entrance to the Deir al Balah region in central Gaza killed four of its aid workers and two civilians.

Fourteen Red Crescent volunteers have been killed while on duty and seven while off-duty at their homes in Israeli assaults.

In a separate incident in January, the Israeli military conducted an airstrike perilously close to the International Rescue Committee’s guesthouse in al-Mawasi, an area designated by Israel as a humanitarian safe zone, resulting in injuries to several aid workers.

As of March 18, at least 170 UNRWA staff have been killed by Israel, according to the agency.

The Israeli government has a lengthy history of undermining, muzzling, and attempting to marginalise aid organisations and the motivations behind these actions vary depending on the target, Shakir tells TRT World.

For instance, Israeli officials have admitted that they try to block the work of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), he says.

UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1949 to assist 700,000 Palestinian refugees forcibly displaced from their homes by Israeli forces during the 1948 war, known among the Palestinians as the "Nakba" or catastrophe.

Now, it provides education, healthcare, and social services to nearly 7 million Palestinian refugees dispersed across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, as well as the occupied territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.

But UNRWA is facing an existential crisis following Israeli allegations in January that 12 out of the agency’s 13,000 Gaza staff were linked with the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli settlements.

Israel’s successful propaganda against UNRWA immediately pushed 16 countries, including the United States, to pause $450 million in funding to the agency.

Tel Aviv has long been against UNRWA, saying the agency gives a reason for the Palestinians not to leave their homes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

A collective punishment

Since October 7th, the Israeli government has allowed only a minimal amount of food into Gaza, sufficient to prevent widespread deaths but insufficient to alleviate hunger or prevent famine, humanitarian workers say.

Israel's procedure to inspect every aid truck delays delivery for up to three weeks. Even a single item deemed by Israel to have military value such as a nail clipper can result in the rejection of the entire shipment, necessitating the restart of the inspection process.

Last month, Oxfam released a report accusing Israel of intentionally delaying aid shipments, citing that on average, aid trucks must wait 20 days for entry.

The report highlights instances where Israel has refused essential supplies, such as oxygen, incubators, water, and sanitation equipment, amounting to the rejection of an entire warehouse worth of goods.

“The Israeli government is clearly pursuing a starvation strategy in Gaza. It is letting in just enough food to avoid mass deaths but not enough to avoid widespread hunger, starvation, and imminent famine,” Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and a visiting professor at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs, tells TRT World.

“(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's aim is to use the starvation of Palestinian civilians as a negotiating tool with Hamas for the release of the hostages, but it is still a war crime.”

Netanyahu's strategy of starving Palestinians in Gaza and destruction of houses and hospitals suggests an intent to make Gaza uninhabitable, he adds.

Zero accountability

The persistence of Israeli attacks on aid workers, organisations, journalists, hospitals, and schools has been attributed to a lack of accountability coupled with international support in the form of arms supplies.

The absence of consequences for such actions, according to aid groups, enables Israel to continue its offensive operations without restraint, perpetuating a cycle of violence and impunity.

After the precision attack on WCK workers, the US President Joe Biden finally called for “accountability” of Israeli actions.

“The reason behind Israel’s targeting of aid organisations and workers is that there hasn't been enough enforcement of the international law, which obliges Israel to protect aid workers and aid teams delivering support to people who need it,” Ahmed Bayram, media adviser for the Middle East at Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), tells TRT World.

“Israel is the occupying power here. So I would say it's almost completely disregarding international law in the conduct of this conflict.”

On March 30, a day before Israel killed the WCK workers, the United States approved the transfer of a new $2.5 billion weapons package, comprising bombs and fighter jets, to Israel.

The White House arms package includes more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound (900kg) bombs and 500 MK 82 500-pound (225kg) bombs, according to Pentagon and Department of State officials.

Germany, the United Kingdom and as well as Italy are also supplying arms to Israel, whereas Canada, Spain, Japan and Netherlands have paused their exports.

“The evidence of war crimes is overwhelming. There must be accountability for these underlying abuses. Many of the abuses are of the variety that we've been seeing take place not for days, weeks or months but for decades and years. The atrocities that have been committed, are the result of decades of impunity for those abuses,” says HRW’s Shakir.

“This is a critical test for states, for international law, as a whole for the rules-based international order. If humanity has failed thus far over six months and if it continues to fail, the implications will affect civilians across the world.”