At least 47 people were wounded, mostly by gunfire, when a crowd overran a new Gaza aid hub set up by a US and Israeli-backed foundation, a UN official said yesterday.
Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Palestinian territories, told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, that it appeared Israeli army fire had caused most of the injuries.
On Tuesday, crowds of Palestinians broke through fences and a journalist heard Israeli tank and gun fire, and saw a military helicopter firing flares.
Photo: Reuters
The distribution hub outside Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah was opened the day before by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been slated by Israel to take over aid operations.
The UN and other humanitarian organizations have rejected the new system, saying it would not be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and allows Israel to use “food as a weapon” to control the population.
They have also warned of the risk of friction between Israeli troops and people seeking supplies.
Israel says it helped establish the new aid mechanism to prevent Hamas from siphoning off supplies.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it has established four hubs, two of which have begun operating.
They are guarded by private security contractors and have chain-link fences channeling people into areas surrounded by large sand berms, it said.
The foundation said that its military contractors had not fired on the crowd, but “fell back” before resuming operations.
Israeli forces are stationed nearby in what Israel refers to as the Morag corridor, a military zone separating the southern city of Rafah — which is now mostly uninhabited — from the rest of the territory.
The UN and other groups have refused to participate in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s system, saying that it contravenes humanitarian principles.
They say it can be used by Israel to forcibly displace the population by requiring them to move near the few distribution hubs or else face starvation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said that “there was some loss of control momentarily” at the distribution point, adding that “happily, we brought it under control.”
Israel plans to move Gaza’s entire population to a “sterile zone” at the southern end of the territory while troops fight Hamas elsewhere, he said.
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