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Scoop
3 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Shelling The Aid Seekers: Israel's 'Humanitarian' Project In Gaza
It's official. If not, it ought to be. Israeli forces freely butcher Palestinians in Gaza of all stripes, standing and states of desperation. They do so casually or indifferently or maliciously. True, they might get the odd militant here and there, but the supposedly professional Israeli Defense Forces is rather good at killing civilians. In what is becoming an almost daily occurrence, Israeli security personnel are slaughtering those seeking humanitarian aid from facilities that are obscenely restricted and appallingly located. What is unclear in the process is how devastating Palestinian militias armed and supported by the Israelis have been in pushing up the mortality count. In one incident on June 17, Israeli tanks – not exactly a light form of population control – fired into a crown scrounging for aid from trucks in Gaza. The resulting death toll was impressively outrageous: 59 killed. A further 14 were also killed by IDF gunfire and air strikes in the enclave, taking the death toll for June 17 to 73. On this occasion, Israel's normally mendacious publicity arm in the IDF seemed to concede that the firing had taken place. It followed that yet another cleansing review would take place. According to Reuters, a witness by the name of Alaa interviewed at Nasser Hospital saw the following spectacle of gore: 'All of a sudden, they let us move forward and made everyone gather, and then shells started falling, tank shells.' The IDF breezily stated that it was 'aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd's approach. The details of the incident are under view. The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimise harm as much as possible to them while maintaining the safety of our troops.' The previous day, 34 people awaiting to collect food were killed by IDF personnel near an aid centre operated by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a body whose dubious credentials never cease to amaze. Eyewitnesses in the crowd, including Heba Jouda and Mohamed Abed, recall Israeli troops firing on Palestinians massed around 4 a.m. at the Flag Roundabout prior to the scheduled opening of the Rafah food centre. The roundabout is located some hundreds of metres from the GHF centre, and has been the site of numerous shootings. 'Fire was coming from everywhere,' stated Jouda, a worn figure who has made the harrowing journey to the aid centre a number of times. 'It's getting worse by the day.' The International Committee on the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed receiving 200 people at its field hospital located in the Al-Mawasi area near Rafah. Up till that point, the ICRC stated that it had been 'the highest number received by the Red Cross Field Hospital in one mass casualty incident.' Carrie Garavan, a British Red Cross nurse working at the field hospital, notes the daily flow of casualties into the facility, most of whom have been queuing for food. 'We are having mass casualty incidents almost every day, sometimes twice a day.' The GHF, for its part, is lukewarm to the fattening butcher's bill. None of the shooting incidents, claimed a spokesperson to The Associated Press, 'have occurred at our sites or during operating hours.' Implying that those seeking aid were responsible for their own demise, the spokesperson went on to explain that they had moved 'during prohibited times … or trying to take a shortcut.' How irresponsible of them. In oral evidence given to the UK Foreign Affairs Committee on June 16, Anna Halford, the Médecins Sans Frontières emergency coordinator for Gaza, found it 'difficult to overstate at what point this is neither a humanitarian enterprise nor a system.' The entire Israeli aid effort in Gaza, as things stood, 'was basically lethal chaos.' Prior to the current lethal order of aid distribution, 400 to 500 community-level points were functioning for those seeking food. Kitchens cooking hot meals and bakeries supplying bread were plentiful. The numbers currently operating had plummeted to four. Halford's picture of what is being provided is grisly. The rations are only of the dry variety. There is an absence of clean water and cooking fuel, with no cooking gas entering the enclave since March 2. Substitute kerosene has proven woefully inadequate, causing those using it burns. Food is cooked on broken wooden pallets, salvaged plastic taken from piles of rubbish or turned up cardboard boxes. As for the justification given by Israel for the imposition of such onerous, cruel restrictions to the provision of aid – the deviation and theft of aid by Hamas or allied forces - Halford, speaking on behalf of MSF, was sharp in rebuke. While no aid system could ever guarantee against some deviation or theft of supplies, Israel had never offered any evidence to back its claims. 'It is a strawman; it is a specious and cynical position meant to undermine a humanitarian system that was actually functioning.' And that is precisely the point of the current, sanguinary exercise.
New Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Israel kills at least 45 Palestinians waiting for aid near distribution sites of US-backed GHF
Israel on Monday killed at least 45 starving Palestinians, who were waiting to receive the much-needed humanitarian aid at the distribution sites of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), in southern Gaza's Rafah. The newly established aid-distribution system was described as a "death trap" by various aid organisations and the UN who refused to cooporate with the GHF, stating it has been aiding Israel in its genocidal war against Gaza. The United Nations human rights chief on Monday condemned Israel's conduct in its war and said that the 'means and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza.' "Israel has weaponised food and blocked lifesaving aid,' Turk said while presenting his annual report to the UN Human Rights Council. "I urge immediate, impartial investigations into deadly attacks on desperate civilians to reach food distribution centres," he said adding that the "disturbing, dehumanising rhetoric from senior Israeli government officials is reminiscent of the gravest of crimes." At least 300 Palestinians have been killed by Israel near the GHF aid distribution sites since it began its operations. Witnesses describe crowds under fire Israeli troops started firing as thousands of Palestinians massed around 4 a.m. at the Flag Roundabout before the scheduled opening time of the Rafah food centre, according to Heba Jouda and Mohamed Abed, two Palestinians who were in the crowd.
Glasgow Times
5 days ago
- Health
- Glasgow Times
At least 34 Palestinians killed in shootings near food distribution centres
The toll was the deadliest yet in the near-daily shootings that have taken place as thousands of Palestinians move through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach the food centres run by the private contractor, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Two witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire early on Monday in an attempt to control the crowds. There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military. It has said in previous instances that troops fired warning shots at what it calls suspects approaching their positions. Palestinians line up to buy dinner at a food stand near the beachfront at a tent camp for displaced people in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Gaza's health ministry said 33 Palestinians were killed trying to reach the GHF centre near the southern city of Rafah and another en route to a GHF hub in central Gaza. It said four other people were killed elsewhere. Two Palestinians trying to get food at the Rafah site, Heba Jouda and Mohammed Abed, told the Associated Press that Israeli forces fired on the crowds at about 4am at the flag roundabout. The roundabout, hundreds of metres from the GHF centre, has repeatedly been the scene of shootings. The military has designated specific routes to access the food centres, and GHF has warned aid-seekers that leaving the roads is dangerous, but many do in an attempt to get to the food first. Israel and the United States say the new GHF system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid. GHF says there has been no violence in or around the sites themselves. UN agencies and major aid groups, which have delivered humanitarian aid across Gaza since the start of the 20-month Israel-Hamas war, have rejected the new system, saying it cannot meet the territory's needs and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon. They deny there is widespread theft of aid by Hamas. Palestinian health officials say scores of people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the sites opened last month. Experts have warned that Israel's ongoing military campaign and restrictions on the entry of aid have put Gaza, which is home to some 2.0 million Palestinians, at risk of famine.
Rhyl Journal
5 days ago
- Health
- Rhyl Journal
At least 34 Palestinians killed in shootings near food distribution centres
The toll was the deadliest yet in the near-daily shootings that have taken place as thousands of Palestinians move through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach the food centres run by the private contractor, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Two witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire early on Monday in an attempt to control the crowds. There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military. It has said in previous instances that troops fired warning shots at what it calls suspects approaching their positions. Gaza's health ministry said 33 Palestinians were killed trying to reach the GHF centre near the southern city of Rafah and another en route to a GHF hub in central Gaza. It said four other people were killed elsewhere. Two Palestinians trying to get food at the Rafah site, Heba Jouda and Mohammed Abed, told the Associated Press that Israeli forces fired on the crowds at about 4am at the flag roundabout. The roundabout, hundreds of metres from the GHF centre, has repeatedly been the scene of shootings. The military has designated specific routes to access the food centres, and GHF has warned aid-seekers that leaving the roads is dangerous, but many do in an attempt to get to the food first. Israel and the United States say the new GHF system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid. GHF says there has been no violence in or around the sites themselves. UN agencies and major aid groups, which have delivered humanitarian aid across Gaza since the start of the 20-month Israel-Hamas war, have rejected the new system, saying it cannot meet the territory's needs and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon. They deny there is widespread theft of aid by Hamas. Palestinian health officials say scores of people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the sites opened last month. Experts have warned that Israel's ongoing military campaign and restrictions on the entry of aid have put Gaza, which is home to some 2.0 million Palestinians, at risk of famine.
