Current aid distribution model in Gaza is 'engineering chaos and massacres', MSF says
Caroline Willemen, MSF project coordinator in Gaza, said: "On 30 July, as people approached trucks distributing aid near Zikim, in north Gaza, Israeli forces opened fire on them.
"People were wounded in the gunfire and in the crush as crowds panicked and ran. Medical staff at the MSF-supported Sheikh Radwan clinic in north Gaza treated 77 injured patients and received eight people dead on arrival.
"Across north Gaza, nearly 600 people were treated for similar injuries following violence and chaos near Zikim that night, according to the Ministry of Health, as food trucks were passing."
Willemen said such deadly incidents have become "a daily reality in Gaza for too long now" and the current methods of distribution are "engineering chaos and massacres" while Palestinians risk their lives in a desperate search for food.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
a day ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel kills 81 Palestinians since dawn on Tuesday
Gaza health officials said that 81 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since dawn on Tuesday. More than half - 57 - were seeking aid when they were shot by Israeli soldiers.
Middle East Eye
2 days ago
- Middle East Eye
Majority of Palestinians are too weak from starvation to access aid, report says
Seventy percent of Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing extreme weakness from starvation, hindering their ability to access humanitarian aid, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) said on Tuesday. "The physical exhaustion is so profound that many are unable to make the long journey on foot to distribution sites or carry heavy loads even if they receive assistance," said the organisation in a statement as it released the findings of a survey of Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, Gaza City and North Gaza. "The survey exposes the life-threatening consequences of the American and Israeli-backed distribution scheme and the severe psychological toll on a population with no safe haven," the statement said. The organisation also said Palestinians trying to access the militarised-backed distribution scheme said they witnessed people, including family members, being deliberately targeted, shot, and killed by soldiers.
Gulf Today
3 days ago
- Gulf Today
Starvation deaths rise to 175 in Gaza as 6 more Palestinians die
Six more people died of starvation or malnutrition in Gaza over the past 24 hours, its health ministry said on Sunday as Israel said it allowed a delivery of fuel to the enclave, in the throes of a humanitarian disaster after almost two years of war. The new deaths raised the toll of those dying from what international humanitarian agencies say may be an unfolding famine to 175, including 93 children, since the war began, the ministry said. Egypt's state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said two trucks carrying 107 tonnes of diesel were set to enter Gaza, months after Israel severely restricted aid access to the enclave before easing it somewhat as starvation began to spread. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said later in the day that four tankers of UN fuel had entered to help in operations of hospitals, bakeries, public kitchens and other essential services. There was no immediate confirmation whether the two diesel fuel trucks had entered Gaza from Egypt. Gaza's health ministry has said fuel shortages have severely impaired hospital services, forcing doctors to focus on treating only critically ill or injured patients. People mourn during the funeral of Palestinians, who were killed by Israeli fire while trying to receive aid, at Al Shifa Hospital. Reuters Fuel shipments have been rare since March, when Israel restricted the flow of aid into the enclave in what it said was pressure on Hamas militants to free the remaining hostages they took in their October 2023 attack on Israel. UN agencies say airdrops are insufficient and that Israel must let in far more aid by land and open up access to the territory to prevent starvation among its 2.2 million people, most of whom are displaced amidst vast swathes of rubble. COGAT said that during the past week over 23,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid in 1,200 trucks had entered Gaza but that hundreds of the trucks had yet to be driven to aid distribution hubs by UN and other international organisations. Meanwhile, Belgium's air force dropped the first in a series of its aid packages into Gaza on Sunday in a joint operation with Jordan, the Belgian defence ministry said. France on Friday started to air-drop 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Sunday that nearly 1,600 aid trucks had arrived since Israel eased restrictions late in July. However, witnesses and Hamas sources said many of those trucks have been looted by desperate displaced people and armed gangs. More than 700 trucks of fuel entered the Gaza Strip in January and February during a ceasefire before Israel broke it in March in a dispute over terms for extending it and resumed its major offensive. Reuters
