At Least 20 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday at an aid distribution site run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which blamed the deadly crowd surge on armed agitators.
The United Nations rights office says it has documented at least 875 deaths over the past six weeks near aid sites and convoys in Gaza, the majority of them near GHF distribution points.
The GHF, which is supported by Israel, said 19 people were trampled and one was fatally stabbed during the crush at one of its centres in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
“We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd – armed and affiliated with Hamas – deliberately fomented the unrest,” GHF said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
Palestinian health officials told Reuters at least 20 people had died of suffocation at the site. One medic said lots of people had been crammed into a small space and had been crushed.
The GHF, which began distributing food packages in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week blockade on humanitarian supplies, has previously rejected U.N. criticism, accusing it of spreading misinformation.
‘Inherently Unsafe’ Aid Model
The U.N. has called the GHF’s model “inherently unsafe” and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards.
GHF operates outside the U.N.-coordinated aid system and uses private U.S. security and logistics contractors to deliver aid — an approach Israel says reduces the risk of Hamas looting, a charge the group denies.
The GHF said on Friday it had delivered more than 70 million meals to Gaza 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 that it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimise friction between Palestinians and the Israel Defence Forces by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the U.N. World Food Programme said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by “hungry civilian communities”
(With inputs from Reuters)
