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At least 27 Palestinians killed near Gaza aid site, UN demands investigation
At least 27 Palestinians killed near Gaza aid site, UN demands investigation

RNZ News

time6 hours ago

  • Health
  • RNZ News

At least 27 Palestinians killed near Gaza aid site, UN demands investigation

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Crispian Balmer, Reuters A Palestinian youth who was injured by Israeli fire near a US-backed aid centre in the Rafah area, receives treatment at the Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on 3 June 2025. Photo: AFP At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire near a food distribution site in southern Gaza, health officials said, in a third day running of chaos and bloodshed to blight the aid operation. The Israeli military said its forces had opened fire on a group of people they viewed as a threat after they left a designated access route near the distribution centre in Rafah and approached their positions. It added it was still investigating what had happened. The deaths, on Tuesday local time, came hours after Israel said three of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in northern Gaza, as its forces pushed ahead with a months-long offensive against Hamas militants that has laid much of the enclave to waste. Reuters could not independently verify the reports in northern and southern Gaza. An International Committee of the Red Cross spokesperson said its field hospital in Rafah had received 184 casualties, adding that 19 of those were dead upon arrival, and eight died of their wounds shortly after. Video showed injured people, including at least one woman, being rushed to a medical centre on carts drawn by donkeys. Health officials said at least 18 more Palestinians were killed in other military strikes in the territory on Tuesday. The United Nations human rights office in Geneva said on Tuesday the impediment of access to food relief for civilians in Gaza might constitute a war crime and described attacks on people trying to access food aid as "unconscionable". The head of the UN agency, Volker Turk, urged a prompt and impartial investigation into the killings. Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer denied that civilians had been targeted. "The IDF is doing everything in its power to allow Gazans to get to the humanitarian aid. The IDF is not preventing the arrival of Gazans at humanitarian aid sites. Indeed, we are encouraging it," Mencer said. An injured Palestinian sits in an ambulance after receiving first aid. Photo: AFP The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched its first distribution sites last week in an effort to alleviate widespread hunger amongst Gaza's 2.3 million population, most of whom have been forced to abandon their homes to flee fighting. The Foundation's operation, which bypasses traditional aid groups, has been fiercely criticised by the United Nations and established charities which say it does not follow humanitarian principles. The private group, which is endorsed by Israel, said it had distributed 21 truckloads of food early on Tuesday and stressed that the reported violence had not happened within its site. "This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site and control. We recognize the difficult nature of the situation and advise all civilians to remain in the safe corridor when traveling to our distribution sites." Palestinians who collected food boxes on Tuesday described scenes of pandemonium, with no-one overseeing the handover of supplies or checking IDs, as crowds jostled for provisions. "It is complete chaos and humiliation, and people have no choice but to keep coming because there is no food in Gaza," said one Palestinian, who declined to be named, adding he was lucky to have survived the shootings. On Sunday, Palestinian and international officials said at least 31 people were killed and dozens more injured. On Monday, three Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli fire. The Israeli military has called reports of deaths during Sunday's distribution "fabrications" by Hamas. The military issued new evacuation orders for several districts of Khan Younis in southern Gaza late on Monday, telling residents to move west towards the Mawasi humanitarian area and warning that the army would act forcefully against militants in those areas. Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in Gaza. The territory's health ministry said the new evacuation orders could halt work at the Nasser Hospital, the largest, still-functioning medical facility in the south. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following the 7 October, 2023 assault in which Hamas-led gunmen killed 1200 people and took 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies. In the subsequent fighting, more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed, local health authorities say. Meanwhile, recent efforts to secure a ceasefire appear to have stalled. Israel has said it accepts a US-backed temporary truce to release hostages, while Hamas wants a permanent end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. - Reuters

Killings near Gaza aid centre will deepen criticism of Israel's new distribution system
Killings near Gaza aid centre will deepen criticism of Israel's new distribution system

BBC News

time11 hours ago

  • General
  • BBC News

Killings near Gaza aid centre will deepen criticism of Israel's new distribution system

Witnesses and international medical teams report terrible scenes of killing as Israeli troops opened fire in the hours of Tuesday before dawn on Palestinians who were converging on the new aid distribution site in southern Gaza. It was "total carnage" according to a foreign official statement from the Israeli military describes a very different picture. It said "several suspects" moved towards Israeli forces "deviating from the designated access routes". Troops "carried out warning fire… additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced towards the troops".The killing of civilians who came looking for food aid will redouble criticism of the controversial new system of distributing aid in new aid hubs in Gaza are a scheme conceived by Israel with the support of the United States to replace the operation run by United Nations agencies and other experienced international aid groups. A new private body, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) employs armed security teams provided by an American company at its hubs, which are so far in areas of southern Gaza under full Israeli military control. The GHF started after a total Israeli ban on shipments of food and other aid into Gaza left the entire population at the risk of famine, according to the agency that collates data on food emergencies on behalf of countries and the claims that UN staff stood by while Hamas stole most of the aid coming into Gaza. The UN denies the allegations, insisting it can account for all the aid it distributes. It refuses to cooperate with the is clear that the GHF system has fundamental flaws, bearing out the worst fears of aid Wood, the head of the GHF resigned just over a week ago, saying it would not be able to fulfil the principles of "humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence".The UN had a wide network of aid distribution points and supplied ingredients to communal kitchens and bakeries that fed hundreds of GHF system means that the people must travel through a war zone in the ruins of southern Gaza to collect a box of rations. Distribution seems to be chaotic, and so far has repeatedly broken down into a free for all. Stronger young men can grab boxes of aid for their families. The weakest get nothing. There is not enough to go around. To get closer to the front of the queue Palestinians walk throughout the night. Large gatherings of Palestinians, desperate to get food rations are inherently hard to manage. It seems that this morning Israeli troops opened fire with deadly consequences. Dozens killed by Israeli fire at Gaza aid centre - follow liveGrowing risks for pregnancy and childbirth under Israeli bombardment How controverial US-Israel backed aid deal turned to chaos In an interview with the BBC before the latest killings, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said the GHF plan showed "utter disregard for civilians. Can you imagine people who have been absolutely desperate for food, for medicine for almost three months, and then they have to basically run for it or try to get it in the most desperate circumstances?"Israel's conduct he said, "shows utter disrespect for the laws of war, for the protection of civilians".The argument for the GHF system is that it is better than nothing, that it provides a modicum of food aid and can be argument against it is that Israel is using to control and corral Palestinian civilians. Israeli ministers have been open about using food aid as a weapon of war. The defence minister Israel Katz called it a "lever" against deadly turmoil surrounding the operations of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation comes at a time when Israel's close allies, including the UK, France and Canada are demanding big changes in its conduct in Gaza, including allowing in the humanitarian aid necessary to care for more than two million have threatened concrete steps, most likely sanctions and perhaps recognition of a Palestinian state, if Israel does not end its latest offensive. Western diplomats are looking on with dismay at the killing of the hungry in Gaza, as Israel's international isolation deepens.

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