US-backed Gaza group suspends aid for a day over threats, Hamas vows to protect UN aid
By
Maayan Lubell, Jaidaa Taha
and
Nidal al-Mughrabi
, Reuters
A boy carries a box of relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), on 29 May 2025.
Photo:
Eyad Baba / AFP
A
controversial humanitarian organisation
backed by the US and Israel did not distribute any food aid on Saturday (local time), accusing Hamas of making threats that "made it impossible" to operate in the enclave, which the Palestinian militants denied.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which uses private US security and logistics firms to operate, said it was adapting operations to overcome the unspecified threats. It later said in a Facebook post that two sites would reopen on Sunday.
A Hamas official told Reuters he had no knowledge of such "alleged threats."
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said later on Saturday that the GHF operation has "utterly failed on all levels" and that Hamas was ready to help secure aid deliveries by a separate long-running
UN-led humanitarian operation.
Hamas also called on all Palestinians to protect humanitarian convoys.
Israel and the US have
accused Hamas of stealing aid
from the UN-led operations, which the militants deny.
A Hamas source said the group's armed wing would deploy some snipers from Sunday near routes used by the UN-led aid operation to prevent armed gangs from looting food shipments. The UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel allowed limited UN-led operations to resume on 19 May after an 11-week blockade in the enclave of 2.3 million people, where experts have
warned a famine looms.
A Palestinian youth who was injured by Israeli fire near a US-backed aid center in the Rafah area, receives treatment at the Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on 3 June 2025.
Photo:
AFP
The UN has described the aid allowed into Gaza as "
drop in the ocean
."
Israel and the US are urging the UN to work through the GHF, but the UN has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarising aid and forcing displacement. The GHF began operations in Gaza on 26 May and said on Friday so far it has distributed nearly 9 million meals.
While the GHF has said there have been no incidents at its so-called secure distribution sites, Palestinians seeking aid have described disorder and access routes to the sites have been beset by chaos and deadly violence.
Dozens of Palestinians were
killed near GHF sites
between Sunday and Tuesday, Gaza health authorities said.
Israel has said it is investigating the Monday and Tuesday incidents but said it was not to blame for Sunday's violence.
Palestinian children wait with others for food at a distribution point in Gaza City.
Photo:
AFP / Majdi Fathi
The GHF did not give out aid on Wednesday as it pressed Israel to boost civilian safety beyond its sites, and then on Friday it paused some aid distribution "due to excessive crowding."
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to the UN and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
Israel makes the UN offload aid on the Palestinian side of the crossing, where it then has to be picked by the UN and aid groups in Gaza. The UN has accused Israel of regularly denying access requests and complained that its aid convoys have been looted by unidentified armed men and hungry civilians.
Israel has in recent weeks expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered. Medics in Gaza said 55 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the enclave on Saturday.
Israeli military vehicles deploy at Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip.
Photo:
AFP/JACK GUEZ
The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday that Gaza's hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storages designated for hospitals are located.
There was no immediate response from the Israeli military or COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had uncovered "an underground tunnel route, including a command and control centre from which senior Hamas commanders" operated beneath the European Hospital compound in southern Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the 7 October 2023 attack, Israel's single deadliest day.
Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday the Israeli military had
retrieved the body
of a Thai agricultural worker held in Gaza since the October 2023 attack. Nattapong Pinta's body was held by the Mujahedeen Brigades militant group, and recovered from Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said.
