Latest news with #humanitariancrisis
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
Macron threatens sanctions on Israelis over Gaza aid crisis
French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that his country could 'apply sanctions' against Israelis unless the government in Tel Aviv responds to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Speaking during a visit to Singapore on Friday, Macron said the international community could not remain passive while Palestinians in Gaza face a deepening hunger crisis. The comments raise further the international pressure building on Israel, which has blockaded the Palestinian enclave for close to three months, with aid agencies warning of famine. 'The humanitarian blockade is creating a situation that is untenable on the ground,' Macron said at a joint news conference alongside Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. 'If there is no response in the coming hours and days in line with the humanitarian situation, we will have to harden our collective position,' he added, suggesting that France may consider applying sanctions against Israeli settlers. Israel recently said it was bowing to international pressure and would allow 'minimal' supplies of food and medicine into Gaza, on which it continues to wage an intense military assault. However, the trickle of aid entering the strip under the control of a new NGO backed by Israel and the United States has been accompanied by looting and violence. In his comments, Macron called for an end to assumptions that Israel is respecting human rights. 'But I still hope that the government of Israel will change its stance and that we will finally have a humanitarian response,' he added. The French leader also stressed that recognition of a Palestinian state is 'not only a moral duty, but a political necessity,' although he added that its establishment would need to come under specific conditions. His remarks followed a joint statement earlier in the week with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto condemning any Israeli plans to seize control of Gaza or expel its population. Paris is hoping to rally momentum for a conditional recognition of Palestinian statehood, which would require, among other things, the demilitarisation of Hamas. French officials are weighing up the move ahead of a United Nations conference, which France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting between June 17-20, to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel's security. However, some diplomats and experts suggest that such moves would infuriate Israel and deepen Western splits. Despite some aid starting to trickle into Gaza after the Israeli blockade, the humanitarian crisis remains dire. Experts warn that one in five people faces imminent starvation. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private initiative supported by the United States and Israel, expanded its relief operations on Thursday. But the group's efforts have been widely condemned by the United Nations and other agencies as insufficient, poorly managed and not adhering to humanitarian principles. GHF centres have become sites of chaos, violence, and desperation with scenes of disorder running through the week as huge numbers of hungry people have overwhelmed security forces at distribution points. An Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza reported on Friday that several people were wounded by Israeli army gunfire in the centre of the enclave as they tried to reach an aid distribution point set up by GHF. UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said on Friday that it was prepared to deliver supplies – including food parcels, hygiene kits and medical aid – from its warehouses in Amman, just a few hours' drive from Gaza, if allowed access. Meanwhile, talks over a ceasefire in Israel's war with the Palestinian armed group Hamas continue, with the US having put forward a new proposal. Hamas has said the proposal is 'still under discussion', but in its current form would only result in 'the continuation of killing and famine' in Gaza.
CNN
5 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
Sudan's civil war shows no signs of slowing down
When the civil war began in Sudan, Shiraz Youssef couldn't hear the explosions, the gunfire or the screams. The 22-year-old from Khartoum lost her hearing when she was very young. But the haunting images she witnessed that day told her everything she needed to know. Those scenes she will never forget. 'All I saw were terrified faces, bloody bodies in the streets — children among the dead — and armed men filled with rage,' she told photojournalist Giles Clarke, who has been documenting the country's crisis as it enters its third year. Shiraz Youssef fled Sudan's capital of Khartoum after the civil war broke out. She and her family left everything behind. People watch as a grave is dug for an imminent burial in Khartoum. Tens of thousands of people have died since fighting began in April 2023 between the country's military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. The exact death toll is unknown because of the chaos in the country, but more than 14 million have had to flee their homes to find safety, according to the International Organization for Migration. The UN has described it as 'the most devastating humanitarian and displacement crisis in the world.' It's not just violence that is killing the people of Sudan — it's also malnutrition, dehydration and disease. Infrastructure has been obliterated. 'The trauma runs really deep. You can see that in the eyes of people,' said Clarke, a New York-based photojournalist who has extensive experience working in the region. 'I think what stands out about this is how shocking and how sudden it happened.' A woman and child lie down at a busy malnutrition ward inside the city of Port Sudan. Saad Hammadoun, a 50-year-old mother of nine, remembers the day the war began. 