UN says 875 Palestinians have been killed near Gaza aid sites
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Palestinians helping an injured man reach a Red Cross clinic in Rafah on July 12, after he was reportedly shot at an aid distribution point.
PHOTO: AFP
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- UN reports 875 killings in Gaza in six weeks at aid distribution points, mostly linked to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
- The UN criticises the GHF aid model as "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
- GHF claims it delivered 70 million meals in five weeks, alleging other groups' aid was looted, a claim Hamas denies.
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GENEVA – The UN rights office said on July 15 it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and convoys run by other relief groups, including the United Nations.
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.
The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.
The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, previously told Reuters that such incidents have not occurred on its sites and accused the UN of misinformation, which it denies.
The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest UN figures.
“The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights and humanitarian organisations,” Mr Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.
The UN has called the GHF aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
The GHF said on July 11 it had delivered more than 70 million meals to Gaza Palestinians in five weeks, and that other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
The Israeli army previously told Reuters in a statement that it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimise friction between Palestinians and the Israel Defence Forces by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the UN World Food Programme said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by “hungry civilian communities”. REUTERS