- Reuters
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US-backed Gaza group suspends aid for a day over threats, Hamas vows to protect UN aid
By Maayan Lubell, Jaidaa Taha and Nidal al-Mughrabi , Reuters A boy carries a box of relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), on 29 May 2025. Photo: Eyad Baba / AFP A controversial humanitarian organisation backed by the US and Israel did not distribute any food aid on Saturday (local time), accusing Hamas of making threats that "made it impossible" to operate in the enclave, which the Palestinian militants denied. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which uses private US security and logistics firms to operate, said it was adapting operations to overcome the unspecified threats. It later said in a Facebook post that two sites would reopen on Sunday. A Hamas official told Reuters he had no knowledge of such "alleged threats." The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said later on Saturday that the GHF operation has "utterly failed on all levels" and that Hamas was ready to help secure aid deliveries by a separate long-running UN-led humanitarian operation. Hamas also called on all Palestinians to protect humanitarian convoys. Israel and the US have accused Hamas of stealing aid from the UN-led operations, which the militants deny. A Hamas source said the group's armed wing would deploy some snipers from Sunday near routes used by the UN-led aid operation to prevent armed gangs from looting food shipments. The UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel allowed limited UN-led operations to resume on 19 May after an 11-week blockade in the enclave of 2.3 million people, where experts have warned a famine looms. A Palestinian youth who was injured by Israeli fire near a US-backed aid center in the Rafah area, receives treatment at the Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on 3 June 2025. Photo: AFP The UN has described the aid allowed into Gaza as " drop in the ocean ." Israel and the US are urging the UN to work through the GHF, but the UN has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarising aid and forcing displacement. The GHF began operations in Gaza on 26 May and said on Friday so far it has distributed nearly 9 million meals. While the GHF has said there have been no incidents at its so-called secure distribution sites, Palestinians seeking aid have described disorder and access routes to the sites have been beset by chaos and deadly violence. Dozens of Palestinians were killed near GHF sites between Sunday and Tuesday, Gaza health authorities said. Israel has said it is investigating the Monday and Tuesday incidents but said it was not to blame for Sunday's violence. Palestinian children wait with others for food at a distribution point in Gaza City. Photo: AFP / Majdi Fathi The GHF did not give out aid on Wednesday as it pressed Israel to boost civilian safety beyond its sites, and then on Friday it paused some aid distribution "due to excessive crowding." The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to the UN and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza. Israel makes the UN offload aid on the Palestinian side of the crossing, where it then has to be picked by the UN and aid groups in Gaza. The UN has accused Israel of regularly denying access requests and complained that its aid convoys have been looted by unidentified armed men and hungry civilians. Israel has in recent weeks expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered. Medics in Gaza said 55 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the enclave on Saturday. Israeli military vehicles deploy at Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip. Photo: AFP/JACK GUEZ The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday that Gaza's hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storages designated for hospitals are located. There was no immediate response from the Israeli military or COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians. Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had uncovered "an underground tunnel route, including a command and control centre from which senior Hamas commanders" operated beneath the European Hospital compound in southern Gaza. The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the 7 October 2023 attack, Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday the Israeli military had retrieved the body of a Thai agricultural worker held in Gaza since the October 2023 attack. Nattapong Pinta's body was held by the Mujahedeen Brigades militant group, and recovered from Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. - Reuters
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
Gaza: UN Rights Chief Condemns New Killings Around Private Aid Hub
03 June ' Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law and a war crime,' the High Commissioner said in a statement, issued after Palestinians were reportedly killed seeking assistance for a third day running. Mr. Türk also urged Israel to respect 'binding orders' issued by the International Court of Justice to fully cooperate with the UN and ensure that aid reaches the people of Gaza 'without delay' and 'at scale'. 'There is no justification for failing to comply with these obligations,' he said. UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the loss of lives and injuries of Palestinians seeking aid, which are "unacceptable,' and continues to call for an independent investigation into the incidents. 'Once again, we are witnessing unthinkable loss of life in Gaza," he told journalists in New York. 'Civilians are risking – and in several instances losing – their lives to get food.' Access calls denied The controversial new aid initiative run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation bypasses the work of UN aid agencies which have repeatedly appealed for unimpeded access to Gaza in order to bring in thousands of tonnes of supplies. To date, the little aid that has been allowed into the enclave has fallen far short of what is needed. In an update, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) insisted that it still had 'teams on the ground' in Gaza ready to distribute supplies where they are needed across the war-torn enclave, if only they could be allowed to move. 'We have right now 51 trucks waiting loaded with medical supplies to go to those few hospitals that are still functional,' said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic. 'We need access so that we can bring in supplies within Gaza to health facilities so they can function. Unfortunately, what is happening is just the opposite. There is no hospital in north Gaza functional anymore.' On Monday, Mr. Jasarevic said that a WHO team went to the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza 'and basically evacuated all remaining patients and medical staff…now that hospital is completely empty'. In Jabalia, also in northern Gaza, three Israeli soldiers were reportedly killed on Monday when their vehicle struck an explosive device. Most vulnerable miss out Critics of the US-Israeli scheme - which include the UN - have warned that it prevents children, the elderly and those with disabilities from receiving aid, since recipients often have to walk long distances to retrieve boxes of supplies distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis. 