UK slams Israel for 'inhumane' aid delivery system in Gaza

UN says more than 500 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid

People carrying Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid parcels in northern Gaza. AFP

Britain on Monday condemned Israel’s new aid delivery system in Gaza as “inhumane,” referencing reports of hundreds of Palestinians killed while attempting to access food and humanitarian supplies.

“The suffering in Gaza is appalling and cannot continue. Israel's aid delivery measures are inhumane,” said Fergus Eckersley, the UK’s political co-ordinator to the United Nations. “The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's operations, which are supposed to be saving lives, are themselves leading to mass casualties. Starving people who are desperate to feed their families are told food awaits them, but over 500 have reportedly been killed trying to access it.”

Many Gazans said they have to walk for hours to reach the four appointed sites by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), meaning they must start travelling well before dawn if they are to stand any chance of receiving food.

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The Israeli military acknowledged on Monday that Palestinian civilians were harmed at aid distribution centres in Gaza, saying that instructions had been issued to its forces following “lessons learnt”. Previously, the military has said it fired warning shots at people who move suspiciously or got too close to troops, including while they were collecting aid.

Since June 17, at least 580 Palestinians have been killed either trying to reach GHF distribution points or waiting for other aid convoys, Khaled Khiari, assistant secretary general for the Middle East, told Council members. Mr Khiari also said that the level of suffering and brutality in Gaza is “unbearable”, and the continued collective punishment of the Palestinian people is “unjustifiable”.

“Civilians are being killed while simply trying to receive aid amid life-threatening famine. They are forced to flee time and again although no place in Gaza, as we know, is safe for civilians,” said Slovenia’s UN envoy Samuel Zbogar. The World Food Programme reported that one in five people IN Gaza faces catastrophic levels of hunger, and more than 90,000 women and children urgently require treatment.

The Palestinian deputy envoy to the UN, Majed Bamya, said to Council members: “What if these people that you saw on your TVs every night and every day were Israelis starving, trying to get aid? Gaza was the most densely populated area on earth, with over two million people living in the Gaza Strip. They now are squeezed on 16 per cent of that area to render them more desperate, to force them to leave their land.”

Israel has pushed for the GHF to replace the current UN-co-ordinated aid system, accusing Hamas of diverting assistance to sustain its rule. The US has backed these claims, but the world body says there has been no systematic aid theft.

Israel’s ambassador Danny Danon said the GHF has offered the United Nations full data-sharing, joint logistics and transparent monitoring. “What has the response been from the Secretary General [Antonio Guterres] and other officials?” Mr Danon asked. “We heard it today: indifference, defamation and obstruction.”

In a letter sent last week to Mr Guterres, the head of the GHF Johnnie Moore urged the world body to engage “immediately and directly” with the organisation, says it had a proven ability to distribute aid effectively. When asked by The National whether the UN had responded, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: “We're in the process of responding, but our public message and our private message is the same.”

Mr Dujarric confirmed that senior UN officials had met GHF representatives in Israel, adding: “We were invited in Israel to hear from the GHF and we went, because we don't refuse these kinds of meetings.”

However, he reiterated concerns over safety: “Our concerns continue. I think we've all seen what is happening again. We're not saying that GHF should not operate. What we're saying is that whether it's GHF or others, they need to operate in ways that are safe. And I think everyone can see that currently it's not safe. There's no need to reinvent the wheel.”