'It was a regular Saturday, and I was working as usual, never anticipating that, in one moment, everything would change,' she told Clarke. 'When I returned home, I found my children terrified, and everything around us had transformed — nothing was the same. I felt a heaviness choking my chest as I was unable to bear the pain and anxiety for my children. I was afraid for them, uncertain whether staying at home would put them at risk or whether leaving would lead to exhaustion.' After a month of bombing and shooting when 'every day felt like a year,' Hammadoun and her family decided to pack up and leave their home in Khartoum State. She spoke to Clarke in Kassala, a city in eastern Sudan close to the Eritrean border. Nearly half a million people fled to Kassala from Khartoum and the cities south of the capital. An aerial view of Kassala, a city in eastern Sudan close to the Eritrean border. 'Much of these houses here have become sort of host communities for the displaced,' photojournalist Giles Clarke said. 'The journey was dangerous, but staying in Khartoum was even worse,' remembers Fawziya, another woman who fled to Kassala with her family. 'We walked for days, passing through areas where bodies were lying in the streets, and we could hear gunshots in the distance. There was no safety, no peace. Only fear.' Muzan Ahmed, 24, was a student before the war, with big dreams and plans for the future. That all changed quickly when the war broke out and she had to leave her home. 'The journey was terrifying,' she said. 'The streets were filled with bodies — men, women, children. I had never seen death up close before; now, it was everywhere. 'At one point, I tripped and fell … right on top of a corpse. I couldn't move. I couldn't scream. I was paralyzed with fear. The body was cold and lifeless, its eyes wide open, staring at the sky as if still in shock. I felt like I had died, too. If a stranger hadn't passed by and pulled me up, I don't know if I would have ever moved again.' Saad Hammadoun worked as a cook before the war. 'Life went on peacefully until, suddenly, the brutal war arrived,' she said, 'throwing us into a situation I never imagined.' Muzan Ahmed said the war has changed her. 'Looking in the mirror now, I don't see the girl I used to be. My eyes are tired. My heart is heavy. I don't know if I will ever feel safe again.' Dr. Tayseer Ebrahim Mohammed Musa fled Khartoum carrying only her phone. She introduced Clarke to displaced women who were living at a former school in Kassala. 'I help others living at the school with trauma and other medical issues,' she said. 'I have found my purpose.' Maryam Mohamed Ramadan says her children lived through moments of sheer terror. 'They would ask me in fear, 'Mama, are we going to die?' I would hold them close and try to calm them, telling them that God is with us and that this nightmare would eventually end.' Some of the displaced people that Clarke met in Kassala had been displaced not once, but multiple times as the fighting spread. Afaf, a 36-year-old mother of four, kept moving with her family from city to city: 'The war followed us like a shadow.' In January, the United States accused the RSF militia of committing genocide. Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the RSF and its allied Arab militias had 'continued to direct attacks against civilians,' including the systematic murder of 'men and boys — even infants — on an ethnic basis.' Limited travel and lack of burial space has led to burials expanding from existing graveyard perimeters to the city roads. They also 'deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence,' Blinken said, adding that the same forces 'targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies.' The RSF called the United States' decision 'unjust,' adding in a statement on its Telegram channel that 'the State Department's claim that the RSF committed genocide in Sudan is inaccurate.' Clarke visited various cities in January and February, documenting the displacement crisis with the support of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and OCHA, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Conditions were often dire. In Gedaref, a former bus station was sheltering thousands of people. It was hit with a deadly wave of cholera in August. In New Halfa, Clarke visited a hospital's maternity ward that lost power after a drone strike took out a nearby power facility. A former bus station was turned into a settlement for internally displaced people in Gedaref. A mother tends to her baby, born just hours earlier, in a dark maternity ward in New Halfa. The hospital lost power after a nearby drone attack. In Kassala, Clarke spent time in a displacement camp that was set up on empty acres of land miles away from the center of town. 'They couldn't walk anywhere. They couldn't go to the market. There's no running water,' Clarke said. 'So it was just relying totally on the UN and partners to get any kind of services there.' The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) was delivering the very basics once a month — sorghum, red lentils and cooking oil. Other organizations were also chipping in: UNICEF was setting up learning centers, Clarke said, and building latrines. The UNDP set up solar lights. One of the most sacred sites in Kassala is the Khatmiyya Mosque at the foot of the Taka Mountains. People line up to receive aid from the UN's World Food Programme at a camp in Kassala. The World Food Programme distributed sorghum, red lentils and cooking oil in Kassala. Clarke was there in February when it was announced that the Trump administration would be dismantling the US Agency for International Development. USAID had been critical in providing humanitarian aid for Sudanese organizations and its people, aid workers told Clarke. 'It was despair from humanitarians,' Clarke recalled. 'It was panic actually. … The world humanitarian aid system collapsed overnight.' Very few Sudanese people have savings left, he said. Ashraf, 50, worked as a truck driver in Khartoum before the war. 