'The wilful impediment of access to food and other life-sustaining relief supplies for civilians may constitute a war crime,' Mr. Türk said. His lengthy statement also condemned 'the threat of starvation' faced by Gazans today, the '20 months of killing of civilians and destruction on a massive scale'. Gazans have also been repeatedly displaced by evacuation orders from the Israeli military and faced 'intolerable, dehumanizing rhetoric and threats by Israel's leadership to empty the Strip', the UN rights chief noted. All of these facts constitute elements of the most serious crimes under international law, he insisted. 'Am I going to get shot?' Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, OHCHR, highlighted the High Commissioner's call for a prompt, independent investigation into the dozens of reported killings in Gaza since the new aid hub opened on 27 May. 'I think there's so much which has happened in the past three days apart from the tragic circumstances of human beings trying to gather food to survive and then being killed in the process,' he told journalists in Geneva. '[Gazans] are being forced to walk to these centres and now they're terrified. Probably they go there and they're thinking, 'Am I going to get food or am I going to get shot? '' Mr. Laurence noted multiple media reports on killings around the southern Gaza aid hub in recent days indicating engagement by helicopters, naval vessels, tanks and ground troops. 'We are aware of those reports,' he said, noting that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had also published an account on X of what had happened on Tuesday. 'My colleagues who are working on the ground have conducted interviews with witnesses and they do report fire from the IDF on those trying to access the food distribution centres. We've received reports from other organizations on the ground to a similar effect.' He added: 'We've gathered our own information; we've spoken to witnesses on the ground who have shared what they have seen, heard and felt themselves.' Asked to explain what the High Commissioner meant when he expressed concerns that the 'most serious crimes under international law' may have been committed, Mr. Laurence explained that this referred to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Young lives in danger Meanwhile, humanitarians report a sharp rise in child labour and early marriage in Gaza, as well as family separation – all driven by hunger, displacement and economic turmoil. 'Children are increasingly exposed to violence and exploitation during chaotic distributions of basic supplies – including in crowds, when people take flour directly from trucks,' said Mr. Dujarric, the UN Spokesperson, noting that children with disabilities are often the worst affected. Israel also issued another displacement order on Monday covering four neighbourhoods in Khan Younis, affecting some 45,000 people. Aid 'still just a trickle' Mr. Dujarric said the UN and partners continue to make the most of the limited opening for aid delivery which began last month following nearly 80 days of blockade. 'But as we've said before, what's coming in – and if it does come in - is still just a trickle and does not meet the immense needs on the ground,' he remarked. 'We have enough supplies lined up and ready, close to Gaza. But only limited amounts are actually reaching the people who need them, and that's because of conditions on the ground.' In particular, the UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA warns of bottlenecks in the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the only one Israel allows for aid into Gaza. He said that since 17 May, only half of the pre-cleared supplies submitted for a second and final clearance by Israel has made it through to the Palestinian side of the crossing. 'In total, the UN and our partners submitted over 1,200 pre-cleared truckloads for final Israeli clearance,' he said. Just over 920 truckloads were approved and some 620 have made it to the Palestinian side. Of the supplies scanned in Kerem Shalom - which include flour as well as medical and nutrition items - UN teams have managed to collect about 370 truckloads and bring them inside Gaza. Mr. Dujarric explained that access to the crossing 'requires driving through militarized zones where bombings are continuing' and UN teams have to follow routes that are approved by the Israeli authorities. 'Yesterday, 10 of 13 attempts to coordinate such movements were rejected. And those included the collection of supplies from Kerem Shalom, but also other life-saving operations such as trucking water to North Gaza or relocating fuel stocks to where they are needed,' he said.
RNZ News
2 days ago
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Suspect in Colorado fire attack on Jewish protest faces 118 counts
By Chet Strange , AFP A bomb disposal robot sitting on Pearl Street on the site of an attack on demonstrators calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, in Boulder, Colorado, on 1 June, 2025. Photo: AFP/ELI IMADALI The suspect in a Molotov cocktail attack on a Jewish protest march in Colorado appeared in court facing more than 100 charges over an incident that injured 15 people. Mohamed Sabry Soliman is alleged to have thrown firebombs and sprayed burning gasoline at a group of people who had gathered Sunday in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Prosecutors now say 15 people -- eight women and seven men -- were hurt in the attack in the city of Boulder. Three are still hospitalised. The oldest victim was 88 years old. Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian who federal authorities said was in the country illegally after overstaying a tourist visa, faces 28 attempted murder charges, as well as a bevvy of other counts relating to his alleged use of violence. He also faces a count of animal cruelty for a dog that was hurt, bringing to 118 the total number of criminal counts. Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty told reporters that he could face a centuries-long prison term if convicted. "The defendant is charged with attempted murder in the first degree as to 14 different victims," he said. "If the defendant is convicted and those sentences run consecutively, that would be 48 years in state prison for each of the 14 victims, which comes to 672 years." Soliman is also expected to be charged with federal hate crime offenses. Soliman's immigration status has been at the center of President Donald Trump's administration's response to the attack. This week his wife and five children were detained by immigration agents as the White House took to social media to taunt them about an impending deportation. "Six One-Way Tickets for Mohamed's Wife and Five Kids," the official account posted on X. "Final Boarding Call Coming Soon." But on Wednesday a judge imposed a temporary restraining order that bars any attempt to remove them from the country. Police who rushed to the scene of Sunday's attack found 16 unused Molotov cocktails and a backpack weed sprayer containing gasoline that investigators say Soliman had intended to use as a makeshift flamethrower. In bystander videos, the attacker can be heard screaming "End Zionists!" and "Killers!" Sunday's incident came less than two weeks after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington, where a 31-year-old suspect, who shouted "Free Palestine," was arrested. - AFP
