Israeli forces have killed 37 Palestinians across Gaza, at least 13 of whom were trying to get food at aid sites operated by the controversial United States and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to local health officials, the latest deaths in areas that critics have slammed as “human slaughterhouses”.
Medics at al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza on Sunday told Al Jazeera that at least three people were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire as they tried to approach a GHF site near the so-called Netzarim Corridor, desperately seeking meagre food parcels for their hungry families.
At least another 10 other aid seekers were reported killed and more than 50 injured in southern Gaza. Many of the dead and wounded were taken to the Red Cross Hospital in Rafah, according to medics.
“People have told us that the Israeli military did not warn the hungry crowds before opening fire on them, leading to devastating civilian casualties,” reported Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
Ahmed al-Masri, who left one of the aid points empty-handed, described the shootings as “a trap”.
Multiple Israeli air raids also hammered southern Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 12 Palestinians there. Seven others were killed when an Israeli strike targeted a group of people in Beit Lahiya town in the north of the enclave, medics said.
Alarming levels of hunger, and the spectre of famine, have driven people to the few food distribution points in Gaza despite the severe peril involved. But Israeli forces have responded with sniper fire and bombings. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in near-daily mass shootings, with the GHF accused of weaponising aid.
On Saturday, at least 79 Palestinians were killed, many of them while seeking aid. Medics at al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in central Gaza said at least 15 people were killed as they tried to approach the GHF aid distribution site near Netzarim Corridor.
There has been no comment from the Israeli military regarding Sunday’s attacks.
‘Execution sites’
The GHF began distributing aid in Gaza at the end of May after Israel partially lifted a three-month total blockade of food, medicines and other essential items.
Abu Azzoum said Palestinians are starting to see GHF distribution hubs as “execution sites”, considering the repeated attacks there.
The GHF said its aid sites were closed on Saturday. But witnesses said thousands of people had gathered near the sites anyway, desperate for food as Israel’s punishing blockade and military campaign have driven the territory to the brink of famine.
Earlier this month, operations at the group’s aid distribution hubs were also temporarily halted following several incidents of deadly violence, in which Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian aid seekers.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said in a statement on Saturday that at least 274 people have so far been killed, and more than 2,000 wounded, near aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations in Gaza.
The Israeli military has admitted to shooting at aid seekers, but claimed it opened fire only when “suspects” deviated from a stipulated route to the GHF distribution site.
Hamas has accused Israel of “employing hunger as a weapon of war and turning aid distribution sites into traps of mass deaths of innocent civilians”.
Israel and the US say the new system is intended to replace the United Nations-run network. They have accused Hamas, without providing evidence, of siphoning off the UN-provided aid and reselling it to fund its military activities.
Israel has also admitted to backing armed gangs in Gaza, known for criminal activities, to undermine Hamas. These groups have been blamed for looting aid.
UN officials deny Hamas has diverted significant amounts of aid and say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs and also bypasses those organisations with decades of experience in distributing aid across the entire territory to the whole population.
The UN has also labelled the GHF aid distribution as inadequate, dangerous, and a violation of humanitarian principles.
“GHF, I think it’s fair to say, has been, from a principled humanitarian standpoint, a failure,” Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters in Geneva on Friday. “They are not doing what a humanitarian operation should do, which is providing aid to people where they are, in a safe and secure manner.”
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed nearly 55,300 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and has flattened much of the densely populated Gaza Strip, home to more than two million people, most of whom are displaced and facing acute hunger.
