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Four people were killed and at least 46 wounded when Israeli troops opened fire following chaos at a new Gaza aid hub set up by a US and Israeli-backed foundation, local authorities said on Wednesday.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, crowds overwhelmed a distribution point outside Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. In an attempt to disperse the rush, Israeli warplanes opened fire.
Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Palestinian territories, told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday that it appeared Israeli army fire had caused most of the injuries.
The distribution hub in Tel Al Sultan, south-west of Rafah, was opened on Tuesday by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been slated by Israel to take over aid operations in the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli military said its troops fired warning shots in the area outside the aid compound.
The UN said it was “heartbreaking” to watch desperate Gazans crowding into food banks to collect parcels of aid as the unrest broke out on the first day of operations for the new foundation.
Israel's military said 8,000 food boxes were distributed, with parcels containing items such as pasta, flour and cooking oil. The foundation said aid was delivered to its “distribution hubs” through the Karam Abu Salem border crossing in southern Gaza.
The new arrangement has been criticised for sidelining the UN and established aid groups. Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian office OCHA, said the operation is distracting attention from the need to reopen border crossings after nearly three months of an Israeli blockade on Gaza.
Displaced Gazans in Rafah held up GHF-branded parcels as the aid distribution centres began their operations on Tuesday. The Israeli military said the volume of people at one point was “such that the foundation's team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate”.
Chef Jose Andres, founder of the World Central Kitchen aid agency, claimed that Gazans had “stormed the distribution place, damaging the fence”.
The UN's spokesman called a video appearing to show thousands of Palestinians storming one of the sites “heartbreaking”. Stephane Dujarric said the footage was “hard to watch” but said he did not have “any clarity as to what is going on, exactly, at that loading area”.
The new foundation said 170 lorries carrying food, medicine and supplies had crossed into Gaza but did not specify who received the aid, nor how recipients were chosen. Few details are known about the foundation and it has not responded to The National's requests for more information.
The centres “are operated by international aid organisations and secured by an American civilian security company”, the Israeli military said. It said food was being distributed to “thousands of families in the Gaza Strip”.
About 462,000 meals have been distributed so far, according to the foundation. It said Gazans experienced “several-hour delays in accessing the site due to blockades imposed by Hamas”.
The World Food Programme has rejected Israel's allegations that aid is being withheld by Hamas, an allegation cited as justification by the US and Israel for setting up the new foundation.
“More trucks with aid will be delivered tomorrow, with the flow of aid increasing each day,” a statement by the group read.
Gaza requires at least 600 lorries of aid per day, the UN estimates. OCHA and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, told a press briefing in Geneva that they did not know whether any aid had actually been distributed by the new foundation.
Mr Laerke said the UN was not involved in the foundation's aid deliveries. “It is a distraction from what is actually needed, which is a reopening of all the crossings into Gaza; a secure environment within Gaza; and faster facilitation of permission and final approvals of all the emergency supplies that we have just outside the border that need to get in,” he said.
Israel continues to bombard Gaza in a bid to “eradicate” Hamas, killing more than 54,000 people, mostly women and children, since October 2023.
Critics say that because Hamas was the de facto authority in Gaza before the war began, thousands of civilian employees of its administration, such as doctors and teachers, are likely to be unfairly deprived of aid.
Gaza's health authorities say dozens of children have died as a result of malnutrition since an Israeli blockade on the territory was imposed on March 2. The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) estimates half a million people in Gaza are facing starvation.
Aid groups have boycotted the new foundation's plans, which they say violate international humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.
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The foundation's chief executive Jake Wood resigned on Sunday, citing those same reasons. In a statement, Mr Wood said it had become clear the plan could not be carried out while “strictly adhering” to humanitarian principles.
The foundation's plan to hand over aid at distribution centres puts civilians in a position where they must travel in high-risk areas to receive assistance, the UN and other NGOs have said.
The mechanism also encourages displacement because besieged Palestinians would want to live closer to where aid is available.
A UNRWA spokeswoman told The National the foundation was attempting to replace a system that had been in place and continuously improved since 1945.
“I cannot speak about an entity that nobody knows anything about but with all the rules, regulations, vetting, clearing and security systems that the UN has put in place, I would be curious about how another entity born the day before yesterday can carry out business,” Tamara Al Rifai said.
