The UN "follows the Hamas line," Israeli diplomacy responded to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this evening after he condemned the humanitarian aid distribution structure set up by Israel in Gaza, describing it as a "militarized" system that "kills people," Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA.
"Blaming Israel for the failures of the UN and for the actions of (the Palestinian Islamist movement) "Hamas" is a deliberate tactic," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in an interview with Ex.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, supported by Israel and Washington, has "directly provided over 46 million food rations to Palestinian civilians, not to Hamas, since it began distributing them in late May, the ministry added.
"However, the UN is doing everything it can to oppose these efforts. In doing so, the UN is aligning itself with Hamas, which is also trying to sabotage the GHF's humanitarian operations," the statement added. It stressed that the Israeli army "never deliberately targets civilians."
Guterres said that the UN-led humanitarian effort was "crushed," aid workers themselves were starving, and Israel, as the occupying power, had an obligation to accept and facilitate aid deliveries into the Palestinian enclave and throughout its territory.
"People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food should never be a death sentence," the secretary-general told the media.
The Israeli military prosecutor's office is investigating whether war crimes may have been committed in connection with the shooting of Palestinians near aid centers in the Gaza Strip. According to an article in the newspaper "Haaretz" The General Staff's investigative unit will investigate whether Israeli soldiers assigned to guard the disputed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution sites violated international humanitarian law, DPA reports.
According to UN figures, at least 410 Palestinians have been killed near GHF food distribution centers since the end of May. In almost all cases, Israeli soldiers are said to have fired on unarmed people who had gathered outside the centers before they opened.