“The patients reported that they’d been going to get the food aid, and it was during this journey that they sustained their injuries,” she explains.
And, the emergency medic says these reported attacks at aid distribution centres has left the hospital “running at pretty much 100% capacity”.
The group repeated its demands for a permanent truce, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and guarantees for the continuous flow of humanitarian aid.
29 May: A witness who had gone to a GHF aid distribution centre near Rafah described scenes of chaos.
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says aid distributed ‘without incident’ The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli and US-backed group, says aid distribution “was conducted safely and without incident” at its site today.
Another fatal incident is reported, which prompts more criticism of the new aid procedure.
According to fresh reports this morning, there was another fatal incident near a recently opened aid distribution center in the Gaza Strip.
According to the health ministry run by Hamas, 27 people were killed when they were shot by Israeli forces while they were waiting to pick up aid packages. Israel has confirmed shooting close to identified “suspects” and acknowledged the reports, but it has emphasized that all the details are still unknown.
The incident that occurred today comes just after reports of another that occurred on Sunday under comparable circumstances. Israel, however, denies firing on Sunday, even though it has acknowledged that troops did so today.
A British physician has stated that the Al-Mawasi hospital is “at pretty much 100 percent capacity” as a result of the reported attacks.
It occurs as a new method of aid distribution has been instituted in the area, whereby Palestinians pick up aid from facilities managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is supported by the US and Israel.
Sharren Haskel, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, told the BBC on Sunday that he would not commit to an independent investigation into what happened. Depending on the circumstances, one may agree to such an investigation, she said.
She also attacked media coverage of the war, particularly the BBC, claiming that the broadcaster had issued an apology for 80 errors “up to three months ago”—numbers the organization claims it doesn’t acknowledge.
You can stay up to date on our news story, but we will soon be ending our live coverage.
According to a British doctor in Gaza, the hospital is “at 100 percent capacity.”.
As we’ve been reporting, the Hamas-run health ministry says at least 27 people have been killed and 90 injured by Israeli fire while waiting for aid distribution in Rafah, southern Gaza.
Now, a British emergency medical technician at Al-Mawasi Hospital recounts the rush to assist this morning.
“They were asked to take patients at around 5:00 local time (03:00 BST,” Mandy Blackman says in an interview with the BBC World Service’s Newshour program.
“The patients stated that they had been traveling to receive the food assistance, and it was on this trip that they were hurt,” she writes.
There have been reports of pepper spraying, gunshot wounds, stabbings, and beatings with what are allegedly bricks. “.”.
The emergency physician also claims that the hospital is “running at pretty much 100 percent capacity” as a result of the reported attacks at aid distribution centers.
The Israeli military is investigating reports of casualties and claims to have fired shots close to an aid complex after identifying “several suspects.”.
How is the US ceasefire plan for Gaza progressing?
Both Rushdi Abualouf and Barbara Plett Usher.
NBC News.
In response to a US ceasefire proposal last week, Hamas stated that it is willing to exchange several Palestinian prisoners for the release of 10 Israeli hostages who are still alive and 18 hostages who have died. Hamas also asked that the plan be modified in a few ways.
The group restated its calls for an end to Israel’s involvement in Gaza, a permanent ceasefire, and assurances that humanitarian aid would continue to flow. The deal on the table does not include any of these.
Washington claims that Israel has accepted the US terms, but there was neither a clear acceptance nor an outright rejection of them.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, put forth a draft that Hamas said it had responded to.
Witkoff said in a statement: “I got the Hamas response to the proposal from the United States. It only serves to regress us and is completely unacceptable. Our proposed framework should be accepted by Hamas as the starting point for proximity negotiations. “.
Learn more about the ceasefire plan that the US has proposed for Gaza.
The new aid plan is seen by some analysts as a component of a larger Israeli goal.
Tom Bateman.
US State Department correspondent.
In a strong-arm declaration yesterday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) called the international media “egregious.”. fraudulent reporting” and reiterating “outright fabrications” of fatalities “at” its location. Its charges were unfounded; it was evident from the reporting that Palestinians were killed en route to the GHF location.
