Why UN says Gaza food aid obstruction may be a war crime: summary

What we know

• The UN human rights office stated that blocking access to food and aid for civilians in Gaza may amount to a war crime.
• At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire near a food distribution site in southern Gaza on Tuesday, according to local health officials.

• The UN reported that this was the third consecutive day of fatalities near aid distribution sites, with 32 killed on June 1 and three on June 2.
• The Israeli military said it fired on individuals who left designated access routes near the Rafah distribution site.
• The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by the U.S. and endorsed by Israel, began food distribution last week amid widespread hunger.
• The foundation's operations bypass traditional aid channels and have faced criticism from the UN and established humanitarian groups for not adhering to humanitarian principles.
• On Tuesday, June 3, the foundation said it delivered 21 truckloads of food without incident within the site.

What they said

"For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the 'Gaza Humanitarian Foundation," the spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jeremy Laurence, told reporters in Geneva. The head of the U.N. agency, Volker Turk, urged a prompt and impartial investigation into attacks on Palestinians trying to receive food aid. "Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law, and a war crime," Turk said in a statement.