Israel’s Gaza aid policy is ‘cheap form of genocide’: Iran’s Khamenei

TEHRAN: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has strongly condemned Israel’s aid distribution mechanism in Gaza, calling it a “cheap form of genocide,” Al Jazeera reported.

Israel had presented Palestinians in Gaza with a grim choice – “either perish under the rubble of hunger, or get shot trying to obtain a food package,” Khamenei said in a post on X.

“This is a cheap form of genocide, calculated with Western precision. A nation that once died under bombs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars now dies in food lines from bullets that cost mere dollars,” he said.

According to Al Jazeera, the UN says about 800 Palestinians have been killed while trying to receive aid at GHF sites in the past six weeks.

Earlier, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini also reacted to the situation and stated, Gaza has become the graveyard of children and starving people, adding that Tel Aviv is engineering a “cruel and Machiavellian scheme to kill” in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.

“Inaction and silence are complicities. Under our watch, #Gaza has become the graveyard of children and starving people,” Lazzarini wrote on X.

“No way out. Their choice is between 2 deaths: starvation or being shot at. The most cruel and machiavellian scheme to kill, in total impunity. Our norms and values are being buried. Inaction will bring more chaos. Time to act is overdue,” he added.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said between May and July 7, the UN had recorded 798 killings near aid points in Gaza, as per Al Jazeera.

According to Israeli outlet Haaretz, Israeli soldiers and US contractors working with GHF have admitted to shooting unarmed Palestinians gathering for food. (ANI)