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The United Nations rights office reported that at least 875 people have been killed over the past six weeks at food distribution centers in Gaza operated by the United States-Israeli-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and other relief organizations, including the UN.
The majority of these fatalities occurred near GHF facilities, while 201 were killed along the routes of other humanitarian convoys.
Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, reported the latest lethal incident on Monday, with reports suggesting that the Israeli military targeted Palestinians in search of food at a GHF location in northwest Rafah.
The GHF secures its supplies into Gaza through private US security and logistics firms, mainly avoiding a UN-coordinated operation that, according to Israel, has been compromised by Hamas-led militants stealing aid intended for civilians. Hamas denies these claims.
The UN has criticized the GHF’s aid distribution model, labeling it as “inherently unsafe” and not complying with humanitarian impartiality principles.
UN secretary-general António Guterres said last month: “Any operation that channels desperate civilians into militarised zones is inherently unsafe. It is killing people.”
“People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families.”
The GHF, which started distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, previously told Reuters such incidents have not occurred on its sites and accused the UN of misinformation, which it denies.
“Our findings are based on data collected from various reliable sources, including medical, human rights, and humanitarian organizations,” Al-Kheetan stated to journalists in Geneva.
The United Nations has reiterated its criticism of the GHF aid model, deeming it “inherently unsafe” and inconsistent with standards of humanitarian neutrality. Source: Getty / Moiz Salhi
The GHF said last week it had delivered more than 70 million meals to Palestinians in five weeks, and that other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
The Israeli army previously told Reuters in a statement it was reviewing recent mass casualties.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the UN World Food Programme said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by “hungry civilian communities”.
