- ‘I have never seen a similar system applied in any conflict in the world that creates this kind of death trap, killing people who are already starving … It’s a total war crime,’ says Hilal Elver, former UN special rapporteur on the right to food

ISTANBUL

Since late May, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed at or near aid distribution centers operated by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The killings – and the shadowy US- and Israeli-backed GHF – have been widely condemned by all major international humanitarian organizations, including the UN. According to latest figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 700 Palestinians have been killed and around 5,000 wounded in almost daily shootings during aid distributions.

Adding to the chorus of criticism are two former UN special rapporteurs, Richard Falk and Hilal Elver, who say the GHF’s operations and the violence inflicted on Palestinians at its aid sites are “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity.”

“Enticing civilians, who are already starving, to come for food and then shooting them with live ammunition – that’s certainly a crime against humanity,” Falk, the former rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, told Anadolu at a recent international law conference in Istanbul.

Falk said cases could be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Court of Justice (ICJ), or national courts with universal jurisdiction.

“There is no real precedent for this,” he said. Both Israel and the US, he added, are participating in a “criminal process.”

However, Falk questioned whether there is sufficient political will to pursue legal accountability.

The ICC issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel also faces a genocide case at the ICJ for its war on the enclave.

Elver, who served as the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, echoed Falk’s view.

“I have never seen a similar system applied in any conflict in the world that creates this kind of death trap, killing people who are already starving,” she told Anadolu. “It’s terrible. It’s a total war crime.”

What is GHF?

The GHF is an American organization, backed by the Israeli and American governments. The militarized system is primarily staffed by American private security contractors and guarded by Israeli troops.

Earlier this month, Financial Times revealed that American consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG) helped establish the GHF.

As part of the covert project, the firm also modeled a way to forcibly remove more than half a million Palestinians from Gaza using “displacement packages,” with the GHF acting as its executive front.

Financial Times added that the ultimate sources of funding for the foundation “remained opaque,” even to members of the consulting team working on the project. BCG later “disavowed” the project, stating it was carried out without the firm’s approval by two former partners who have since been dismissed.

Just as the GHF began operating in late May, its head, US military veteran Jake Wood, quit as executive director, saying the work was incompatible with humanitarian principles.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and more than 170 humanitarian groups – including Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Doctors Without Borders – have signed a joint statement calling for GHF’s immediate closure and the return to UN-led coordination mechanisms.

Gaza’s food system ‘collapsed’

Elver, also a research professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said Gaza’s food system has collapsed.

Around 90% of agricultural land is now unusable due to destruction and chemical contamination, and 95% of fishing fleets have been destroyed.

“Gazans are agricultural communities built on the land and sea,” she said, noting the loss of livestock has deepened the nutrition crisis.

Elver called for urgent nutritional aid across the Gaza Strip.

In mid-June, UNICEF reported that the number of malnourished children in Gaza is rising at an “alarming rate.” In May alone, 5,119 children between six months and 5 years old were admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition, it reported – up 150% from February, when a ceasefire was in effect.

By the end of June, at least 66 children had died of malnutrition in Gaza, local authorities said.

‘Israel now widely viewed as a pariah state’

Falk, a leading figure behind the Gaza Tribunal – a people’s tribunal launched to investigate alleged Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian enclave – said international law plays an important role in shaping public opinion and defining legitimacy.

“Israel is now widely viewed as a pariah state, a rogue actor that has lost its legitimacy as a sovereign state,” he said. “Palestinians are winning the legitimacy war in Gaza.”

Referencing the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, Falk noted that civil society activism, such as the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, could prove politically decisive, even when governments hesitate to act.

“It can be politically more important than a strict enforcement of international law,” he said.

Looking ahead, Elver said Gaza’s recovery, once a permanent ceasefire is reached, must be led by Palestinians themselves.

“All of the international community has to come together, give sovereignty to Gazans,” Elver urged. “If they’re not part of the recovery, there will not be any kind of peace.”