A new cycle of bloodshed and violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip has opened. Shells were fired at the Kerem Salom crossing “at the time of the entry of trucks carrying humanitarian aid from international humanitarian organizations” to the Gaza Strip, said Cogat, an Israeli civilian body involved in civilian operations in the United States.
“It was decided to stop the entry of other trucks”, stressed the Israeli authorities.
Earlier, the UN welcomed the opening by the Israeli authorities of the Kerem Salom crossing to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza Strip after nine days of conflict and demanded the opening of the Erez Pass.
“We welcome the opening by the Israeli authorities of the Kerem Salom crossing,” said Jens Larke, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva. “It is important to open the Erez Pass for the entry and exit of humanitarian personnel,” he added.
The need for humanitarian aid is great in the Gaza Strip, which has been under air, land and sea blockade for fifteen years. As of May 10, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the Palestinian enclave, including 61 children from Israeli airstrikes.
On the Israeli side, Hamas rockets have killed 10 people on Israeli soil, including a child, according to Agence France-Presse and the Athenian News Agency.
The crisis threatens to wreak havoc, and the United Nations estimates that 47,000 Palestinians have been displaced by the conflict, and about 130 buildings in the Palestinian enclave have been destroyed.
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been displaced in Gaza
Meanwhile, more than 52,000 Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli airstrikes, which have completely or partially destroyed nearly 450 buildings in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.
In a separate statement on the conflict in the Middle East, human rights group Amnesty International said Israeli airstrikes on apartment buildings were likely war crimes.
The Israel claims that it only hits legitimate military targets and that it does everything it can to avoid human casualties.
Some 47,000 displaced people have taken refuge in 58 UN-run schools in Gaza, Jens Lerke, an OCHA spokesman in Geneva, told reporters.
According to him, 132 buildings have been destroyed and 316 have been severely damaged, including six hospitals and 9 primary health care centers as well as a desalination plant, affecting access to drinking water for about 250,000 people.
OCHA welcomed the fact that Israel opened a humanitarian corridor at the border crossing, but called for another.
According to Lerke, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners provide food and other assistance to displaced families whenever conditions allow.
There is a huge shortage of medical supplies, a risk of diseases from inadequate water and the spread of the coronavirus because displaced people flock to schools, said Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization (WHO).
Amnesty International, based in London, has called for an investigation into airstrikes on residential buildings in Gaza.
“Israeli forces have shown a shocking indifference to the lives of Palestinian civilians by carrying out a number of airstrikes targeting apartment buildings, in some cases killing entire families – including children – and causing unnecessary damage to civilian property with possible attacks. against humanity “, said Amnesty.
Israel says it only targets targets it considers military and used by militants, and that it regularly issues evacuation warnings in advance, which it considers legitimate targets as part of its broader efforts to avoid civilian casualties.
Amnesty International, which last week called on both sides not to violate humanitarian law, said it had documented four bloody Israeli raids on residential buildings without warning and called on the International Criminal Court to investigate.
He said Israeli raids on May 11 destroyed two apartment buildings belonging to the Abu al-Uf and al-Kolak families, killing 30 people, 11 of whom were children.
A mother and her three children were killed on May 14 when the three-story apartment building of the al-Atar family was damaged, the NGO notes.
The NGO also complains that the house of Nader Mahmoud Mohammed Al-Thom, where he lives with eight other people, was hit without warning on May 15.
Israel has not commented on specific cases.
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