UN experts condemn Israeli 'flour massacre' and urge end to starvation campaign

UN experts condemned the Israeli "flour massacre" last week, in which soldiers killed over 115 Palestinians gathered in Gaza City to collect aid.

In a press release on Tuesday, the group of UN special rapporteurs accused Israel of "intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza since 8 October" and now targeting aid convoys and civilians seeking food from them.

"Israel must end its campaign of starvation and targeting of civilians," the UN experts said, raising the alarm over reports of children dying from malnutrition in Gaza. 

"When children start dying like this, you know that famine is probably already happening or just around the corner," they said.

"We have said before: we are alarmed to see an entire civilian population suffering such unprecedented starvation, so quickly and completely."

The experts added that the Thursday mass killing of aid seekers, which caused international uproar, followed a "pattern" of Israeli attacks against Palestinians trying to reach aid.

At least 14 other similar incidents were recorded between mid-January and the end of February, they said. 

The experts also said recent airdrops "will achieve little" and condemned using humanitarian aid as a "bargaining chip in negotiations" by Israel in ongoing talks to reach a ceasefire.