His report is a rare account by a journalist inside a new food distribution site that the United States and Israel helped establish in the Palestinian territory.
Months of an Israeli ban on food entering Gaza, and the current strict controls on food distribution, have fueled widespread hunger.
A mother guards her food with a knife in each hand The food site was finally open.
Hospital officials said more than 200 people had been wounded and 26 killed outside the same food site I had visited that very day.
Others have been killed at GHF’s three other sites in Gaza — the only major food distribution sites in Gaza today for a population of around 2.1 million people.
Note from the editor: Anas Baba is the producer for NPR in the Gaza Strip. His report is a unique journalistic account from inside a recently established food distribution facility in the Palestinian territory, which was established with assistance from the US and Israel. This story contains a few graphic images.
NEAR THE NETZARIM CORRIDOR, Gaza Strip — Food in Gaza today requires a dangerous journey, which I personally undertook.
Israeli military fire was directed at me, private U. S. masked thieves, groups of people fighting for rations with knives, and contractors aiming laser beams at my forehead—all to obtain food from a group backed by the U.S. S. . and Israel established the GHF, or Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
International medical teams in Gaza and Gaza health officials say Israeli military fire has killed hundreds of Palestinians and wounded thousands more every day since the group started providing food at these locations on May 26. Crowds have taken all the food, and many others have returned empty-handed.
Here’s what I saw while inside what GHF refers to as a “Secure Distribution Site.”. “.”.
The food program has been dubbed a “death trap” by the UN. “,”.
Why I risked getting food from the distribution point.
Despite the war in Gaza lasting almost 21 months, I have lost a third of my body weight.
Many people are hungry as a result of Israel’s months-long ban on food entering Gaza and the current stringent restrictions on food distribution. Malnutrition has claimed the lives of numerous children in Gaza, according to health officials.
The people are weak and pale. They either walk in groups to support one another or they walk alone on the street, clinging to fences and walls. Children and women pass out in the street.
I have rationed my own supply in recent months, eating one small meal per day. The staples—flour, lentils, and cooking oil—were gone three weeks ago.
The soaring prices of the things sold by street vendors are beyond my means. It costs about $100 for two pounds of potatoes. I started purchasing spoiled potatoes and watermelon peels for pickling.
Therefore, our only option was to go to GHF for food. However, we have all been terrified by what we have seen since day one: people are killed every single day while attempting to pick up food from GHF sites.
On the other hand, hunger is somewhat addictive. You are unable to think clearly once it takes over your own thoughts. You will no longer fear anything once you sense that your body, mind, and stomach are craving something. You’ll do whatever it takes to get food.
So, on Monday night, June 23, my cousin and I decided to risk trying to get food at a GHF site in central Gaza, so we left Gaza City and walked for hours south along the coast.
preparing the trip by packing knives and empty sacks.
We brought a first aid kit, bandages, and water in a small backpack. As hunger spreads lawlessness throughout Gaza, others shield themselves from bandits and looters by carrying a knife on one hip and an empty sack under the belt of their pants on the other.
Large crowds started to congregate near midnight on a broad road that led to the food site in anticipation of a sign indicating its opening. From that road, you must travel through a military zone close to the Netzarim corridor, which is typically off-limits to Palestinians. This is necessary to get to the food site. Israeli military fire is directed at anyone entering the military zone before the food site is open.
There are no set hours for GHF’s operations. The site frequently opens and closes in a matter of minutes. Before it quickly runs out, the first people there get to eat the most. Despite the possibility that Israeli soldiers will view them as a threat, many people move to the front of the crowd before the site opens.
1.30 a.m. M. Food was tied to the roof of a car as it sped down the street on June 24. “GHF is open!” shouted the passengers.
Races between cars and motorcycles erupted as crowds started to rush down the road toward the location. I witnessed individuals being crushed beneath automobiles.
The throng escaped bullets.
We were taken aback to discover an Israeli tank as we approached the location. It had not withdrew yet. The food site wasn’t yet open, so the crowd was mistaken.
All of them began to flee and retreat. Immediately, the tank started shooting. We both fell to the ground, my cousin and I. I heard the gunfire and the cries of the wounded. Others exclaimed, “My friend died,” and “My brother died.”. “.”.
It was 1:48 a.m. by this point. m. Gunfire persisted. The darkness was total. Additionally, the masses continued to wait.
2 a.m. M. The guns ceased firing. We interpreted it as an indication that the website was operational. I stepped over bodies as I ran alongside the crowds to the food distribution location.
