Palestinian govt office on humanitarian aid crisis in Rafah

The following statement from the Government Media Office was published by Resistance News Network on June 1, 2025:

In a repeated crime that proves the falsity of humanitarian claims, the “israeli” occupation forces committed a new massacre against hungry civilians who had gathered at the so-called “humanitarian aid” distribution sites, which are supervised by a U.S.-“israeli” company and secured by the occupation army, within the so-called “buffer zones” in the city of Rafah.

We affirm to the entire world that what is happening is the systematic and malicious use of aid as a tool of war, employed to blackmail starving civilians and forcibly gather them in exposed killing points, managed and monitored by the occupation army and funded and politically covered by the occupation and the U.S. administration, which bears full moral and legal responsibility for these crimes.

It has been proven by blood, eyewitness testimony and field and international reports that the “Aid Through Buffer Zones” project is a failed and dangerous project. It serves as a cover for the occupation’s security and military policies and is used to falsely promote claims of a “humanitarian response,” while the occupation closes official crossings and prevents the arrival of genuine relief from neutral international bodies.

This new crime, with this large number of daily victims, is further evidence of the occupation’s continued implementation of a systematic plan of genocide, through preemptive starvation and then mass killing at distribution points. This is a fully-fledged war crime under international law, particularly Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Accordingly, we affirm the following:

First: We hold the “israeli” occupation fully responsible for the ongoing massacres at “aid” distribution sites, which are carried out under a false humanitarian cover. We also hold it, along with the United States of America, directly responsible for the use of food as a weapon in the war on Gaza.

Second: We call on the United Nations and the Security Council to assume their legal and humanitarian responsibilities, open the official crossings immediately and without restrictions and enable U.N. and international organizations to deliver aid free from the interference or supervision of the occupation.

Third: We call for the urgent formation of an independent international investigation committee to document these massacres, including the killings at aid distribution sites and hold those responsible accountable before international courts.

Fourth: We categorically reject all forms of “buffer zones” or “humanitarian corridors” established under the supervision of the occupation or with U.S. funding. We warn of the danger of continuing this deadly model, which has proven to be a trap for starving civilians, not a means of escape.

Fifth: We call on Arab and Islamic countries and the free nations of the world to take urgent and effective action to secure independent and safe humanitarian corridors away from the occupation and to rescue the remaining besieged residents of Gaza, facing famine and daily massacres.

Massacres committed in broad daylight and broadcast live represent a legal, moral and humanitarian scandal before the eyes of the world. Silence on these crimes is shameful complicity that condemns all who stand helpless, silent or justifying.