'We first left Khartoum and moved south to Sannar, then the fighting started again, so we moved to Sinjar. Then the guns came to Sinjar and we had to move again. It's been very tough on me and my family. We have no money or work, and my children are always hungry. I never thought I would be in this position as I have worked hard all my life.' Data from last year shows that 71% of people in Sudan were living on less than the equivalent of $2.15 (US) a day, according to the World Bank. That was more than double the 33% who were living in such extreme poverty in 2022. By March 2024, nine in 10 people across the country were facing 'emergency levels of hunger,' the WFP said. In the sweltering tent camps, the displaced battle a mixture of boredom and despair. 'All they want is the war to end,' Clarke said. 'They want to get back to their homes. They want to get back to normal.' But many Sudanese people, when they return to their homes, are finding that there isn't much left. Moussa Hassan Mahmad has been a teacher in Khartoum for over 30 years. He is now the headmaster of a boys' secondary school in Omdurman. Many of his students have lost parents and siblings in the war. "The children missed almost two years of school,' he said. 'So all we can now do is support and educate them as best we can.' In March, the army reclaimed control of the capital of Khartoum, forcing the RSF to retreat from the city. But what was once a bustling and thriving capital city has now been reduced to a lifeless, charred ruin, said Clarke, who visited in April with support from Avaaz, a global activist group. 'In central Khartoum, which is where the fighting first erupted, the streets are now empty of people but littered with rubble, burnt-out tanks, military vehicles and mangled cars,' Clarke said in April. A government soldier walks across the Shambat Bridge in Khartoum. Destroyed vehicles can be seen across the region. A damaged church in downtown Khartoum. Government buildings, banks and businesses have been charred and stripped to the bone by the RSF, according to local officials, doctors and medical aid workers who remained in Khartoum during the war. CNN has reached out to the RSF for comment. 'The scale of looting is mind-boggling,' Clarke said. 'Everything inside apartments, businesses and administrative buildings. Miles of underground electrical wiring have been ripped out of walls and roads. It seems nothing that has even the smallest value has been spared.' Perhaps one of the most critical losses is the loss of paperwork. Some of the larger government buildings were home to Sudan's paper archives. 'Sudan kept almost all its records, from anything legal to the land registry titles, on paper,' Ahmed Khair, an independent aid consultant, told Clarke. 'Even marriage (licenses) and birth certificates. They are all gone now.' Reports and records from nongovernmental organizations are seen on the floor of a former Humanitarian Aid Commission office in Khartoum. Hospitals in the center of Khartoum were also emptied and destroyed. Wards and operating rooms were plundered. 'In the three hospital buildings I visited, there was the stench of rotting bodies, mostly from dark basement areas that lie untouched from the recent exodus of the marauding RSF fighters,' Clarke said. The Al-Buluk Hospital, in nearby Omdurman, is the only pediatric hospital operating in the region. In its crowded malnutrition wards, Clarke witnessed sick children writhing in beds that they had to share. Mohamed Maysara, 2, cries at the Al-Buluk Hospital in Omdurman. He was there to receive treatment for malnourishment People crowd the malnutrition ward of the Al-Buluk Hospital. Clarke remembers the heartbreaking sounds he would hear inside the wards — groans from children in pain. 'There were probably 50 or 60 children I saw in there at that time who were severely malnourished, and doctors told me that the numbers are rising,' he said. While the fighting has stopped in Khartoum, it has shifted to other parts of the country, including the large Darfur region, where the RSF is entrenched. Earlier this month, explosions rocked Port Sudan, the country's main port city that became the base for government forces after the fall of Khartoum in 2023. There is no sign that the fighting will stop anytime soon. Both sides have shunned global efforts to end their feud. A destroyed plane sits on the tarmac at Khartoum International Airport, which was occupied by the RSF before the Sudanese Armed Forces reclaimed control of the capital in March. This satellite image shows damage at the airport in April. (Maxar Technologies) Last month, the RSF said it had formed its own government as it marked the two-year anniversary of the war. With the war showing no sign of ending, many in the country have been left with a feeling of hopelessness. A woman named Samira told Clarke that although she was only 22 years old, she felt like her life was over. 'My dreams of education and a future feel like distant memories, something that belonged to another life,' she said. Samira and her family fled Khartoum days into the war. 'At every checkpoint we passed, I held my breath, praying they wouldn't stop us,' she said. 'Praying they wouldn't take me.' The war has also left lasting scars on Ahmed. 'Looking in the mirror now, I don't see the girl I used to be,' she said. 'My eyes are tired, my heart is heavy. I don't know if I will ever feel safe again.' Youssef, the young woman from Khartoum, had a surgery planned before the war that she said might have helped her to hear again. That dream is dashed for now. And even though she escaped the fighting, she still fears for her life. She told Clarke she's afraid that someone might take her and that she won't be able to scream for her mother or brothers to save her. 'Even here in the camp, when I go to the bathroom at night, I am terrified that someone might attack me … and no one will hear my cries.' The Omar Haj Musa displacement camp in Kassala is on the grounds of a former high school.
