Days after the United Nations publicly opposed a Gaza aid distribution system backed by the U.S. and Israel, at least 31 people were killed and more than 150 wounded while attempting to get food from one of its sites. According to witnesses, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) fired on crowds roughly 1 kilometer (1,000 yards) away from the site early Sunday morning, June 1, The Associated Press reports.
Although witnesses and nearby medics corroborated the account, the IDF said in a statement that it was “currently unaware of injuries caused by (Israeli military) fire within the humanitarian aid distribution site,” adding, “The matter is still under review.”
GHF brushes off ‘false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos’
The site was being administered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an aid distribution contractor backed by the U.S. and Israel. GHF was met with criticism from the U.N., which previously handled much of the aid entering the Gaza Strip, when it began operating a week ago.
The U.N. argues that GHF lacks the capacity, independence and logistical reach needed to effectively alleviate the widespread hunger in Gaza, and warns that the setup may violate international law by “weaponizing” food. Israel has argued that it must be in control of aid distribution to stop Hamas from pillaging rations, though the Israeli government has offered little evidence to suggest this is happening. The U.N. refutes that it is, with U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs head, Jonathan Whittall, saying, “The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces.”
On Sunday, the GHF said it delivered aid “without incident,” and denied that any of its installations, which are located in Israeli military zones and thus difficult to independently monitor, have seen outbreaks of gunfire. That statement follows similar reports from Tuesday, May 27, and Wednesday, May 28, when Israeli forces fired on people, killing at least six and injuring dozens of others, as they attempted to get food.
In its statement, the GHF said it distributed 16 truckloads of aid early Sunday and described recent accounts as “false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos.” The IDF, meanwhile, has said it’s fired “warning shots” in food distribution areas, but denied that it fired into crowds.
‘Fire from all directions’
However, witnesses on the ground, including field medics and a reporter with the Associated Press, dispute that dismissal. They say that at around 3 a.m. Sunday, thousands of Palestinians made their way to a distribution site in southern Gaza. Israeli forces reportedly ordered them to return later, but opened fire as the Palestinians got roughly half a mile from the site.
Amr Abu Teiba, one of those in the crowd, told the AP that he saw at least 10 bodies with gunshot wounds and several who were injured. “There was fire from all directions, from naval warships, from tanks and drones,” Teiba said. “The scene was horrible.”
According to Dr. Marwan al-Hams, an official with the Gaza Health Ministry, 24 people were being treated in Nasser Hospital’s intensive care unit. One hundred fifty people arrived later at the hospital, along with 28 bodies, surgeon Khaled al-Ser added.
The AP reporter similarly witnessed dozens of wounded Palestinians at the hospital around 6 a.m., as well as crowds of people returning from the GHF distribution point. While some people reportedly carried boxes of aid, “most appeared to be empty-handed,” the AP notes.
Palestinian Medical Relief Society Director Bassam Zaqout told Al Jazeera that GHF’s distribution system reduced the number of sites across Gaza from 400 to four, since Israel ostensibly lifted its nearly three-month blockade of humanitarian aid. “The mechanism does not cater to the needs of the people, such as the elderly and people with disabilities,” Zaqout said.
US-backed ceasefire appears stalled
The war began after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people. Israel’s military campaign has since killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israeli airstrikes and ground operations have displaced nearly 90% of Gaza’s population, while nearly 500,000 of the territory’s roughly 2 million inhabitants face imminent famine.
On Saturday, May 31, Hamas responded with amendments to a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal that has the support of Israel. However, those talks seem to have stalled, as an Israeli official told reporters that Jerusalem views the amendments as an “effective rejection” of the proposal. Also on Saturday, the IDF confirmed that it had killed Muhammad Sinwar, one of Hamas’ top military commanders in Gaza.