According to what I’ve been told, the GHF maintains its teams on the ground, though they are unsure of how they do so. Similar to statements made by American and Israeli officials, its public claims that no one was killed or injured have only used the phrase “at or near” its locations.
It has not publicly addressed inquiries about its knowledge of the dozens of Palestinians killed while attempting to enter its site, claiming that it has “no knowledge” of what occurs outside its perimeter, which is a “war zone,” rejecting “Hamas falsehoods,” and criticizing media coverage.
The project, according to some analysts, is part of a larger military goal by Israel to starve Hamas and its supporters while using food supplies on Israeli terms for the remaining population, which the World Food Programme claims is in danger of starvation.
GHF claims to be independent and denies any political or military agendas. Yesterday, it distributed 21 truckloads of food, whereas during the previous ceasefire, the UN was delivering about 600 truckloads daily.
According to Israel, the new system was required because Hamas was stealing food, a claim that the previous US administration denied was significant enough to warrant cutting off UN supplies to Gaza.
So far, the new system has created an additional incentive for hungry Palestinians to be drawn south, where Israel has sought to displace the population into smaller areas, and disadvantages the sick, disabled, and weak who are unable to access the sites.
Interview requests have been turned down thus far by the head of an obscure aid organization supported by the US and Israel.
Bateman, Tom.
correspondent for the US State Department.
Israel’s military encirclement of Gaza has prevented the majority of food supplies from reaching Palestinians, and the traditional distribution method—through the UN—is having difficulty getting even a small amount of aid to the people.
It has been replaced with a militarized food supply. A newly established Israeli and American-backed organization called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is working closely with the Israeli army, which has cleared a few highly secured areas on Gaza’s outskirts.
John Acree, a former US government humanitarian official, is in charge of it, along with other employees and armed US security contractors. Jake Wood, the project’s first executive director, quit while it was still in the planning stages, claiming that it violated the fundamental humanitarian ideals of neutrality and independence.
Because it refuses to disclose its funding sources, the organization is opaque. It claims that protecting donor privacy is consistent with other US-registered non-profit organizations.
Acree has not yet agreed to an on-the-record interview, and its spokesperson has turned down requests for interviews thus far.
After operating exclusively from an anonymized email address until yesterday and failing to answer the majority of inquiries, its US team is now starting to respond to requests from journalists.
where the aid distribution network supported by the US and Israel functions.
Supported by both Israel and the United States, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aims to replace the United Nations as the primary aid provider in Gaza.
It depends on Palestinians to pick up and remove the aid from distribution centers guarded by Israeli and American security contractors with guns.
According to the Israeli foreign ministry, there will be four distribution centers in the first phase, with “more to follow.”.
The Gaza Strip is home to over two million people, and experts have warned that famine is imminent because not enough food is getting to them.
Rushdi Abualouf, the BBC’s correspondent in Gaza, reports that people try to guarantee they receive aid by arriving hours before the sites open.
Serious humanitarian incidents coincide with a significant new Israeli offensive.
The recent occurrences connected to the new aid distribution procedure in Gaza follow several alerts regarding the region’s humanitarian crisis.
Among those who have expressed concern about the amounts of food and supplies getting to Palestinians are the US and the UN.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister at the time, stated that the goal of Israel’s new, massive offensive in the Gaza Strip, known as “Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” was to “take control” of the territory.
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, stated on Sunday that the military is using “great force” in Gaza.
“Regardless of any negotiations, I gave the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) the order to keep moving forward against all targets,” he posted on social media.
A two-month ceasefire earlier this year broke down, but talks between Israel and Hamas have resulted in some hostage exchanges.
There is a shortage of food and water for Gazans.
As we have been reporting all day, Palestinians experiencing severe food insecurity have been queuing for food at aid distribution centers in Gaza, creating chaotic scenes.
Many Gazans also deal with water shortages on a daily basis, as fuel shortages impact desalination plants and wells and restrict access to clean water.
Last week, the United Nations humanitarian agency Ocha reported that 72% of Gaza’s water, sanitation, and hygiene resources are currently located in Israel’s militarized zones, or areas that have been under eviction orders since March 18.
According to the agency, this has seriously hampered water access.