India Today
5 days ago
- General
- India Today
34 Palestinians killed in deadliest shooting near Gaza's food distribution hubs
Israeli troops opened fire Monday as crowds tried to reach Israeli-and US-supported food distribution centres in Gaza, witnesses said. The 34 people killed, according to health officials, made it the deadliest day of such shootings since the new aid system launched last Israeli military didn't immediately comment on Monday's shootings. But after some previous ones that have been a near-daily occurrence since the aid centres opened three weeks ago, it said its troops had fired warning shots at what it called suspects approaching their positions, though it didn't say whether those shots struck say they face the choice of starving or risking death as they make their way past Israeli forces to reach the distribution points, which are run by a private contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza says several hundred people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in such shootings since the centres opened. The ministry said 33 Palestinians were killed Monday trying to reach the GHF centre near the southern city of Rafah and another was killed while headed to a GHF hub in central Gaza. It said four other people who weren't trying to get to distribution centres were killed are desperate to feed their families after most food ran out during the 2 months this year when Israel barred all supplies from entering the territory. Israel has eased the blockade since last month to let in a trickle of DESCRIBE CROWDS UNDER FIREadvertisementIsraeli troops started firing as thousands of Palestinians massed around 4 am at the Flag Roundabout before the scheduled opening time of the Rafah food centre, according to Heba Jouda and Mohamed Abed, two Palestinians who were in the fell to the ground, trying to take cover, they said. "Fire was coming from everywhere," said Jouda, who has repeatedly made the journey to get food for her family over the past week. "It's getting worse day by day," she Red Cross field hospital nearby received some 200 injured Monday, the highest single mass casualty event it has seen, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement. Only a day earlier, it said, around 170 were brought to the facility, most of them wounded by gunshots while trying to reach the GHF centre. The Health Ministry toll made it the deadliest day around the food sites since June 2, when 31 people were Flag Roundabout, hundreds of meters (yards) from the GHF centre, has been the scene of repeated shootings. It is on the route designated by the Israeli military for people to take to reach the over the past weeks have said Israeli troops open fire to prevent people from moving past a certain point on the road before the scheduled opening of the centre or because people leave the GHF spokesperson told The Associated Press on Sunday that "none of the incidents to date have occurred at our sites or during operating hours". It said the incidents have involved aid-seekers who were moving "during prohibited trying to take a short cut". It said it was trying to improve safety measures, including by recently moving the opening times from nighttime to daylight hours.A NEW AID DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMIsrael and the United States say the GHF system is intended to replace the UN-led humanitarian operation that has delivered aid across Gaza since the start of the 20-month Israel-Hamas war. Israel contends that the new mechanism is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off agencies and major aid groups deny that there is widespread theft of aid by Hamas and have rejected the new system. They say it can't meet the population's needs and turns food into a weapon for Israel to carry out its military goals, including moving the more than 2 million Palestinians into a "sterile" enclave in southern at Britain's House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday, an official with Doctors Without Borders said Israel's claims of extensive diversion by Hamas were "specious and cynical", and were intended "to undermine a humanitarian system which was actually functioning"."This is neither a humanitarian enterprise nor a system. This is basically lethal chaos," Anna Halford, a field coordinator for the group, said when asked by lawmakers about the GHF warn that Israel's ongoing military campaign and restrictions on aid entry have put Gaza at risk of military campaign since October 2023 has killed over 55,300 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between civilians and launched its campaign aiming to destroy Hamas after the group's October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostage. The militants still hold 53 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other Watch IN THIS STORY#Israel#Gaza Strip
