Palestinian official says Gaza aid strike a 'deliberate war crime'

Rawhi Fattouh, speaker of the Palestinian National Council, has condemned the killing of over 27 Palestinians in an Israeli strike on Salah al-Din Street in central Gaza, calling it a “new war crime” added to the occupation’s “bloody record”.

Fattouh said Israeli forces targeted civilians as they waited for food aid, wounding dozens and turning a site meant for relief into what he called an “open field of death,” the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

“Never in the history of war have pain and hunger been turned into tools for mass murder, aid used as bait for death, and food distribution centres turned into arenas for mass executions,” he said in a press statement.

He accused Israel of deliberately transforming aid convoys into “death traps,” saying the attack was carried out with “American cover and international silence.”

“This complex crime reveals complete complicity between the occupation army and its American backer in the killing of innocent civilians,” he said, calling the attack a violation of international humanitarian law.

Fattouh urged the UN and International Criminal Court to launch an immediate investigation and called on people worldwide to take to the streets to protest what he called “planned crimes” and a “genocidal war” against the Palestinian people.