GENEVA 

A group of UN experts on Thursday condemned the enforced disappearance of starving Palestinian civilians seeking food aid at distribution centers run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

The UN experts, who include Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, and Michael Fakhri, the special rapporteur on the right to food, urged Israeli authorities to put an end to “the heinous crime against an already vulnerable population.”

They said: “Reports of enforced disappearances targeting starving civilians seeking their basic right to food are not only shocking, but amount to torture.”

The experts said that using food as a tool to conduct targeted and mass disappearances has to end now.

They said they received reports that several individuals, including a child, who visited aid distribution sites in Rafah, had “been forcibly disappeared.”

The special rapporteurs said that aerial bombardment and daily gunfire at and around the crowded facilities have resulted in mass casualties.

“The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is obligated to provide secure distribution sites and has contracted private military security companies to that end,” said the experts.

According to their information, the Israeli army is also operating in and around aid distribution sites and is reportedly directly involved in the enforced disappearance of people seeking aid.

“We are particularly concerned that once again the Palestinian people have been targeted and punished as such, and in the most desperate moment of man-made starvation.”

Since May 27, Israel has launched a separate US-backed aid distribution initiative through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, bypassing the UN and international humanitarian agencies. The move has been widely rejected by the global relief community, with officials in Gaza calling the scheme a “death trap.”

- Denied aid

The experts also said the Palestinians had been denied the aid they are forced to rely on, which is “already laden with obstacles to access,” as the distribution points pose additional risks for devastated individuals of being forcibly disappeared.

“We fear that increased reports of enforced disappearances at aid distribution points will discourage individuals from accessing essential food assistance, further aggravating the risk of starvation,” they explained.

The experts said that the Israeli army is refusing to provide information on the fate and whereabouts of persons they have deprived of their liberty, “in apparent violation of the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of enforced disappearances.”

They said the failure to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty by state agents and refusal to recognize detention constitute an “enforced disappearance.”

“The international community cannot stay silent in the face of such an apparent constellation of abhorrent crimes,” the experts said, calling for swift action to end the atrocities.

They called on Israeli authorities to clarify the fate and whereabouts of disappeared persons and investigate the enforced disappearances thoroughly and impartially, and “punish perpetrators.”

The experts also noted that while these concerns have been raised directly with the Israeli government, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and private military security companies concerned, close independent monitoring is necessary.

Israel has killed nearly 63,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 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 International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.