Tens of thousands of desperate Palestinians in the Gaza Strip exploded again on Thursday as they tried to collect food from a distribution site run by the new US and Israeli-support Basics. Multiple witnesses reported that all people were free to grab the aid, and they said that Israeli forces fired to control the crowd.
In central Gaza, smoke bombs were arching through the air around the distribution center in central Gaza, and gunshots were heard as Israeli tanks moved nearby. Witnesses said it was the Israeli army that fired the projectiles to clean up a massive Palestinian crowd after the Centre ran out of supplies on Thursday.
“I came to get a bag of flour… cans of sardines, etc,” said Mahmoud Ismael, a crutch man who said he had walked miles to get to the centre and left empty-handed.
“I don’t have food in my house and I can’t get food for the kids,” he said.
Turmoil plagued the aid system launched by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation this week. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation operates three territorial distribution centres. Israel plans to take over food distribution in Gaza despite opposition from the United Nations and most humanitarian groups.
Over the past three days, reports of shootings at GHF centres have said at least one person has been killed and dozens have been injured, with Gaza health officials saying.
Israeli forces have recently promoted nearly 1,000 supply entry into Gaza, and accused the UN of not distributing the goods. It claimed Hamas was responsible for the crisis by stealing aid and refusing to release the remaining hostages.
Military spokesman Brigg. General Efay Deflin said the Army will continue “to provide the humanitarian needs of civilians, taking necessary steps to ensure that aid is out of reach of Hamas.”
The situation remains unknown as media is not permitted to access the center. Distribution points are protected by armed civil contractors, with Israeli forces located nearby. On Tuesday, Israeli forces said they fired warning shots to control the crowd outside of one center.
Dr. Khaled Elsel, a surgeon at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis, told the Associated Press that he treated two people injured at the distribution center on Thursday, a 17-year-old girl and a man in his 20s. Both had gunshot wounds to the chest and stomach, he said, adding that the other victims came from the center but he did not have an exact number.
In a statement Thursday, the GHF said it has not been fired at any of its distribution centres in the past three days, saying the report of the death was “born from Hamas.”
Local health officials say an Israeli strike killed at least 34 people on Thursday. Israel said it would establish 22 more Jewish settlements on the occupied West Bank. Most international communities view settlements as illegal and obstacles to resolving conflicts that have been decades ago.
====Confusion on aid distribution site
Since Israel banned entry to food, fuel, medicine and other supplies almost three months ago, hunger and malnutrition have emerged among Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, allowing trickle to aid in the past two weeks alone.
GHF has opened hubs in three locations. Two far south of the city of Rafa, the other is in central Gaza, near the Netzarim corridor, the territory of the territory controlled by Israeli forces. Large crowds have to walk miles to reach the location.
More than 12 Palestinians explained the confusion over all three days.
At one of Rafa’s sites near the Morag corridor on another Israeli-owned Israeli-owned strip, a man discovered that he and his cousin arrived at 5:30am, with thousands of people gathering outside waiting to be opened.
Armed contractors were being monitored and Israeli forces and tanks were visible beyond them, said the 41-year-old man, who spoke on the condition that was identified only by his first name, Shehada, for fear of retaliation. The crowd descended onto the food box, and the thrusts and thrusts became out of control, he said.
Shehada said the contractors pulled back and Israeli forces shot people in the legs. His cousin was injured in his left leg, he said. “The shooting was very intense,” he said. “The sand was flying around us.”
On other Rafa sites, several people told the AP about a similar scene of a pallet of food boxes left on the ground to take whatever the crowd can do without the staff being able to control. Mohammad Abu-Elinin said the “gang” carried away cartoons with flour bags and multiple aid boxes.
By the time she arrived at 6:30, Samira Zlob said, “The thieves stole people’s help.” 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 eaten flour for over a week.”
Another woman, Heba Joda, said people tore a metal fence and took wooden pallets. When the food boxes were gone, staff told people to leave, then fired loud rena bullets to disperse them, she said.
She said Israeli forces fired gunshots and caused panic as people fled a roundabout near the center. Abu Elinin said he saw one man injured by a rap shotgun.
At a centre in central Gaza, witnesses told the Associated Press that Israeli forces fired tear gas and smoke hand rena bullets, dispersing the crowd when aid was gone. The AP video shows a crowd of people returning from the site. Some have a cart full of boxes and nothing.
Aisha Nana said that all she managed to bite was the stick she used as a fire. “We started getting food for the kids, but it was all in vain. We went back without doing anything,” she said.
Israel says the GHF system will replace the massive aid operations carried out by the UN and other aid groups during the war. It accuses Hamas of sucking up a large amount of aid and says a new mechanism is needed. The United Nations has denied that any significant transformation will take place.
In a statement Thursday, the GHF said it has been distributing more than 32,200 boxes of food since Monday. It says each box containing basics like sugar, lentils, pasta, rice and more can make 58 meals. He said he will scale up to begin operations at the fourth center and build additional hubs in the coming weeks.
The United Nations and other aid groups have refused to participate in the mechanism, stating that they are violating humanitarian principles. They say it could allow Israel to use food as weapons, forcing people to move to hubs, and empty large strips of Gaza. They also say it cannot meet the large needs of the population.
Israel has allowed several trucks to be distributed by the UN, but the UN has struggled to deliver the material amid looting and Israeli military restrictions.
UN spokesman Stephen Dujaric told reporters Thursday that Israeli authorities had not given permission to the UN trucks to travel to the border to collect supplies that had arrived in the past three days.
(Source: AP)