The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned a deadly attack on a United Nations aid distribution center in Gaza that killed at least one staff member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said: “Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centres in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine.”
An unpublished UNRWA report outlines “extensive use of torture against Palestinians taken prisoner by the Israeli military in Gaza, including 21 UNRWA staff members.”
In an article titled, “Palestinians Describe Beatings, Stress Positions, Other Alleged Abuses in Israeli Detention,” the Wall Street Journal reports: “Former Gaza detainees said they were physically assaulted and forced to kneel for up to 20 hours a day, sometimes with their hands tied above their heads.”
Middle East Eye reports: “Palestinian men detained by Israeli forces since the start of the war in Gaza have told Middle East Eye how they were physically tortured with dogs and electricity, subjected to mock executions, and held in humiliating and degrading conditions.”
Israel has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. More children have been killed in Israel’s war against the Palestinians in Gaza than in four years of conflict around the world.
In a statement, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said:
“Day after day for months, the world has witnessed the war crimes, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced starvation being used as tactics of war by the far-right Israeli government, yet the daily outrages continue unabated.
“While the Biden administration changes its ‘tone’ and offers aid efforts of limited value in response to this campaign of genocide, we have seen no real change of policy in the administration’s support for the hideous slaughter and forced starvation of civilians.
“This must change if our nation ever hopes to have a shred of credibility when speaking about international human rights and freedom.”
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com