Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz have both denounced a recent article claiming Israeli soldiers were ordered to shoot at unarmed civilians in Gaza lines awaiting humanitarian assistance. The report, written by Haaretz, has elicited fierce criticism from the leadership of Israel.
In a statement released on Friday, Netanyahu and Katz stated the article was a "contemptible blood libel" and said: "The State of Israel categorically rejects the contemptible blood libels that have been published in the Ha'aretz newspaper, according to which 'IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid.'
The Israeli officials referred to the allegations as "malicious falsehoods calculated to slander the IDF, the most moral army in the world."
The statement went on to declare that the Israeli Defense Forces fight under stringent rules to prevent the harming of civilians, even when confronted with a militant enemy that uses the population as human shields. "The IDF fights in challenging circumstances against an enemy terrorist who fights from among a civilian population and takes cover behind it, using it as human shields, and employs a full industry of lies to attack the legitimacy of the State of Israel."
It went on to say: "IDF soldiers get specific instructions not to harm non-combatants – and conduct themselves accordingly."
Israel asked the world's democracies to rally to its cause against Hamas and expressed the view that its fight is "just and moral.
In the meantime, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to deteriorate. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and its non-governmental organization partners documented alarming increases in preventable diseases due to critical lack of clean water, sanitation, and fuel.
As of statistics in the last fortnight, Gaza reported over 19,000 instances of acute watery diarrhea, and over 200 each of acute jaundice syndrome and blood diarrhea, Xinhua News Agency reported.
These outbreaks have a direct connection to Gaza's shortage of clean water and sanitation, and highlight the immediate need for fuel, medical supplies and water, sanitation and hygiene materials to avoid further breaking-down of the public health system," UN humanitarians alerted.
Separately, health partners also documented a mass casualty incident at Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah due to an airstrike. The facility received more than 20 corpses and treated at least 70 wounded, with additional urgent cases referred to the Nasser Medical Complex and other centers because of shortages of beds.
OCHA underlined the impact the conflict still has on civilians: "Civilians in Gaza are still being killed or wounded every day, whether in Israeli aerial bombardments, shelling, or while attempting to obtain food to feed their families," the agency stated. "These heartbreaking incidents should not be normalized and must end at once.
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