The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the Israeli Occupation Forces’ (IOF) ongoing targeting of civilians’ gatherings near field kitchens and food distribution centers in the Gaza Strip. This comes while hundreds of thousands of people increasingly depend on such services to feed up their hunger, especially as a severe famine begins to spread across the Strip due to Israel’s systematic policy of siege and starvation.
Over the past few weeks, PCHR’s staff have documented a series of IOF’s attacks on field kitchens or on gatherings of people, either while they were standing in line to get food or near community-led initiatives distributing hot meals. The latest of these attacks killed 17 persons and injured others over the past few days.
At approximately 12:30 on Monday, 07 April 2025, an Israeli drone targeted a tent for displaced people inside the Hope for Return Camp in al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yunis, while many people were standing in line to get food from the nearby Compassionate Hearts field kitchen. As a result, seven people were killed, including four of the tent’s residents, among them two brothers, the wife of one of them, and his baby girl, as well as three of those lining up to receive food, including two children. Additionally, 25 others were injured, including the owner of the field kitchen, many kitchen workers, and those lining up to get meals. On Tuesday morning, 08 April 2025, medical sources at Nasser Medical Complex announced the death of three persons who succumbed to wounds they sustained in the strike.
Mohammed Jom’ah Mohammed Yehia (40), the owner of the field kitchen, told PCHR’s researcher:
“While we were preparing to distribute food to the displaced people who were lining up, I suddenly heard two loud explosions. Smoke and dust filled the area, and I saw the kitchen workers lying on the ground. I felt pain in my right leg, looked down, and saw it bleeding. I realized I had been injured. Many people, including women and children, were also lying on the ground. After the explosions, displaced young men rushed in and began transporting the wounded and the dead bodies in private cars and using animal-drawn carts. I was taken by private car to the Kuwaiti Hospital. Several people were killed and others wounded, including residents of the tent, kitchen workers, and those waiting for food. When I returned to the kitchen, I found that it sustained material damage, as the water tanks, six cooking pots and other cooking utensils were damaged.”
In a previous incident occurred at around 06:45 on Saturday, 05 April 2025, an Israeli drone launched an airstrike on al-Khair field kitchen in al-Sad al-‘Ali area in Khan Yunis. As a result, three workers at the kitchen were killed and identified as: Belal Sa’eed Mohammed Abu Mostafa (31), Mohammed Suliman Ibrahim Abu Mustafa (30), and Mohi al-Deen Hussain Mohammed al-Ghawas (29).
Suliman Ibrahim Jum’a Abu Mustafa (65), the father of one of the victims, told PCHR’s researcher that the al-Khair field kitchen, which had been operating for over a year, was an individual charitable initiative. Many residents of the area, as well as displaced people, relied on it to receive their daily meals.
At approximately 16:00 on Wednesday, 26 March 2025, an Israeli drone targeted a group of people gathered in front of al-Salhi family house in the vicinity of al-Qassam Mosque, 15 meters to the south of al-Nusirat Charitable Field Kitchen in al-Nusirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip. As a result, four were killed, including a worker in the field kitchen, while 15 others were injured.
In his testimony to PCHR’s researcher, one of the injured said:
“While I was working at the al-Nusirat Charitable Kitchen preparing food to distribute to the displaced people’s camps and those in need, I suddenly heard a loud explosion just a few meters away from me. Dust and smoke filled the air, and I felt severe pain in my left leg, thinking that my leg had been amputated. I ran but then lost consciousness. When I woke up, I found myself at al-‘Awda Hospital nearby. Later, I learned that 4 people had been killed in the attack, one of whom was Jalal Harb, who worked with us at the kitchen.”
According to information published by the Government Media Office in Gaza, the IOF has directly targeted 26 field kitchens providing meals for displaced and hungry people in the Gaza Strip and have bombed more than 37 aid distribution centers from 07 October 2023 until 28 March 2025.1
The IOF’s targeting of field kitchens comes amid Israel’s continued closure of Gaza’s crossings since 02 March 2025, preventing the entry of humanitarian aid, including flour and food supplies that has forced all bakeries in the Gaza Strip to shut down for nine days now, warning of a real famine that threatens the lives of more than two million Palestinians who rely on food aid.
According to PCHR’s follow-up, most field kitchens, which are established through individual initiatives or by charitable associations, have become the only source of food for tens of thousands of families, whose members stand in line daily to get a meal.
Most essential food supplies have run out of Gaza Strip’s markets, including flour, sugar, cooking oil, rice, fruits and vegetables in addition to meat, chicken and fish that were depleted a month ago. Meanwhile, prices of limited remaining goods have increased several times as people cannot afford to meet their families’ minimum needs of essential foodstuffs, forcing many of them to rely on field kitchens, which are now at risk of being targeted.
PCHR believes that the ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip, the closure of crossings, the blocking of goods, Israel’s ongoing genocide against the civilian population for over a year and a half, the issuance of forced displacement orders for tens of thousands of people, and the escalating bombing of gatherings, homes, and tents on top of their residents, are all aimed at subjecting Palestinians to living conditions designed to destroy them both physically and psychologically. This also serves to turn the Gaza Strip into an unlivable zone, ultimately achieving Israel’s goal of the forced displacement of the population.
PCHR emphasized that Israel’s deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war amid the Israeli Supreme Court’s coverup constitutes a war crime under Rome Statute, reflects perpetuation of genocide, and violates all international norms and conventions. PCHR recalls the three provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Israel “to take all measures within its power to allow the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.” PCHR also recalls the Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court’s decision regarding issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for committing war crimes, including use of starvation as a method of warfare.
PCHR calls on the international community to take decisive and urgent measures to stop the ongoing genocide and hold the Israeli leaders accountable for their atrocious crimes. PCHR also urges the State Parties to the Genocide Convention to fulfil their legal obligations, take urgent action to protect Palestinian civilians from the genocide and mass killings, and provide a safe corridor to secure urgent and life-saving needs.
