At least 20 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday at a distribution location for aid run by the Humanitarian Foundation of Gaza (GHF), a U.S.-backed group said it was a surge in the incitement of armed agitators.
The Israel-backed GHF said 19 people were trampled and another was fatally stabbed in its crush on one of the centres in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
“We have credible reasons to believe that elements in the armed and connected Hamas population deliberately incited unrest,” the GHF said in a statement.
Hamas did not comment immediately.
Palestinian health officials told Reuters that people died of suffocation at the scene. A doctor said many people were squeezed into a small space and crushed.
On Tuesday, the United Nations Office for Rights in Geneva said it had recorded at least 875 killings in the past six weeks at aid sites and near food convoys in Gaza, most of which were close to GHF allocation points.
Most of these deaths were caused by gunfire from locals to blame on Israeli troops. The military acknowledged Palestinian civilians were hurt near the aid distribution center, saying Israeli forces were issued new instructions after so-called “learnings learned.”
GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to supply supply to Gaza, largely bypassing a non-leadership system that Israel says has caused Hamas-led militants to rob armed transport designed to civilians. Hamas denied the allegation.
The UN calls the GHF model “inherent insecurity” and violates humanitarian standards of justice.
Amjad al-Shawa, the director of the Cyberspace Administration of Palestinian NGOs, accused the GHF of serious mismanagement on Wednesday, saying its lack of crowd control and failure to uphold humanitarian principles have led to chaos and deaths among desperate civilians.
“Thousands of people are hungry and exhausted, and they are squeezed into narrow places in a shortage of aid and lack of organization and discipline in the GHF,” he told Reuters.
The war in Gaza was triggered by a deadly attack on Israel in October 2023, destroying large swaths of coastal enclaves, nearly displaced, and displaced people in almost all areas, and resulting in widespread hunger and abuse.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had completed a new road in southern Gaza, separating several towns east of Khan Yunis from other territories to undermine Hamas’ operations.
Day 6Israeli researchers say Gaza’s aid site is a “humanitarian opposition”
Video evidence and testimony obtained by the Associated Press and Israeli newspaper Haaretz has shown that U.S. contractors and Israeli soldiers have received aid allocation locations operated by Israeli and the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to fire orders among unarmed Palestinians. Yaakov Garb, an Israeli researcher and professor at the University of Ben Gurion, Negev, has been analyzing satellite data from the site and saying they are the opposite of humanitarianism.
Hamas wants a distributor
Palestinians see the Israeli Army-controlled road as a way to put pressure on Hamas in the ongoing ceasefire talks, which began on July 6 and was facilitated by Arab mediators Egypt and Qatar with the support of the United States.
Palestinian sources close to negotiations said there has been no breakthrough on any major issues discussed.
Hamas said Israel wants to keep at least 40% of the Gaza Strip under its control as part of any deal the group rejects. Hamas also demanded the removal of GHF and the restoration of non-leaderly aid delivery mechanisms.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war will end once Hamas is disarmed and evacuated from Gaza.
Gaza local health authorities said Israeli military strike killed at least 17 people in the enclave on Wednesday.
According to Gaza’s health authorities, Israel’s campaign in Gaza killed more than 58,000 Palestinians.
Nearly 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed due to the conflict, including 1,200 people killed on October 7, 2023, and the attacks launched by Hamas were regarded as terrorist organizations by the United States, Canada and several other countries. An estimated 50 Israelis and foreign nationals are still captured in Gaza, including 28 hostages who were pronounced dead and their bodies were held.
