Around 47 people injured during chaos at US-backed aid hub in Gaza, mostly by Israeli gunfire
AROUND FORTY-SEVEN PEOPLE were injured, mostly by Israeli gunfire, as chaos erupted at an aid distribution hub run by a US-Israeli-backed organisation in Gaza yesterday, a UN official has said.
The food distribution was organised by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has faced intense criticism from UN agencies and NGOs that already operate in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Yesterday, the organisation's new hub near the southern city of Rafah was overrun by hungry people desperate for food.
The crowd broke through fences and an Associated Press journalist heard Israeli tank and gun fire, and saw a military helicopter firing flares.
'There are about 47 people who have been injured', said Ajith Sunghay, the head of UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories, adding that 'most of those injured are due to gunshots', and that 'it was shooting from the IDF'.
Sunghay stressed that his office was still assessing and gathering information on the full picture of events.
'The numbers could go up. We are trying to confirm what has happened to them,' in terms of how seriously people were injured, Sunghay added.
The Israeli military said it had fired 'warning shots'.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged a 'loss of control momentarily' at the centre, but a senior military official said the distribution was nonetheless 'a success'.
Palestinians show to the camera food and humanitarian aid packages they received yesterday
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
'Distraction from atrocities'
The new aid distribution model is part of an Israeli plan to take over aid delivery in Gaza, which critics have said only allows Israel to further weaponise food supply.
Its former executive director, Jake Wood, announced his resignation on Sunday, saying it was impossible to do his job in line with humanitarian principles.
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The New York Times, citing unnamed Israeli officials, reported last week that a new US-backed aid plan for Gaza had been 'conceived and largely developed by Israelis as a way to undermine Hamas'.
The UN has ruled out involvement in the US-Israeli plan, with spokesman Farhan Haq saying that it 'does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence'.
A group of NGOs, including ActionAid, this month said: 'Aid that is used to mask ongoing violence is not aid, it is in fact humanitarian cover for a military strategy of control and dispossession.'
Today, the head of UNRWA – the UN's main aid agency in Palestine – said: 'We have seen yesterday the shocking images of hungry people pushing against fences, desperate for food. It was chaotic, undignified and unsafe.'
'I believe it is a waste of resources and a distraction from atrocities. We already have an aid distribution system that is fit for purpose,' the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said.
'Meanwhile, the clock is ticking towards famine, so humanitarian (work) must be allowed to do its life-saving work now,' Philippe Lazzarini said.
Strikes continue
Gaza rescuers have said sixteen people were killed in Israeli strikes across the territory.
'Sixteen people have been killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn', civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
Among them, nine belonged to the family of photojournalist Osama al-Arbeed and were killed in a strike on their home in Gaza's north at 2am, Bassal said.
He added that Arbeed was injured, noting that he is a videographer and editor at a local film production organisation.
Another six members of the same family were killed in central Gaza in a strike that left 15 people wounded, 'including children'.
One other person, a civilian per Bassal, was killed near the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.
The health ministry in Gaza said on yesterday that at least 3,822 people had been killed in the territory since Israel broke a ceasefire on 18 March, taking the war's overall death toll to 53,977, mostly civilians.
With reporting from AFP and Press Association
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