For drinking, eating, and personal hygiene, the UN advises that each person consume at least 7 to 5 liters of water each day. For the sake of maintaining normal body function, it states that 2.5 liters are required.
Estimates, however, indicate that the average Gazan has far less access to water each day.
A politician from Israel is refusing to comply with the UN’s demands for an independent probe.
Disputed reports of Israeli forces firing on aid workers on Sunday were followed by reports of a fatal shooting near an aid distribution site in Gaza today.
While waiting for food at the Rafah facility operated by the US-Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), witnesses said they were shot at. While the Civil Defense Agency, which is run by Hamas, reported 31 deaths, the Red Cross reported 21.
Israel Defense Forces said that its soldiers had not opened fire on civilians inside or close to the site. The reports, according to the GHF, were “outright fabrications”.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel reiterated the denial this morning in a heated exchange on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, accusing the media of “spreading” Hamas “lies.”. She disagreed with the notion that it was “daily routine” to target those receiving aid.
For your information, Israel forbids foreign news outlets, such as the BBC, from entering Gaza. ().
When asked repeatedly if Israel would consent to an independent investigation into the Sunday incident, as demanded by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, she responded that it “depends on the situation” before accusing the BBC and the UN of covering the war in Gaza.
She continues, “As we always do, we will continue to comply with international law, conduct thorough investigations into all cases, including the numerous propaganda cases that Hamas is displaying, and in some instances where we do believe an independent investigation is necessary, we will also conduct one.”.
Below is a replay of Haskel’s entire conversation with Anna Foster of Today.
A timeline of a contentious aid group’s chaotic beginning.
Since it started operations after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on May 19, scenes of chaos have erupted at aid distribution centers operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a contentious organization supported by the US and Israel that employs armed American security contractors. The incidents that have been reported in the past week are summarized here.
27 May: The UN Human Rights Office reports that crowds breached a GHF-run aid distribution center, injuring 47 people. One person was killed and forty-eight others were injured, according to the health ministry run by Hamas. Troops fired “warning shots” into the air outside the Rafah site, according to an IDF spokesperson, but they did not shoot at civilians. According to the GHF, “no shots were fired at Palestinian crowds”?
29 May: A witness recounted chaotic scenes after visiting a GHF aid distribution center close to Rafah. A 60-year-old man at the location claimed that elderly and vulnerable people had a harder time getting aid supplies. Several told the BBC that they had returned empty-handed from similar experiences at an aid site in central Gaza.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) reported that “hordes of hungry people” had broken into a food supply warehouse in central Gaza, killing two people and injuring several more.
31 May: According to the World Food Program, throngs of civilians hurried aid trucks through Gaza.
1 June: According to the Gaza Civil Defense Agency, which is run by Hamas, “Israeli gunfire” near an aid distribution center in Rafah killed at least 31 people and injured numerouss more. According to the Red Cross, 21 of the 179 casualties that were brought to its hospital were fatal. The initial investigation’s results, according to the IDF, demonstrated that its forces had not opened fire on anyone inside or close to the aid center.
2 June: Local media and Gaza health officials tell of three more Palestinians killed by Israeli fire close to the same GHF center in Rafah. According to the Israeli military, “warning shots were fired toward several suspects who advanced toward” troops about 0.6 miles (0 km) away from the scene.
Today: In Rafah, southern Gaza, Israeli fire has killed at least 27 people and injured 90 others while they were waiting for aid to be distributed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. According to the Israeli military, it identified “several suspects” and then opened fire close to an aid complex.
The UN human rights chief warns that attacks on civilians are a war crime.
The UN human rights chief says that attacks against civilians are a war crime and demands independent investigations into recent killings that have occurred close to aid distribution centers in Gaza.
Volker Türk claims that people have been killed near a food distribution center supported by the US and Israel for the past three days in a row and that those responsible must be held accountable.
According to his statement, attacks on “civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza” are “unconscionable.” He also states that attacks against civilians are a war crime and a serious violation of international law. “.
He claims that “Palestinians have been given the most dire options: either perish from malnutrition or face the possibility of being killed while attempting to obtain the limited amount of food being made available through Israel’s militarized humanitarian assistance mechanism.”.
