Urgent Appeal to the International Community, ICHR Demands the Opening of Gaza Crossings and Unhindered Flow of Humanitarian Aid

The Independent Commission for Human (ICHR) condemns the horrific massacre carried out by the Israeli occupation forces against starving civilians on Sunday morning, June 1, 2025.

The attack occurred when civilians approached the distribution sites of what has been referred to as "U.S.-Israeli humanitarian aid" in an isolated area near Rafah in southern Gaza and the southern part of the Netzarim corridor, south of Gaza City.

The attack resulted in the killing of 31 civilians, including women and children, and injured at least 150 others. This raises the total number of Palestinians killed at aid distribution sites to 49 and more than 250 wounded within less than a week, according to official Palestinian reports.

These mass killings highlight the dangers of the current aid distribution mechanism, which has become a tool to pressure Palestinians who are suffering from hunger, thirst, and disease, forcing them to seek aid due to the total blockade. The distribution process, overseen by a joint U.S.-Israeli private security company, fails to meet the fundamental principles of humanitarian aid delivery under international law and international humanitarian law, especially the principles of impartiality and non-discrimination. Meanwhile, Israel continues to deny the United Nations and its agencies, particularly UNRWA, and other international and Palestinian relief organizations from participating in aid distribution. This system puts Palestinians' lives at risk, subjects them to humiliation, and worsens their suffering due to the comprehensive siege by forcing them into ghettos monitored and controlled by Israeli forces.

Israel, “the occupying power”, is using deliberate starvation as a weapon of war to forcibly displace Palestinians. It continues to close all Gaza border crossings and blocks the entry of humanitarian and relief aid, especially food, from various international actors since March 2, 2025. This constitutes an attempt to destroy, in whole or in part, a national group, an act of genocide as defined under international law. The mass killing of Palestinians at aid distribution points constitutes a full-fledged war crime under international law, including Article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The ICHR holds the Israeli occupation and the U.S. administration fully legally and morally responsible for the killings of aid-seeking Palestinians and the safety of Gaza’s civilian population as a whole.

The ICHR urgently calls for:

  1. The United Nations to assume its legal and moral responsibilities by exerting serious pressure on Israel, the occupying power to lift the comprehensive blockade, immediately open Gaza’s crossings, and allow the sustained flow of goods, food, medicine, and life-saving humanitarian and relief aid in a manner that preserves the dignity and basic rights of the population.
  2. The international community to take effective steps to pressure Israel to allow the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations to participate in aid distribution, ensure the safety, dignity, and survival of Palestinians, and deliver safe humanitarian assistance wherever Palestinians are located.
  3. Pressure on Israel to stop its aggression and acts of genocide in Gaza, abide by its obligations under the ceasefire agreement signed on January 17, 2025, and implement UN Security Council Resolution 2735 (dated June 10, 2024) on the ceasefire, as well as Resolution 2720 on urgent measures to ensure the safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid. Israel must also comply with the rulings of the International Court of Justice issued in January, March, and May 2024, which compel it to take measures to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
  4. Third States party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions to fulfill their obligations under these treaties by pressuring Israel to lift the blockade and ensure the fair, demilitarized, and non-politicized distribution of humanitarian aid.

The ICHR calls for serious efforts to end this security mechanism that serves the occupation's goals, to refuse any form of support for it, and to challenge it at the legal and diplomatic levels.

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