UN posts video of hundreds of Palestinians swarming around their cars 'and gunshots fired near crowds' at Gaza aid site amid escalating Hamas-Israel war of words over 'starvation' crisis

Daily Mail​

a day ago

The UN has released a video purporting to show Israeli forces firing small arms inches away from civilians awaiting food at Israel and U.S.-backed food distribution centres in Gaza.
It comes amid an escalating war of words over the humanitarian crisis in the Strip, with Israel and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) facing mounting pressure from the international community over access to food in the enclave.
Israel insists that the Strip is not facing 'starvation', and claims Hamas is responsible for the looting of aid in Gaza. But the UN has warned that widespread starvation is a looming threat in Gaza, and claims scores of Palestinians have been shot while trying to claim aid near GHF distribution sites.
Footage posted on X on Wednesday shows a UN convoy of food supplies approaching hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza near Kerem Shalom on July 30.
As the cars approach the swarming crowds of Gazans, successive rounds of gunshots can be heard as they land and lift dust just inches away from the crowds.
The UN claims these were warning shots fired by Israeli forces.
'No one should be forced to risk their life to eat,' the tweet said.
'Every day, @UN teams collect critical supplies from Gaza's crossings, bringing them to those struggling to survive.
The UN claimed in a video on X that these were warning shots fired by Israeli forces just inches away from a Palestinian crowd
'But movement is often delayed, and desperate crowds who gather to offload, are met with gunfire.'
One of the UN officials driving the car can be heard saying 'Stay away, stay away' before the gunshots are first fired.
'It's kids, it's children, children,' she says, alarmed.
Despite the open fire, the crowds do not disperse, and instead desperately rush towards the UN cars in a chaotic scene.
The Daily Mail contacted the IDF for comment about the video but has not yet received a response.
'As the convoy neared, starving people rushed the convoy while the shooting didn't stop,' the UN claimed, adding that at least one person was wounded and treated with the help of personnel.
Israel has repeatedly blamed the UN for failing to adequately distribute aid in Gaza, and has previously alleged that large quantities of supplies have been sitting on the Gaza side of the border, uncollected.
The country has blamed the stockpile on the Gazan side of the Strip's Kerem Shalom crossing on 'a lack of cooperation from the international community and international organizations'.
But the UN has denied these claims, alleging that Israel has rejected a large proportion of its aid collection and distribution requests, and that its ongoing military operations have impeded the UN's ability to safely deliver aid inside the enclave.
Despite the open fire, the crowds do not disperse, and instead desperately rush towards the UN cars in a chaotic scene
The UN refuses to cooperate with the US- and Israel-backed GHF distribution system, which began on May 27, describing its set-up as unethical.
Israel has also accused Hamas operatives of 'stealing aid from the Gaza population many times by shooting Palestinians' and claims the terrorist group 'benefits from attempting to fuel the perception of a humanitarian crisis' in the territory.
The UN says it has not seen evidence of mass aid diversion in Gaza by Hamas, but Israel has released videos purporting to show evidence of armed gunmen looting supplies.
'Today we went on a mission to pick up food supplies from Kerem Shalom,' said Olga Cherevko, from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
'One of the constraints that we faced was waiting about two and a half hours at an Israeli forces checkpoint, which by the time we were allowed to pass, we were met on the road by tens of thousands of hungry and desperate people who directly offloaded everything from the backs of our trucks,' she said.
Another constraint faced by the UN convoy was the 'very limited time' they were given to load and secure the cargo onto their trucks with belts or tarps, meaning supplies can easily fall off from their vehicles as the roads 'are rough and sometimes we have to drive at quite high speeds'.
'These constraints have to be addressed, access must be expanded, much more food needs to be entering on a regular basis, so that communities have the confidence that supplies are coming and that they will be receiving them and they will be distributed properly.'
The UN has alleged that as many as 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access the aid distributed from GHF centres in the Strip.
In a separate incident, more than 50 Palestinians were killed and 400 others injured while waiting for food near the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza on Wednesday, according to al-Shifa hospital and the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.
The IDF said troops fired 'warning shots' but that it was 'not aware of any casualties'.
When the left-wing Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz published an article claiming that officers and soldiers were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, Israel vehemently denied the accusation and called it a 'blood libel' against the Jewish state.
Israel denies its soldiers deliberately shoot at aid recipients but has previously confirmed that its forces fire 'warning shots'.
The UN video comes after Israel announced it would begin 10-hour 'tactical pauses' in its military operations in three densely-populated areas of Gaza on Sunday until further notice, to allow aid corridors for UN convoys.
In response to pressure from foreign governments, the UN and international aid groups, Israel also resumed airdrops of humanitarian supplies into the Strip - airdrops which the IDF say include 'seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar and canned food to be provided by international organisations'.
On the first day of the partial pause in military operations in Muwasi, Deir al Balah and Gaza City, Israel said more than 120 truckloads of food aid had been distributed by the UN and other aid agencies.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said there had been 'progress' regarding the aid crisis but warned vast amounts of supplies were still needed to 'stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis'.
On Tuesday, the leading international authority on food crises, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), said in a new alert that the 'worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip', predicting 'widespread death' without immediate action.
Israeli soldiers drive on their armored personnel carrier back from inside the northern Gaza Strip into southern Israel, Tuesday, July 29, 2025
And the World Health Organisation, WHO, warned that malnutrition had reached 'alarming levels' in Gaza, reporting that there were 74 malnutrition-related deaths in 2025 in the Strip. Sixty-three of the deaths occurred in July – including 24 children under five.
Israel has accused the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza of releasing 'unverified numbers' to the media in relation to casualties, 'while circulating images that are carefully staged', in reference to photographs of emaciated children.
'We are fighting a just war, a moral war, a fight for our survival,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, adding that even before the renewed aid effort, 'we already allow significant amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza every single day, including food, water and medicine'.