Bay Area Leaders Express Outrage at ‘Unacceptable’ Conditions in Gaza

Updated July 24

Local leaders and human rights organizations in the Bay Area are calling for an end to the violence in the Gaza Strip and a stop to the United States’ funding of Israeli military operations after dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces last week while attempting to access food and other resources from humanitarian workers.

At least 94 Palestinians were killed while trying to get aid across Gaza, including at least 81 in the deadliest incident near the Israeli border in northern Gaza, according to a report by NPR — although some advocates estimate that the number is closer to over 100.

U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon of Oakland described Israel’s recent attack on aid seekers as “devastating, deplorable and unacceptable.” She said Congress needs to do more to end the bloodshed in Gaza, and that the United States has been complicit in the murder of tens of thousands of civilians.

“Gaza is all but leveled. The folks are sick and starving there,” Simon said. “We should be ashamed of ourselves. We should be looking at the photos. We should be listening to the cries of mothers. We should be looking at the region that has been in turmoil for years and years and decades and decades and realize that we cannot be complicit in an endless war.”

Trucks sent by the United Nations’ World Food Programme crossed the Israeli border of Zikim and entered northern Gaza on Sunday morning with bags of flour and other essential food supplies. As civilians approached the trucks, the Israeli military fired at the crowd with tanks, snipers and other weapons, the organization said in a statement.

“We are deeply concerned and saddened by this tragic incident resulting in the loss of countless lives,” the statement read. “These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation. This terrible incident underscores the increasingly dangerous conditions under which humanitarian operations are forced to be conducted in Gaza.”

In a statement to NPR, the Israel Defense Forces said its troops encountered thousands of Palestinians and “fired warning shots in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them.”

The Israeli military said it was examining the incident but that an “initial review suggests that the number of casualties reported does not align with the information held by the IDF.”

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been appropriated for defense and military spending through Congress, despite cuts being made to health care, education and other critical services across the country, Simon said, adding that she is committed to voting ‘no’ on every legislative move that funds warfare.

Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center in San Francisco, said Israel’s actions on Sunday are nothing new to organizers who have been working to send aid to Gaza, where Palestinians have endured months of severe famine. Tens of thousands of people have been killed by military forces and starvation, and the situation has only escalated over the last few months, she said.

The hunger in Gaza is a humanitarian crisis, according to the World Food Programme. Malnutrition is on the rise, and nearly one person in three goes days without food. An estimated 90,000 women and children are in urgent need of treatment due to starvation, and a single bag of flour costs over US$100, the organization reported.

Dozens of nonprofits and volunteer organizations across the world are working to get food and other essential resources into Gaza, but many of them are stopped from entering by the Israeli government, Kiswani said. The organizations that are allowed into Gaza, such as the World Food Programme, risk being attacked by military forces.

The World Food Programme said in a statement that Israeli authorities had assured organizers that humanitarian convoys would be allowed to conduct their operations without interference by armed forces or military groups.

“Israel is able to act with impunity, able to do whatever it wants. … It’s very clear that the intent here is starvation, ethnic cleansing and genocide,” Kiswani said. “The Israeli government will speak one way, but the actions and practices and policies on the ground reflect something very different.

“This is not the first time that people attempting to get aid and services have been shot at and killed. There is no safe place in Gaza.”