‘I'll never try again': For some Palestinians in Gaza, seeking aid is just too risky

Boston Globe

4 hours ago

Advertisement
In a
Nearly every day, large crowds of desperate and hungry Palestinians flock to the few aid distribution points left in Gaza, waiting for hours and jostling for a place in the line to get food before it runs out.
Palestinians carried sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid that was unloaded from a World Food Program convoy in the northern Gaza Strip, on Monday.
Jehad Alshrafi/Associated Press
Some of the aid sites began operating a few weeks ago under a controversial new Israeli-backed system run by an American-led company, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. It replaces a system overseen by the United Nations, and Israel says its aim is to provide food to civilians without it falling into the hands of Hamas militants.
Advertisement
The United Nations and other international groups have said the amount of aid getting through is woefully inadequate. They have also condemned the new system for forcing civilians to pass Israeli soldiers on the perimeter of the sites to reach the food, putting them in greater danger.
In recent weeks, Israeli forces have repeatedly used deadly force to control crowds on the approaches to the aid sites, forcing many Gaza residents to choose between letting their families go hungry or risking getting shot.
'The danger is too high for me to go to these centers,' Awni Abu Hassira, 38, from Gaza City, said in a phone interview. 'I don't want to face death this way.'
Videos shared on social media and verified by the Times showed the aftermath of the violence Tuesday in Khan Younis, where crowds of people had gathered around the Tahlia traffic circle to wait for aid early in the day.
In one video by a local photographer, at least 20 bodies are visible on darkened ground where blood is pooling. Two of the bodies are severely mangled, and two other people have bleeding head wounds.
Other footage circulating on social media and reviewed by the Times shows people screaming and yelling as crowds run through the area.
The Israeli military said that 'a gathering was identified adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Younis' near Israeli forces operating in the area.
The United Nations and other aid groups are still sending some aid into Gaza, and it was not immediately clear which aid group the truck was linked to.
Advertisement
Asked about the deadly incidents Monday and Tuesday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said in a statement that its distribution sites were not involved. Other aid organizations, the statement said, 'struggle to deliver aid safely' and are at risk of looting.
Palestinians carried sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy on Monday.
Jehad Alshrafi/Associated Press
The Israeli statement, using the abbreviation for the Israel Defense Forces, said it was 'aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd's approach.' It said the military 'regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals.' Israel also said that two of its soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Gaza in recent days.
On both Monday and Tuesday, some victims were taken to a hospital in Khan Younis.
On Monday, Naseem Hassan, a medic at a hospital in Khan Younis, described the difficulty of aiding people who were shot as they tried to collect food from a nearby aid distribution point. He said scores of Palestinian victims had been rushed to his hospital.
'People who are injured have to crawl or be carried for over a kilometer to reach us,' said Hassan, who works at Nasser Hospital. 'We couldn't reach the aid centers; ambulances can't get there,' he said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday that one of its field hospitals had treated more than 200 people after the shootings near the aid site.
The United Nations has warned that Gaza's population is on the brink of famine, with thousands of children already severely malnourished.
'The facts speak for themselves,' said Volker Türk, the U.N. human rights chief. Speaking in Geneva on Monday, he called Israel's military campaign in Gaza a source of 'horrifying, unconscionable suffering.'
Advertisement
'All those with influence must exert maximum pressure on Israel and Hamas to put an end to this unbearable suffering,' he said.
Palestinians who were injured in Israeli fire near a food aid center receive care at Khan Yunis' Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
-/AFP via Getty Images
This article originally appeared in
.