UN official criticizes Israeli attack on aid distribution centers, on civilians in Gaza

The UN humanitarian aid chief on Friday denounced the targeting of aid seekers by Israeli forces in Gaza.

"Distributing aid in Gaza should be done in a safe, dignified and predictable manner. Anything less is unconscionable," Martin Griffiths, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, wrote on X.

Expressing shock at reports of 20 dead and 155 injured among those seeking aid in Gaza, Griffiths said sternly: "These incidents cannot be allowed to continue."

Griffiths further stressed the imperative to "end the war," sending a clear message on the need to cease hostilities.

According to the Government Media Office in Gaza, the Israeli army has committed five massacres at aid distribution centers and on civilians over the last 48 hours.

Israel has waged a retaliatory offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The offensive has killed over 31,000 victims and injured more than 73,000 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.