Malay Mail
5 hours ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Macron says stance on Israel must ‘harden' unless Gaza situation improves
SINGAPORE, May 30 — French President Emmanuel Macron said today that European countries should 'harden the collective position' against Israel if it does not respond appropriately to the humanitarian situation in Gaza. With international pressure mounting on Israel over the deepening hunger crisis in Gaza, Macron said action was needed 'in the next few hours and days'. He also asserted recognition of a Palestinian state with conditions was 'not only a moral duty, but a political necessity'. If there was no response in line with the humanitarian situation in Gaza 'in the coming hours and days... we will have to harden our collective position,' Macron said on a visit to Singapore. This meant dropping an assumption that human rights were being respected 'and apply sanctions', the French leader said hours before addressing a defence summit in the city-state. Macron is on a diplomatic tour in Southeast Asia which also saw him visit Vietnam and Indonesia earlier this week. While in Jakarta, Macron and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto issued a joint statement condemning Israeli plans to take control of Gaza and any moves to 'forcibly remove the Palestinian population from their homeland'. Paris hoped to 'trigger a movement of recognition for a Palestinian state under certain conditions', including the demilitarisation of Hamas and recognition of Israel's right to exist and protect itself, Macron said in the Indonesian capital. The humanitarian situation in Gaza remained dire despite aid beginning to trickle back into the territory after a more than two-month Israeli blockade. Food security experts said starvation was looming for one in five people. Israel has also intensified its military offensive in what it said was a renewed push to destroy Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack triggered the war. — AFP
BBC News
5 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
Gaza being subjected to forced starvation, top UN official tells BBC
The UN's humanitarian chief has said people in Gaza are being subjected to forced starvation by an interview with the BBC, Tom Fletcher said he believed this had led to a change in the international response to Gaza. Asked if his assessment of forced starvation amounted to a war crime, he said: "Yeah, it is. It is classified as a war crime. Obviously, these are issues for the courts to take the judgement on, and ultimately for history to take a judgement on."Mr Fletcher also expressed regret for saying recently that 14,000 babies could die within 48 hours in Gaza if aid was not allowed in - a claim the UN later drew back - and acknowledged a need to be "precise" with language. Israel began to allow limited aid into Gaza last week, after an almost three-month blockade had halted the delivery of supplies such as food, medicine, fuel and shelter. It also resumed its military offensive two weeks after imposing the blockade, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. Israel said the steps were intended to put pressure on the armed group to release the 58 hostages still held in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be the easing of the blockade, scenes of chaos have broken out at aid distribution centres run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - a US- and Israeli-backed group. The UN, which refuses to cooperate with the GHF, said 47 people were injured earlier this week after crowds overwhelmed one of the centres. Mr Fletcher said: "We're seeing food set on the borders and not being allowed in when there is a population on the other side of the border that is starving, and we're hearing Israeli ministers say that is to put pressure on the population of Gaza."He said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should "absolutely" disavow a statement made by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich - who had said people in Gaza would be "totally despairing understanding that there's no hope and nothing to look for", and would be looking to relocate to begin a "new life in other places". "We would expect governments all over the world to stand for international humanitarian law, the international community is very, very clear on