People gathered next to Israeli IDF troops, the Israeli military said in a statement. “There have been reports of people being hurt by the IDF fire in the area. It stated that the specifics were being reviewed.
According to unnamed soldiers cited by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, they were told to purposefully shoot unarmed crowds as they traveled to the food sites. NPR has not been able to independently verify the claims, which were refuted by Israeli officials.
A mother uses a knife in each hand to protect her food.
At last, the food site was open.
I saw hundreds of people tramp over a fence that surrounded the site to get to food boxes that were resting on wooden pallets. I took out my phone and began recording the event.
The food boxes were surrounded by thousands of people, a human blender, vying for as much food as they could.
An angry, sweaty woman in her 40s was holding a knife in each hand while her young son sat at her side. “Do not touch my son or the food,” she yelled at everyone.
There was no longer any law and order. The jungle law applied.
In Gaza, obtaining food wasn’t always a free-for-all.
Flour and other necessities were distributed by hundreds of aid distribution centers located throughout Gaza for the majority of the war. Us. No. After hours of waiting in line and everyone getting their share, agencies would text you when it was your turn to pick up food.
the United States and Israel. S. They established the GHF, claiming it would deter Hamas, after accusing the organization of stealing that aid. However, based on their attire, I could tell that the individuals at the GHF site were Hamas members because they were stealing food for their families.
Some approached me while I was filming and said, “Look at your forehead.”. Three green laser .s were visible on my head: private armed U. S. . My head was being targeted by contractors who were on site security. One said in English over a loudspeaker: “No filming is permitted. “.”.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation defended its work.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation responded to this reporting with a thorough email.
It acknowledged worries that Palestinians might be exposed to Israeli gunfire while approaching its food sites due to their erratic opening hours.
GHF, however, claimed that its goal was to avoid crowd surges. The Israeli military claimed to have opened new roads and installed new signage after the group urged it to take further action to guarantee safe access.
The GHF claimed that while screening for Hamas affiliations is impossible, it is keeping Hamas from controlling the aid flow. It claimed that Palestinians are not allowed to film U. S. . contractors at the location due to the threats they have encountered online.
GHF added that Palestinians who collaborated with Hamas have been killed and threatened by the organization’s militants. According to GHF’s email to NPR, Hamas militants have also killed and injured Palestinians while they were traveling to their locations to obtain food.
Two private U, according to GHF. S. On Saturday, two people threw grenades at contractors who were working at another of its food distribution locations, injuring them.
A coalition of 170 humanitarian and human rights organizations demanded the closure of this food distribution system.
Food was stolen by masked burglars.
I shoved people aside at the distribution site and picked up whatever food I could find thrown on the ground beneath ripped cardboard boxes: biscuits, cooking oil, and a bag of rice that had been ripped open and combined with ground-up sand. I didn’t give a damn. It’s food. It is something I can wash.
The throngs of people trampled my cousin to the ground. I assisted in raising him. Moving past a wall of thousands of people streaming in while securing your food bags is the real deal.
Four masked robbers brandishing large knives stopped us as we were leaving the site and crossing the street. They threatened to harm us unless we gave them half of our loot.
Though not half of what we had, I offered to give them one item. One of them began swinging his knife. My cousin and I exchanged glances before hurling two food bags at the robbers and taking off.
We returned with food to give to our family. I was only able to eat one meal a day for roughly a week and a half.
Empty food bags are wrapped around bodies.
I arrived at the hospital at 4:30 in the morning to find blood and screaming.
According to hospital officials, outside the same food site I had visited that day, over 200 people had been injured and 26 had died.
GHF’s three other locations in Gaza have also seen fatalities; these are the only significant food distribution centers in the region, which is home to about 2.1 million people.
As their wounded loved ones sought treatment at the hospital, starving families who had sent their loved ones to fetch food for them were now there.
One young man was screaming in agony from two bullet wounds to his thighs and another in his arm.
A mother was in mourning for her son, who was the sole breadwinner for his family and had once again managed to steal food from the GHF site, only to return as a corpse.
The hospital’s supply of white shrouds to cover the dead had run out. They took empty sacks with them, hoping to fill them with food, and they covered the dead bodies on the hospital floor with the same sacks that had once been filled with flour distributed as international aid.
Many Palestinians risk their lives to gather food to take back to their families, who anxiously await their return despite the daily murders and atrocities experienced by those who seek food from those locations.
Contributing to this report was Daniel Estrin of NPR in Tel Aviv.