Türk claims that “wilful impediment” to aid access “may constitute a war crime.”.
He asserts that “the threat of starvation, along with 20 months of mass destruction and civilian deaths, repeated forced displacements, intolerable, dehumanizing rhetoric, and threats by Israel’s leadership to empty the Strip of its population, is also a component of the most serious crimes under international law.”.
The new aid distribution system is designed to incorporate some degree of chaos.
U.S. Barbara Plett.
reporting from Jerusalem….
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed as they gathered to pick up aid at a distribution center for the second time in three days. The fatal events cast doubt on the plans for a new private delivery system supported by Israel and the United States.
Aid will be delivered to 400 locations throughout the Gaza Strip, following the UN model. The new model, which is run by American security contractors and organized by the private Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), is predicated on large distribution centers that Palestinians must travel to.
These hubs are situated behind the front line by design because the Israeli military guards them. At least that applies to the one in southern Gaza where the shootings have taken place.
This implies that Israeli troops are compelled to interact closely with thousands of starving civilians.
The system is also somewhat chaotic by design. Everyone is guaranteed food because the UN distributes aid based on a population registry. At the new distribution hubs, that doesn’t occur.
On the basis of first come, first served, Palestinians are taking what they can from stacked food boxes, according to video released by the GHF.
To guarantee a spot at the front of the line, they start congregating just after midnight. When the aid site opens hours later, they rush to the food supplies. As a result, a volatile situation is created in the midst of an ongoing conflict.
“Without incident,” according to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, aid was distributed.
The distribution of aid “was conducted safely and without incident” at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an organization supported by the US and Israel, today.
According to Gaza’s civil defense agency, Israeli forces fired on Palestinians who were awaiting entry to an aid hub. It claims to have identified “several suspects” before firing shots close to an aid complex.
The health ministry, which is run by Hamas, has reported that 27 people have died and 90 have been injured.
“We understand that IDF is looking into whether a number of civilians were hurt after going beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone,” the GHF said in a statement.
“This area was significantly outside of our operations and secure distribution site. Given the challenging circumstances, we urge all citizens to stay in the secure corridor when visiting our distribution locations.
A Gaza medic describes “total carnage” following shootings at aid points.
Bowen by Jeremy.
Global Editor.
Since these meals must be cooked and many people lack access to cooking facilities, there are concerns about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) claims that it is distributing millions of meals.
The way it is set up is obviously flawed structurally.
Only a few locations—which the GHF says will be expanded—have thousands of people gathered there, many of whom have traveled great distances on foot during the night to get there.
Large Palestinian populations are viewed as a threat by Israeli forces.
The IDF’s statement this morning, which gives the impression that it was a fairly limited event, appears to be in stark contrast to the information that the BBC and others are receiving from the scenes regarding the numerous witnesses who report that there is a lot of shooting occurring.
It has been “total carnage” since 03:48 local time (01:48 BST) this morning, according to a message I received from a foreign medic who works in the area.
According to him, the number of casualties has been overwhelming.
Deaths come after a UN warning about the distribution of aid.
The UN issued a warning regarding the current manner in which aid is being delivered, and this morning there were reports of fatalities near an aid point operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a recently established organization supported by the US and Israel.
Around the same area, the health ministry run by Hamas claims that 31 people were killed by Israeli forces on Sunday; Israel disputes this claim.
The way humanitarian aid is being provided in the region is “dehumanizing” and “unacceptable,” according to UN human rights chief Volker Türk, who made this statement last night on the BBC World Service’s Newshour program.
It is devastating. It is inconceivable to me that humanitarian aid is provided under such conditions. It is dehumanizing and unacceptable, and I sincerely hope that the necessity of swiftly delivering humanitarian aid without using the current system is reconsidered,” he said.
What it demonstrates, in my opinion, is complete disrespect for civilians. He went on, “Can you imagine people who have been in complete need of food and medicine for nearly three months, and then they have to beg for it or try to get it in the most dire circumstances?”.
Israel established the GHF to circumvent the UN, which is Gaza’s primary aid provider, on the grounds that it needed a substitute to prevent Hamas from stealing the aid.