that," Mr Fletcher said. He called on Netanyahu to ensure that "this language, and ultimately, this policy... of forced displacement, isn't enacted".Israel has faced growing international criticism over its conduct of the war. On Tuesday, the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said: "Israeli strikes in Gaza go beyond what is necessary to fight Hamas." Her remarks followed an intervention by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who declared he "no longer understands" Israel's this month, the leaders of the UK, France and Canada called on the Israeli government to "stop its military operations" and "immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza". In response, Netanyahu accused them of siding with Hamas. On 14 May, Mr Fletcher called on the UN Security Council to act to prevent genocide in Gaza. Asked why he had made that statement, he referred to reporting from colleagues on the ground in Gaza."What they're reporting is forced displacement. They're reporting starvation, they're reporting torture, and they're reporting deaths on a massive scale," he Fletcher said in the cases of Rwanda, Srebrenica and Sri Lanka, "the world had told us afterwards that we didn't act in time, that we didn't sound a warning"."And that's my call to the [UN] Security Council and the world right now, 'will you act to prevent genocide?'" Mr Fletcher came under strong criticism from Israel after he claimed 14,000 babies in Gaza would die in 48 hours if aid was not allowed into the Strip. The Israeli Foreign Ministry accused Mr Fletcher of ignoring Hamas's atrocities and echoing their propaganda. "It's not humanitarian work, it's blood libel," the ministry said at the Fletcher said: "At the point when I made those comments, we were desperately trying to get that aid in."We were being told we couldn't get it in, and we knew that we'd probably have a couple of days, a window to get as much aid in as possible, and that was being denied, and we were desperate to get that in. And so yes, we've got to be utterly precise with our language, and we've clarified that."Asked about his claim – repudiated by Israel - that thousands of lorries were waiting on the border to enter Gaza, Mr Fletcher repeated that he especially needed to be "careful and really precise". He agreed there was a risk of being seen to hype the situation, but he added: "I'm not going to stop speaking up for the need to save these lives in Gaza, to save as many survivors as possible. That's my job, and I've got to do it better, and I will do it."He said mediation and negotiation was the way to resolve the crisis in Gaza and repeated his call for Hamas to release the Israeli hostages being held by the militant group. "We all want to see those hostages freed and back with their with their families," he said."I don't know now what the aim of this war is anymore. I think it has clearly gone beyond just the hostage releases. There's a lot of talk about finishing off Hamas. "And clearly, as many people have said, there can't be a part for Hamas in the new equation, the new governance of Gaza and the Palestinian territories."Mr Fletcher rejected Israeli claims Hamas was stealing large amounts of food aid. "I don't want to see any of that aid getting to Hamas. That matters to us because these are our principles, neutral, impartial, independent. Its in our interest to stop that aid getting to Hamas and ensure it gets to civilians.""As a humanitarian, my interest is just in getting as much of that aid in as possible, as quickly as possible, and saving as many lives as we're allowed to do in the time we have."Mr Fletcher is also dealing with crises in Ukraine, Sudan and Syria, among others, and said the world was facing a "profoundly dangerous" moment. "The Security Council is polarized, divided," he said."That means it makes it much harder for us to end conflicts; the conflicts we're dealing with are more ferocious, there's more impunity, and they're lasting longer. "It's getting harder and harder to end wars and we humanitarians... deal with the consequences."Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken least 54,249 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 3,986 since Israel resumed its offensive, according to the territory's Hamas-run health additional reporting by Olivia Lace-Evans and Maarten Lernout.
