A human rights lawyer says staff working for the controversial group behind the violence-plagued aid distribution programme in Gaza could be held criminally liable for complicity in war crimes.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from London, Kate Mackintosh, executive director of the UCLA Law Promise Institute Europe, said that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) could bear criminal liability for the killings of hundreds of aid seekers near its distribution points.

“It’s very unclear why these people are being targeted and killed, but I think it’s pretty clear that these are unarmed civilians who are desperately trying to get food for their families,” she said.

“Firing upon people in that situation prima facie is a war crime.”

She said that people working for the GHD would “have to think about the extent to which they could be complicit in those crimes”.

“If they’re aware that this is going to happen — or even in some jurisdictions, they’re aware of the substantial risk of this happening, which it seems they must be, given what we’ve seen since these operations began — then they could be held criminally liable for participating in those crimes.”