More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to access food in Gaza since the US- and Israel-backed so-called ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’ began operations, the United Nations has said.
"As of 21 July, we have recorded 1,054 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food; 766 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites and 288 near UN and other humanitarian organisations’ aid convoys," UN human rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told AFP on Tuesday, stating the victims had been "killed by the Israeli military".
Medical staff in Gaza are also struggling to carry out their duties under the deadly Israeli blockade.
'No one is spared'
The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Tuesday that its staff, as well as doctors and humanitarian workers, were fainting on duty in Gaza due to hunger and exhaustion.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said it had received dozens of emergency messages from its staff describing grave conditions and exhaustion in the enclave, where Israel has been fighting a war against Palestinians since October 2023.
“No one is spared: caretakers in Gaza are also in need of care. Doctors, nurses, journalists and humanitarians are hungry,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement, shared by his spokesperson at a press briefing in Geneva.
“Many are now fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties: reporting atrocities or alleviating some of the suffering.”
GHF: ‘A sadistic death trap’
Lazzarini also criticised a US-backed aid distribution scheme run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that has been supplying aid since late May, when Israel, which controls supplies into Gaza, lifted an 11-week blockade.
“The so-called ‘GHF’ distribution scheme is a sadistic death trap. Snipers open fire randomly on crowds as if they are given a licence to kill,” Lazzarini said.
The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies and largely bypasses a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.
At least 67 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as they waited for UN aid trucks in northern Gaza on Sunday, the Gaza health ministry said, as Israel issued new evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced people.
The UN said on 15 July it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the ‘GHF’ and convoys run by other relief groups.
The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of ‘GHF’ sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.