Arab News
6 hours ago
- Business
- Arab News
Witnesses in Gaza describe more chaos at food distribution sites
NUSEIRAT: Chaos erupted again Thursday as tens of thousands of desperate Palestinians in the Gaza Strip tried to collect food from distribution sites run by a new US- and Israeli-backed foundation. Multiple witnesses reported a free-for-all of people grabbing aid, and they said Israeli troops opened fire to control crowds. In central Gaza, Associated Press video showed smoke bombs arching through the air around a distribution center, and gunfire was audible as an Israeli tank moved nearby. Witnesses said it was Israeli troops who fired the projectiles to clear large crowds of Palestinians after the center ran out of supplies Thursday. 'I came to get a sack of flour … a sardine tin or anything,' said Mahmoud Ismael, a man on crutches from an earlier leg injury who said he walked for miles to get to the center, only to leave empty-handed. 'There is no food in my house, and I can't get food for my children,' he said. Turmoil has plagued the aid system launched this week by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs three distribution centers in the territory. Israel has slated GHF to take over food distribution in Gaza despite opposition from the United Nations and most humanitarian groups. Over the past three days, there have been reports of gunfire at GHF centers, and Gaza health officials have said at least one person has been killed and dozens wounded. The Israeli military said it has facilitated the entry of nearly 1,000 truckloads of supplies into Gaza recently and accused the UN of failing to distribute the goods. It claimed Hamas was responsible for the crisis by stealing aid and refusing to release the remaining hostages. The military's spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effei Defrin, said the army will continue 'to provide for the humanitarian needs of the civilian population while taking necessary steps to ensure that the aid does not reach the hands of Hamas.' With media not allowed to access the centers, the circumstances remain unclear. The distribution points are guarded by armed private contractors, and Israeli forces are positioned in the vicinity. On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it fired warning shots to control a crowd outside one center. Dr. Khaled Elserr, a surgeon at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, told the AP he treated two people wounded at distribution centers on Thursday — a 17-year-old girl and a man in his 20s. Both had gunshot wounds in the chest and stomach, he said, adding that other casualties had come in from the centers but that he did not have an exact number. In a statement Thursday, GHF said no shots had been fired at any of its distribution centers the past three days and there have been no casualties, saying reports of deaths 'originated from Hamas.' Separately on Thursday, Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 34 people, according to local health officials. Israel said it would establish 22 more Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Most of the international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to resolving the decades-old conflict. Turmoil at aid distribution sites Hunger and malnutrition have mounted among Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians since Israel barred entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies nearly three months ago, allowing a trickle of aid in only the past two weeks. GHF has opened hubs in three locations – two in the far south around the city of Rafah, and the other in central Gaza near the Netzarim corridor, a strip of territory controlled by Israeli forces. The large crowds have to walk miles to reach the locations. More than a dozen Palestinians described chaos at all three Thursday. At one of the Rafah sites near the Morag Corridor, another Israeli-held strip, one man told the AP he and his cousin arrived at 5:30 a.m., and found thousands of people massed outside, waiting to be let in. When it was opened, the crowd flowed into an outdoor area ringed by barbed wire and earth berms, where pallets of food boxes had been left. Armed contractors stood on the berms watching, and beyond them Israeli troops and tanks were visible, said the 41-year-old man, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his first name, Shehada, for fear of reprisals. The crowd descended on the food boxes, and pushing and shoving got out of control, he said. Shehada said the contractors pulled back and Israeli troops shot at people's feet. His cousin was wounded in the left foot, he said. 'The gunfire was very intense,' he said. 'The sand was jumping all around us.' At the other Rafah site, several people told AP of a similar scene of pallets of food boxes left on the ground for the crowds to take whatever they could with no control by staff. Mohammad Abu-Elinin, said 'gangs' carried off cartloads of flour bags and multiple aid boxes. Samira Z'urob said by the time she arrived at 6.a.m, 'the thieves had stolen people's aid.' When she begged, one person gave her a bag of pasta and a can of beans. 'I said, Thank God, and took it to my children,' she said. 'I haven't had flour for more than a week.' Another woman, Heba Joda, said people tore down metal fences and took wooden pallets. When the food boxes ran out, staff told people to leave, then fired sound grenades to disperse them, she said. As people fled through a nearby roundabout outside the center, Israeli troops fired gunshots, causing a panic, she said. Abu-Elinin said he saw one man wounded by shrapnel. At the center in central Gaza, witnesses told the AP that Israeli troops fired tear gas and smoke grenades to disperse the crowds when aid ran out. AP video showed crowds of people returning from the site, some with carts full of boxes and many with nothing. Aisha Na'na said all she managed to grab were some sticks to use as firewood. 'We had come to get food for our children, but it was all in vain — we returned with nothing,' she said. Israel says the GHF system will replace the massive aid operation that the UN and other aid groups have carried out throughout the war. It says the new mechanism is necessary, accusing Hamas of siphoning off large amounts of aid. The UN denies that significant diversion takes place. In its statement Thursday, GHF said it has distributed more than 32,200 boxes of food since Monday. It says each box, which contains basics like sugar, lentils, pasta and rice, can make 58 meals. It said it will scale up to start operations at a fourth center and will build additional hubs in the weeks ahead. The UN and other aid groups have refused to participate in the mechanism, saying it violates humanitarian principles. They say it allows Israel to use food as a weapon, forcing people to move to the hubs, potentially emptying large swaths of Gaza. They also say it cannot meet the massive needs of the population. Israel has allowed in some trucks of aid for the UN to distribute, but the UN has struggled to deliver the material amid looting and Israeli military restrictions. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday that Israeli authorities hadn't given permission for UN trucks to move to the border to retrieve the arriving supplies for the previous three days.
