Chaos erupts on first day of US-backed aid distribution in Gaza after weeks of hunger
Videos from the distribution site in Tel al-Sultan, run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), showed large crowds storming the facilities, tearing down some of the fencing and appearing to climb over barriers designed to control the flow of the crowd.
A diplomatic official called the chaos at the site 'a surprise to no one.'
An 11-week Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid has pushed the enclave's population of more than 2 million Palestinians towards famine and into a deepening humanitarian crisis, with the first resumption of humanitarian aid trickling into the besieged enclave last week.
The GHF acknowledged the pandemonium, saying 'the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate. This was done in accordance with GHF protocol to avoid casualties.' A security source said American security contractors on the ground did not fire any shots and that operations would resume at the site on Wednesday.
'It's a big failure that we warned against,' said Amjad al-Shawa, director of Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network.
'If Israel believes that through this blockade and emboldening starvation, which violates humanitarian principles, that this distribution method would work, they are mistaken.'
GHF said it has distributed about 8,000 food boxes totaling 462,000 meals in Gaza so far. They say the flow of meals will increase each day, with a goal of delivering food to 1.2 million – 60% of Gaza's population – by the end of the week.
The GHF claimed it began operating on Monday, but photos from the organization showed only a handful of people carrying boxes of aid, with pallets of boxes sitting at an otherwise empty lot.
GHF is readying three additional sites for the distribution of aid, two of which are in southern Gaza and one in central Gaza. All of the sites in the south are in an area that fell under a massive evacuation order one day earlier.
There are no distribution sites in northern Gaza – a point of criticism from many aid experts. The UN has previously warned that the fact the initial sites were only in southern and central Gaza could be seen as encouraging Israel's publicly stated goal of forcing 'the entire Gazan population' out of northern Gaza, as Defense Minister Israel Katz put it earlier this month.
'This mechanism appears practically unfeasible, incompatible with humanitarian principles and will create serious insecurity risks, all while failing to meet Israel's obligations under international law,' the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs wrote earlier this month in a document obtained by CNN.
The United Nations said on Tuesday that Israel continues to deny it authorization to deliver food directly to families in Gaza, but they have thousands of trucks ready to enter the strip. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it was ready, with other humanitarian organizations, 'to distribute meaningful quantities of aid the moment we are allowed to.'
'The amount of supplies that were permitted to enter the Gaza Strip has been so minimal that they have not even reached families outside of one small area,' UNRWA said in a statement.
Israel and the US had declined to name the humanitarian organizations involved in the controversial new mechanism, but images from the GHF showed boxes labeled 'Rahma Worldwide,' a Michigan-based non-profit organization that says it provides 'aid and assistance to the most vulnerable communities in the world.'
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
27 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Trump tax law could cause Medicare cuts if Congress doesn't act, CBO says
WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficits caused by President Trump's tax and spending law could trigger automatic cuts to Medicare if Congress does not act, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported Friday. The CBO estimates that Medicare, the federal health insurance program for Americans over age 65, could potentially see as much as $491 billion in cuts from 2027 to 2034 if Congress does not act to mitigate a 2010 law that forces across-the-board cuts to many federal programs once legislation increases the federal deficit. The latest report from CBO showed how Trump's signature tax and spending law could put new pressure on federal programs that are bedrocks of the American social safety net. Trump and Republicans pledged not to cut Medicare as part of the legislation, but the estimated $3.4 trillion that the law adds to the federal deficit over the next decade means that many Medicare programs could see cuts. In the past, Congress has always acted to mitigate cuts to Medicare and other programs, but it would take some bipartisan cooperation to do so. Democrats, who requested the analysis from CBO, jumped on the potential cuts. 'Republicans knew their tax breaks for billionaires would force over half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts — and they did it anyway,' Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement. 'American families simply cannot afford Donald Trump's attacks on Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare.' Hospitals in rural parts of the country are already grappling with cuts to Medicaid, which is available to people with low incomes, and cuts to Medicare could exacerbate their shortfalls. As Republicans muscled the bill through Congress and are now selling it to voters back home, they have been critical of how the CBO has analyzed the bill. They have also argued that the tax cuts will spur economic growth and pointed to $50 billion in funding for rural hospitals that was included in the package. Groves writes for the Associated Press.
Wall Street Journal
28 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Israel Is Quietly in Talks to Relocate Palestinians From Gaza
Israel and the U.S. are pushing forward efforts to relocate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, a move they have presented in humanitarian terms but which governments in Europe and the Arab world have criticized as unrealistic and a potential violation of international law. The idea, which Israeli officials have publicly mulled since the beginning of the war in Gaza, got its biggest airing early this year when President Trump said the U.S. should take over the enclave and redevelop it as an international tourist destination while relocating many of its two million residents.
CNN
28 minutes ago
- CNN
What's next after no deal reached between Trump and Putin
What's next after no deal reached between Trump and Putin US President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin made 'great progress' but did not emerge from today's summit with a deal on the war in Ukraine. CNN's Jake Tapper discusses what's next after the Alaska meeting. 00:50 - Source: CNN Vertical Top News 10 videos What's next after no deal reached between Trump and Putin US President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin made 'great progress' but did not emerge from today's summit with a deal on the war in Ukraine. CNN's Jake Tapper discusses what's next after the Alaska meeting. 00:50 - Source: CNN Here's what happened during Trump-Putin meeting CNN's Kristen Holmes breaks down what happened during President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's summit in Anchorage, Alaska. 02:35 - Source: CNN F-22s that intercept Russian aircraft greet Putin on red carpet Four F-22 Raptors flanked the red carpet on the tarmac as Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson for his meeting with US President Donald Trump. CNN's Natasha Bertrand details how these F-22 are are the same type used to intercept Russian aircraft. 00:57 - Source: CNN Trump-Putin summit ends with no deal US President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin 'made some headway' and 'great progress' in their bilateral meeting, but added that 'there's no deal until there's a deal.' 01:15 - Source: CNN Putin makes faces as journalists ask about Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin did not respond to reporters' questions about the war in Ukraine as his meeting with President Donald Trump and top aides was set to begin. Putin appeared to make a confused expression as multiple journalists began shouting questions. 00:13 - Source: CNN Trump and Putin land in Alaska for historic summit US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived at a US military base in Alaska where the two leaders took part in a red carpet greeting ahead of their talks on Ukraine. As both leaders met on the tarmac, a flyover of American military planes passed overhead, including fighter jets and what appeared to be a B-2 stealth bomber. 00:59 - Source: CNN Erin becomes Atlantic season's first hurricane Erin strengthened to become the Atlantic season's first hurricane. The storm is expected to avoid landfall in the United States but might create dangerous beach conditions along the Atlantic coast, forecasters predict. CNN's Brandon Miller breaks down the hurricane's path. 00:58 - Source: CNN Lavrov appears to wear CCCP sweater Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Alaska wearing a sweater that appears to say "CCCP." In a reference to the Soviet Union, CNN's Max Foster looks at what this look could mean ahead of President Trump and Putin's summit. 00:47 - Source: CNN DC attorney general sues Trump admin. over police takeover DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its moves to take over the city's police department and appoint an emergency commissioner. Schwalb spoke with CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown about the lawsuit. 00:58 - Source: CNN Israeli minister taunts high profile Palestinian prisoner Israel's far-right security minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted video footage of himself taunting the most high-profile Palestinian prisoner while visiting him in jail this week, in an encounter that has prompted outrage from supporters. The video is the first time that Marwan Barghouti, 66, who is serving five life sentences after being convicted in 2002 for his role in planning attacks that killed five Israelis, has been seen. 01:17 - Source: CNN
