How dangerous is it for Gazans to show up at food distribution centres? The United Nations human rights office on Friday revealed that it had recorded at least 798 killings – both at aid points run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and near aid convoys run by other relief groups, including the UN. Many of them lost their lives even before reaching the distribution facilities, the organisation said.
"Up until the seventh of July, we've recorded now 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys," OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. The statement contradicts the position maintained by the GHF, which had denied Israeli offensives claiming the lives of Palestinian civilians near its camps. GHF maintains that its operation is preventing Hamas from hijacking food aid and using it to control the enclave's population, charges denied by the Islamist militants who ran Gaza.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera confirmed that Israel struck the only functioning distribution point located in Rafah, killing ten and wounding 16 others. The said facility was also run by the GHF.
GHF claims found baseless
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May and has repeatedly denied that incidents had occurred at its sites. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation depends on private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel says had let militants divert aid.
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Al Jazeera also reported claiming that the Israeli attacks across Gaza are pushing its surviving citizens to further starvation and the hungry are fainting in the streets. The suspension of operations by GHF in most of its distribution sites is expected to worsen the desperate situation for 2 million people who rely on these centres.
The UN and other humanitarian groups have rejected the GHF system, saying it allows Israel to use food as a weapon, violates humanitarian principles and is not effective. Israel says Hamas has siphoned off aid delivered by the UN, a claim the UN denies. Hamas has urged Palestinians not to cooperate with the GHF.
GHF, registered in Delaware, began distributing food in May to Palestinians, who say Israeli troops open fire almost every day toward crowds on roads heading to the distribution points.
