Over 130 NGOs call for end to 'deadly' US-Israeli aid distribution scheme
The GHF began operating in late May, following a three-month total blockade on the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces. Since then, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and around 4,000 wounded by Israeli troops while attempting to access food and aid supplies.
'Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,' the NGOs said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
The signatories include Oxfam, Save the Children, Amnesty, Doctors Without Borders and Action Aid.
Previously, during the two-month ceasefire between mid-January and mid-March, 400 aid distribution points were in operation in the enclave. That has now been replaced by four militarised distribution sites, forcing over two million people into crowded zones where they face Israeli gunfire.
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'The humanitarian system is being deliberately and systematically dismantled by the Government of Israel's blockade and restrictions,' the groups wrote.
'A blockade now being used to justify shutting down nearly all other aid operations in favour of a deadly, military-controlled alternative that neither protects civilians nor meets basic needs.'
They said that under the GHF scheme, 'starved and weakened' civilians are trekking for hours through 'dangerous terrain and active conflict zones'.
'Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food'
- NGOs statement
Last week, Yousef al-Ajouri, a 40-year-old Palestinian in Gaza City, recounted to Middle East Eye his deadly journey attempting to receive food from the GHF.
He likened the experience to dystopian TV show Squid Game, describing how he feared for his life amid Israeli snipers, saw multiple dead bodies, and had to push and shove other starved Palestinians to try to obtain food parcels.
Israeli military officials admitted they fired at Palestinian civilians lining up for aid in Gaza even though they posed no threat, according to a report by Haaretz newspaper on Monday.
The admission follows a report by the newspaper on Friday in which Israeli soldiers admitted they were directed to fire at starving civilians at the GHF distribution points in Gaza.
Officials in the Southern Command unit said they were 'ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present' and added 'that civilians had been killed due to 'inaccurate and uncalculated' artillery fire'.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Haaretz's reporting, labelling it "malicious falsehoods".
They said that in the most serious incident, between 30 and 40 people were targeted.
'Amidst severe hunger and famine-like conditions, many families tell us they are now too weak to compete for food rations,' the NGOs said.
'Those who do manage to obtain food often return with only a few basic items - nearly impossible to prepare without clean water or fuel to cook with.'
'My journey to get aid in Gaza was like Squid Game' Read More »
They added that the Sphere Association, which sets minimum standards for humanitarian aid, warned that the GHF did not adhere to core humanitarian standards and principles.
The groups called for donors not to fund militarised aid schemes that violate international law and 'risk complicity in atrocities', and to take concrete steps to end the suffocating siege on Gaza.
They urged third states to restore a unified UN-led coordination mechanism 'grounded in international humanitarian law and inclusive of Unrwa, Palestinian civil society, and the wider humanitarian community'.
Last week, 15 human rights and legal organisations said the GHF may be complicit in international crimes.
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