US blames Hamas for attack that hurt two American aid workers in Gaza
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It was not immediately clear who was behind the alleged grenade attack.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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JERUSALEM – The US on July 5 blamed Hamas for an attack that injured two American aid workers from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) at a food distribution site in Gaza.
The US- and Israeli-backed GHF said in a statement that the injured Americans were receiving medical treatment and were in a stable condition.
“The attack – which preliminary information indicates was carried out by two assailants who threw two grenades at the Americans – occurred at the conclusion of an otherwise successful distribution in which thousands of Gazans safely received food,” the GHF said.
US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce blamed “Hamas terrorists” for the attack.
“This act of violence against the people actually bringing relief to Gazans lays bare the depravity of Hamas,” she said in a post on X.
“GHF has contributed over 62 million meals – nothing will stop these courageous aid workers. We are praying for the rapid recovery of the injured Americans.”
The Israeli military earlier accused what it called “terrorist organisations” of sabotaging the distribution of aid in Gaza.
The GHF, which began distributing aid in Gaza in May, employs private US military contractors to provide security at their sites.
Gaza has seen an escalation in violence as efforts continue to reach a ceasefire agreement.
Hamas on July 4 reported that it had responded positively to a US-brokered deal and was prepared to enter into talks.
US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 7.
Killings near aid distribution sites
The Gazan authorities separately reported that over 70 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli military in the past 24 hours, including 23 near aid distribution sites. The Health Ministry did not specify where or how exactly they had been killed.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the reports.
In a statement on July 4, the military said that in the past week, troops had killed 100 militants in Gaza, and claimed that it had “operational control” over 65 per cent of Gaza after an offensive against Hamas fighters in the north.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza on July 3 had warned residents of the coastal enclave not to assist the GHF, saying deadly incidents near its food distribution sites endangered hungry Gazans.
The GHF bypasses traditional aid channels, including the United Nations, which says the US-based organisation is neither impartial nor neutral.
The GHF has said it has delivered more than 52 million meals to Palestinians in five weeks, while other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted”.
Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, the UN says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid handouts.
A senior UN official said last week that the majority of people killed were trying to reach aid distribution sites of the GHF.
Footage released by the GHF has shown at least one aid site to be overrun, with no clear distribution process. Palestinians have described the sites as chaotic.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel’s retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians.
It has also caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced Gaza’s entire population and prompted accusations of genocide and war crimes. Israel denies the accusations. REUTERS
