US-backed aid distribution organisation says 20 people killed at site in Gaza
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said 19 people were trampled and another was stabbed, as the crowd surged at the site in Khan Younis.
It blamed what it described as "agitators" in the crowd, saying it believed they were linked to Hamas.
"We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd — armed and affiliated with Hamas — deliberately fomented the unrest," GHF said in a statement.
"For the first time since operations began, GHF personnel identified multiple firearms in the crowd, one of which was confiscated. An American worker was also threatened with a firearm by a member of the crowd during the incident."
GHF said the incident followed a "troubling pattern" of false information about aid site openings being circulated online.
"False messages about aid site openings, including at SDS4 (Wadi Gaza) and the long-closed SDS1 (Tal Sultan), have circulated widely on Telegram and other platforms, fuelling confusion, driving crowds to closed sites, and inciting disorder," the statement said.
The international humanitarian community has been scathing in its criticism of the GHF-run sites, saying they were death traps for desperate Palestinians trying to access food.
There have been multiple shootings outside the distribution facilities in recent weeks, which local health authorities said have killed hundreds of Palestinians.
GHF has repeatedly rejected those claims, but added that it does not have responsibility for incidents happening in the areas outside of its distribution sites.
The Israel Defense Forces has admitted firing warning shots at some of the sites, but has denied being involved in mass shootings.
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Two of the Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza City, in the north of the territory, killing 13 people there, including six children and five women, according to the Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the bodies. The Israeli military says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because its militants are entrenched in heavily populated areas. UN experts say Israeli-backed aid group should be dismantled. Israel facilitated the establishment of four GHF sites in May after blocking the entry of all food, medicine and other goods for 2.5 months. Israeli and US officials said a new system was needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off humanitarian aid. The United Nations, which has delivered aid to hundreds of distribution points across Gaza throughout the war when conditions allow, has rejected the new system, saying it forces Palestinians to travel long distances and risk their lives for food, and that it allows Israel to control who gets aid, potentially using it to advance plans for further mass displacement. The UN human rights office said last week that some 1400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid since May, mostly near GHF sites but also along UN convoy routes where trucks have been overwhelmed by crowds. It says nearly all were killed by Israeli fire. This week, a group of UN special rapporteurs and independent human rights experts called for the GHF to be disbanded, saying it is "an utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law".
