GHF food hub leads to fatal chaos as desperate Palestinians fight for survival
After midnight Thursday morning, Abdullah Ahmed left his sleeping wife and children in the north in the small, crowded home of the abused Al-bureij camp in central Gaza.
The 31-year-old vegetable seller heard that the nearby food distribution website was recently opened by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a secret Israeli and US-backed private organization that began operations in the region last month and will distribute food at 2 a.m.
To get there early and to grab a box of flour, oil, beans and other basics, Ahmed and some friends were in the dangerous rubble bush.
Just arrived near the center were four run by GHF, which was dangerous. “We can always hear the sound of shells and wandering bullets flying past us. We have been covering up behind the ruins of the house. Anyone who does not cover up is dead.”
Last week, every night and most mornings, Gaza had similar scenes as thousands of hungry, desperate people gathered on the GHF website or waited on trucks expected to be loaded with UN flour.
Every day, somewhere in the devastating territory, these gatherings have equally fatal conclusions when Israeli troops open fire.
Related: Gaza officials say
The exact losses over the past 12 days are not yet clear. Gaza medical authorities said about 450 people died and thousands were injured. The IDF acknowledged that some people were injured by the fire but had not yet admitted any deaths in the shooting, which they said was targeting the “suspects” who posed a threat to the troops and followed only the warning shots.
GHF said on Sunday that its model was working: “Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health is publishing false information every day, and unfortunately, media outlets have not yet verified it before it was released.”
But last week, 10 witnesses interviewed by The Guardian widely confirmed reports of repeated fatal incidents involving a large number of casualties, as well as records from medical aid organizations working in Gaza.
As Ahmed approached the GHF site north of Al-Bureij, he heard “heavy but intermittent gunfire from tanks, artillery and four-wheel drives”. “As we approached the site, the gunshots recovered, a shell was a few meters away from me, and then the debris scattered, some of them hit my chest, neck and legs,” Ahmed said.
“I fell to the ground…I was trying to stop the blood from my neck with fragments of my clothes. My friends took me a long distance until we reached the entrance to al-bureij City, where we found a car that took us to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.”
After the witness was injured, many people were interviewed in the hospital, describing similar situations.
Between May 27 and June 19, the Red Cross Hospital in Rafa received 1874 “weapon-captured patients” and recorded 18 “mass casualties”, with the vast majority of patients reporting to medical staff the injuries they were injured while trying to obtain food at the GHF site.
Of the 285 casualties in Al-Mawasi in Rafah, Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, Khan Younis and Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah, most of them were seeking supplies at the distribution sites of GHF from 11 to 12 June. Among them, 14 people were pronounced dead on or shortly after arrival.
Related: EU quotes “signs” Israel is violating human rights obligations against Gaza
Food has become extremely scarce since Israel imposed severe lockdowns on all supplies throughout March and April, threatening “risk of famine” among many of the 2.3 million people living there. Now, a kilogram of sugar costs 60 times more than before the war, and a bag of 25 kilograms of flour costs as much as $500. There is little fuel for cooking, and for many people, fresh vegetables are almost unavailable and there is no fresh meat.
The UN has tried to bring aid since the lockdown was partially lifted last month, but it faces major obstacles, including rubble choke bone roads, Israeli military restrictions, continued air strikes and growing anarchy.
Many deaths in recent weeks have occurred, and when rumors spread to the World Food Programme (WFP) aid trucks sent to Gaza may arrive, Israel’s permitted access to the northern entry point will reach Gaza, allowing people to get more direct access to areas with the sharpest humanitarian crisis.
But none of these delivery reached their destination, all of which were stopped and unloaded by criminal gangs, but mostly by desperate ordinary Palestinians, AIDS officials said.
WFP said Wednesday that it had only sent 9,000 tons of food aid to Gaza over the past four weeks, “only a small fraction of what 2.1 million hungry people need.”
Even those who get food are in danger. Once the supply at the hub was running out, some people who were too late to steal those who left. Witnesses described adults assaulting and robbing children to bring food outside one of Rafa’s three GHF hubs. One person said the thief tried to grab a bag of food and cried, his child had no food and stabbed an older man.
Israel hopes that the GHF will replace the previous integrated aid distribution system operated by the United Nations, with Israeli officials claiming that Hamas allows Hamas to steal and sell supplies. A spokesman said the IDF “will continue to promote humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip while doing everything possible to ensure that the aid does not touch the hands of the Hamas terrorist group.”
Since the beginning of the 20-month war, UN agencies and major aid organizations have provided humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, and they have rejected the new system, saying it is unrealistic, inadequate and immoral. They deny that Hamas’ aid is extensive.
Aid workers in Gaza say some of the food provided by the GHF is reaching Hamas, which has been severely weakened, but remains a major actor in an increasingly broken and chaotic territory. “They sent people to get it directly from the hub, which is simple because the GHF is not censoring anyone,” said a senior UN official in Gaza.
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli troops were fired to prevent crowds from leaving the military designated road before the center opened or because people left the military's designated road.
The IDF said its “operational behavior…is accompanied by the learning process of the system” and is studying safety measures such as fences and road signs.
GHF said in a statement on Sunday that it had distributed 38 million meals in Gaza, “no injuries or any deaths nearby or nearby” and said “Unfortunately there are some cases in some cases.” [seeking aid] A shortcut to trying to pass the active war zone or get lost.
“Ultimately, the solution is more aid, which will create more certainty and less urgency in the population. There is not enough capacity or food to feed everyone in Gaza. If the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations will join us, we can do aid in the Gaza region.”
The war was triggered by Hamas's attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, where militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and occupied 251 hostages, 53 of whom remained in Gaza, with less than half of them being considered alive.
According to the Ministry of Health, the death toll in Gaza has reached 55,600 since the war broke out, mainly civilians.
