Geneva, August 09 (QNA) - Israel is deliberately crippling the transportation, storage, and freight system in the Gaza Strip by destroying trucks, targeting drivers, and preventing the entry of spare parts and operational materials, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med Monitor) has warned.

It added that these actions obviously obstruct the delivery of food and medicine for humanitarian purposes and push the Strip back toward the risk of famine.

In a statement Sunday, Euro-Med Monitor said Israeli authorities are implementing an integrated policy to dismantle the supply chain from the moment aid crosses the crossings, stressing that Israel's mere permission for some trucks to enter presents a misleading picture as long as the logistical infrastructure for transportation and storage remains destroyed or disabled by Israeli restrictions and practices.

The Monitor cited Nahed Shuhibar, head of the Private Transport Association in the Gaza Strip, as saying that the Strip's transport fleet has fallen from around 1,200 trucks before the start of the war to only around 300 trucks currently fit for operation, equivalent to 25 percent of its previous capacity.

This followed the destruction of hundreds of trucks and the breakdown of an additional 100 trucks due to the arbitrary ban on the entry of tyres, oils, batteries, and spare parts, in addition to the enormous increase in the cost of scarce operational materials, Shuhibar remarked.

He noted that Israeli attacks have resulted in the killing of more than 20 truck drivers, the detention of 15 others, and the destruction of more than 150 trucks while they were carrying out their duties, particularly on roads leading to or near the Kerem Shalom crossing.

The decimation of the headquarters and warehouses belonging to around 150 transport companies has also resulted in large quantities of frozen food and medical supplies spoiling before reaching those in need due to slow inspections and delays lasting between 24 and 72 hours, Shuhibar cautioned.

The rights watchdog pointed to assessments by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which project that more than 1.4 million people, or around 67 percent of the enclave's population, are braced for acute food insecurity through the end of this year.

It stressed that the humanitarian situation of the population remains extremely precarious and that any disruption to relief services could bring a famine redux.

The Monitor affirmed that Israel, as the de facto occupying power, is violating its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law, which require it to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and ensure its distribution.

It explained that deliberately weaponizing food and relief items, as well as means of transportation, amounts to war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and an explicit violation of the provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

As such, Euro-Med Monitor called on the international community to spring into action to lift the blockade on Gaza, open all crossings, and immediately allow the entry of replacement trucks, spare parts, fuel, and operational equipment.

It also called for an end to the targeting of drivers and the release of detained drivers, while urging the ICC to accelerate its investigations and pursue those responsible for crimes of starvation and genocide. (QNA)