Israeli forces have killed 59 Palestinians across Gaza, with at least 17 of them trying to get food at aid sites operated by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Medics at al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza reported that at least three people were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire as they tried to approach a GHF site near the Netzarim Corridor, desperately seeking food parcels for their hungry families.
According to Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, “People have told us that the Israeli military did not warn the hungry crowds before opening fire on them, leading to devastating civilian casualties.”
Ahmed al-Masri, who left one of the aid points empty-handed, described the shootings as “a trap”. The Gaza Ministry of Health said in a statement that at least 274 people have been killed, and more than 2,000 wounded, near aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations in Gaza. The Israeli military has admitted to shooting at aid seekers but claimed it opened fire only when “suspects” deviated from a stipulated route to the GHF distribution site.
Hamas has accused Israel of “employing hunger as a weapon of war and turning aid distribution sites into traps of mass deaths of innocent civilians”. The UN has labelled the GHF aid distribution as inadequate, dangerous, and a violation of humanitarian principles.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stated, “GHF, I think it’s fair to say, has been, from a principled humanitarian standpoint, a failure. They are not doing what a humanitarian operation should do, which is providing aid to people where they are, in a safe and secure manner.”
The conflict has driven the territory to the brink of famine, with alarming levels of hunger. Israel’s war on Gaza has killed nearly 55,300 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and flattened much of the densely populated Gaza Strip.