‘Mass Death Traps’: Outrage Erupts After Israeli Forces Kill Dozens of Starving Aid Seekers at US-backed Centers in Gaza
Gaza (Quds News Network)- At least 52 starving Palestinians have been killed while seeking food at aid distribution points run by the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since it began operations last week, sparking outrage from the UN and humanitarian groups.
In three separate attacks, between May 27 and July 2, Israeli forces shot at crowds of Palestinians who gathered near the aid distribution centres run by the GHF in southern Gaza's Rafah city and central Gaza near the Netzarim Corridor.
The deadliest attack occurred on Sunday, when more than 35 people were killed as Israeli forces opened fire indiscriminately near the aid center in Rafah.
The massacres sparked outrage among the United Nations and humanitarian organizations. Here are some of the reactions:Palestinian Health Ministry
The ministry said the Israeli army is using the new mechanism for distributing aid for mass killings and as a tool for the forced displacement of Gaza residents.
In a statement, Dr Munir al-Bursh, the director general of the ministry, condemned “the international silence regarding the massacres being committed against the starving residents of the Gaza Strip”.
Palestinian Factions in Gaza
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) condemned “the new massacre of the starving people in Rafah”, saying it was “a genocide with international complicity and American participation”.
“What happened constitutes a full-fledged war crime,” said the group, which warned Palestinians several days ago that the aid distribution points set up by Israel and the US were “death traps”.
“We demand urgent international and Arab intervention to stop this ongoing massacre and impose strict accountability mechanisms on the criminal occupation, in addition to immediately breaking the siege,” the PFLP said.
Hamas said the “brutal massacre was committed by the fascist occupation army, targeting thousands of citizens who had headed to an aid distribution centre west of Rafah.”
“This massacre confirms the fascist nature of the occupation and its criminal objectives behind this mechanism.”
“We call on the UN to form an independent international commission of inquiry and enter the Gaza Strip to investigate these systematic crimes against civilians and hold those responsible accountable as war criminals.”
World Food Programme
Cindy McCain, the executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), urged Israel to grant the UN agency access to the Gaza Strip “so we can do our job”.
“What we need right now is an immediate ceasefire, complete unfettered access [and] every gate open to feed people and stop this catastrophe from happening,” McCain told the US broadcaster ABC News.
“If we don’t do that, it’s going to be a humanitarian catastrophe… like none other.”
McCain also confirmed reports that Israeli forces have killed at least 31 Palestinians who were seeking food aid at the GHF point in Rafah on Sunday.
“Our people are reporting the same thing on the ground. It’s a tragedy,” she said.
OHCHR
The UN’s human rights office (OHCHR) stressed “once more that Israel’s militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism violates international standards on aid distribution, endangers civilians, and is contributing to the catastrophic situation in Gaza”.
It added, “The weaponisation of food for civilians and restricting or preventing their access to other life sustaining services constitute a war crime and may constitute elements of other international crimes, including genocide.”
Save the Children
Save the Children condemned Israel’s militarised aid distribution model in Gaza.
The charity described the killings as a “blatant and shocking disregard of international humanitarian law”, saying in a statement that directing desperate families to military-run sites only to open fire on them is turning aid distribution into a tool of war.
Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s regional director, said food parcels being distributed lack essentials, such as baby formula and nutrition for badly malnourished children.
The majority of those killed have been men, fathers and brothers, who play a vital role in protecting and providing for their families, Save the Children noted.
“Aid is a right, and humanitarian organisations know how to deliver it. But we’re not being allowed to do it,” its statement said. “This militarised model is the weaponisation of aid against a starving population.”
Ambulances have been reportedly blocked from reaching the wounded. “Every day brings the opportunity to make a different choice,” Alhendawi said, adding that the world must act to protect Palestinians who have endured the “unliveable” and survived the “unforgivable”.
CAIR
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said “these ‘aid’ concentration sites – in which a handful of desperate people are given starvation rations as a cruel publicity stunt designed to deflect attention from Israel’s forced starvation campaign – are in reality ‘killing zones’ for that state’s machine of death and destruction.”
“This is pure evil operating with impunity and with the world’s silence. The genocide must stop and the Palestinian people must be recognized as human beings deserving freedom and justice on their own land.”
MSF
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) blamed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation‘s aid distribution system for chaos at the scene in Rafah.
“Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers on the ground,” MSF said in a statement.
MSF communications officer Nour Alsaqa reported hospital corridors filled with patients, mostly men, with “visible gunshot wounds in their limbs”.
MSF quoted one wounded man, Mansour Sami Abdi, as describing people fighting over just five pallets of aid. “They told us to take food – then they fired from every direction,” he said.
NRC
Ahmed Bayram from the Norwegian Refugee Council reportedly said Israel’s chosen aid distributor has asked starving people to come back “under the bullets and the bombs” as the needs of hungry Palestinians reach “unprecedented levels”.
“What’s happening can be seen as a pretext to displace more people from the north. Let’s be clear – it’s nothing new. It’s just a new tactic in the grand scheme of Israeli aims. Forcible displacement is very much an aim as part of this operation,” Bayram said.
He described aid distribution in Gaza as “the most dangerous in the world that has been set up by Israel and the GHF”.
“It is obviously linked to Israeli security aims. There’s nothing independent about this, there’s nothing neutral. Clearly, this is linked to what Israel wants to achieve on the ground. Impartiality is out of the window,” Bayram said.
“All humanitarian principles have been thrown against the wall.”
ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its field hospital in Rafah received 179 casualties, including women and children.
At least 21 of the victims were declared dead upon arrival, the majority with gunshot or shrapnel wounds, it said in a statement.
“All patients said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site,” the ICRC said, calling it the highest number of “weapon-wounded” people in a single incident since the hospital was set up a year ago.
UNRWA Chief
Philippe Lazzarini called the conditions surrounding GHF-led aid distribution in Gaza “a death trap”.
“This humiliating system has forced thousands of hungry & desperate people to walk for tens of miles to an area that’s all but pulverized due to heavy bombardment by the Israeli Army,” he said in a post on X.
He urged Israel to lift the siege and grant the UN safe, “unhindered” access to avert “mass starvation” in Gaza.
UK
British Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Hamish Falconer said reports of dozens of people killed and wounded near the Rafah aid delivery site are “appalling” and point to “the desperate need to get aid in”.
“Israel must allow partners to operate in line with humanitarian principles and deliver lifesaving aid,” Falconer said on X.
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