Crush at Gaza food hub kills 20 as crowd panics

Perth Now

3 days ago

Twenty Palestinians have been killed at a food distribution centre run by an Israeli-backed American organisation in the Gaza Strip, mostly from being trampled.
They were the first deaths reported at one of the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) sites, although hundreds have been killed by Israeli forces on the roads leading to them, according to witnesses and health officials.
Gaza's Health Ministry and witnesses said GHF workers used tear gas against the crowd outside one of its food distribution hubs, causing a panic. The ministry said that it was the first time people have been killed by a stampede at the aid sites.
Some witnesses said the crowd panicked after receiving messages that no aid would be distributed or would only be distributed later.
"They used stun grenades and pepper spray against us. They had aid inside, but they intentionally did not distribute it to let people crowd outside," said Abdullah Aleyat, who was at the GHF site on Wednesday morning.
Omar Al-Najjar, a resident of the nearby city of Rafah, said people were gasping for air, possibly from tear gas.
The injuries were "not from gunfire, but from people clustering and pushing against each other," Al-Najjar said.
The UN human rights office and Gaza's Health Ministry said that 875 Palestinians in the enclave have been killed while seeking food since May, with 674 of those in the vicinity of aid distribution sites run by GHF.
Israeli strikes across Gaza on Wednesday killed at least 54 others, including 14 children, according to hospital officials.
Meanwhile in Syria, government officials and leaders in the Druze religious minority announced a renewed ceasefire late on Wednesday after days of clashes that have threatened to unravel the country's postwar political transition and drawn escalated military intervention from neighbouring Israel.
UNICEF says the world has failed Gaza's children with more than 17,000 killed and 33,000 wounded in the ongoing war.
UNICEF's executive director Catherine Russell told the UN Security Council the territory's one million children have faced immense suffering.
An average of 28 children die daily in Gaza, "a whole classroom of children killed every day for nearly two years", she said.
Malnutrition has surged, with nearly 6000 children acutely malnourished in June, a 180 per cent increase since February, she said. UNICEF warns these children will face lifelong impacts.
Food supplies are running out and civilians are being shot while seeking something to eat, Undersecretary-General Tom Fletcher said.
"Civilians are exposed to death and injury, forcible displacement, stripped of dignity," he told the UN Security Council, emphasising Israel's obligation under the Geneva Conventions to provide food and medical aid as the occupying power in Gaza.
He also challenged the council to consider whether Israel's rules of engagement incorporate all the precautions to avoid and minimise civilian casualties.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric also described people being severely injured at the US-run GHF sites.
He told reporters the UN Population Fund that reports of domestic violence, sexual exploitation and abuse were on the rise and "pregnant women are delivering their babies in the dark, with no electricity or no skilled care to address potential complications".
Additionally, a survey by one of the UN's partners found that more than 80 per cent of people with disabilities have lost wheelchairs, hearing aids, walkers and many other devices during the war in Gaza, Dujarric said.
Meanwhile, a key governing partner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is quitting the government, leaving him with a minority in parliament.
The Shas ultra-Orthodox party said it was leaving over disagreements surrounding a proposed law meant to grant wide military draft exemptions to its constituents.
A second ultra-Orthodox party quit earlier this week over the same issue.
The political turmoil comes as Israel and Hamas are negotiating on a US-backed ceasefire proposal for Gaza.