The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the private entity in charge, has delayed food distribution this Wednesday to make “adjustments” in its mechanics and guarantee the “security” of the operation. The chaotic start of Tuesday left at least one deceased, the UN has corroborated, and 47 people injured by shooting of the Israeli army, as confirmed by Ajith Sunghay, head of the United Nations High Commissioner Office for Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territory.
In the afternoon, the opaque entity promoted by Israel and the United States has detailed that “the two centers” that has operations have resumed the activity “without incident.” However, Hamas, the Islamist militia that governs in fact The strip has raised the dead and 62 people who have suffered injuries due to the “shots” of Israeli forces.
In a statement, the Foundation wanted to transfer a message of normality. He has denied that shots have occurred, he said that “it is false” that there are dead or injured, and has indicated that they have distributed 14,550 boxes. Each lot, as he has specified, feeds 5.5 people for 3.5 days. “A total of 840,262 meals.”
GHF has also assured that he is working to open the other two planned centers and has “plans to build additional sites throughout Gaza in the coming weeks,” according to the letter. On his first day he said he had distributed 8,000 boxes whose content can be prepared, according to their calculations, 462,000 meals. The Foundation backed by the US and Israel to, according to its authorities, prevent help from falling into Hamas and ensure that it reaches the civilian population, has been highly criticized by the humanitarian sector.
Amid an increasingly widespread discomfort by the escalation of attacks on civil structures and the controversial distribution of help, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamín Netanyahu, announced on Wednesday that his army has killed the chief of Hamas in Gaza, Mohamed Sinwar. He assumed the position he had been vacant when his older brother, – I had, in which more than 1,200 people and kidnapped 253 were killed, and which triggered the war in Gaza – was eliminated in mid -October last year.
The Israeli president has revealed the elimination of Sinwar, who had already insinuated and denied on previous occasions, in an intervention in Parliament. Netanyahu has detailed that his death had been achieved in an Israeli air attack near the European hospital in the south of the strip earlier this month. Despite this precise confirmation, Israeli defense sources have later pointed out, in statements to the Israeli newspaper Haaretzthat they are not certain of Sinwar’s death.
The announcement of the prime minister occurs on the 600s of war and in a context of growing international pressure to cease his offensive in Gaza, and allows the fluid entry of humanitarian aid.
Despair of 2.2 million gazaties
The despair of the 2.2 million gazaties, hungry after two months of total blocking, which ended just a week ago, when Israel allowed the entry of a minimum amount of help, caused a massive influx of people to the controversial cast on Tuesday. The distribution ended up getting out of control and the crowd invaded the place in search of supplies. The Israeli forces acknowledged having shots, but clarified that they occurred outside the complex and towards the air to disperse the crowd. However, despite denying the fatal events, the GHF reported in the morning that it had to make “adjustments” before resuming its activity hours later.
“I will not go into who shot who,” said Tammy Bruce, spokesman for the US State Department, in an appearance in the White House. “The only true story here is that help is coming to Gaza massively. (…) Was it like going to a shopping center? No, it was not. It is a complex context; but it is working,” he defended. “I do not speak in the name of this foundation,” he clarified, “but we welcome any dynamics that contributes to introduce help in the region.”
“Trap for civilians”, according to Hamas
Hamas has denounced that the system launched by Israel is “a trap” for civilians, and has criticized that the UN of humanitarian work is tried. “The images of civilians running towards aid distribution centers confirm the failure of the Israeli mechanism and its transformation into a trap that threatens the lives of civilians,” said the Islamist militia, which in its statement adds that Israel seeks to “benefit the political and military objectives of the occupation, not give help.”
Philippe Lazzarini, general commissioner of the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) who would produce the images of desperate Gazaties fighting to take a lot of help such as the views in these first two days.
“No one should be surprised and much less scandalized before looting scenes, robberies or ‘losses’ of valuable help,” he wrote then. And he explained: “The population of Gaza has been hungry for more than 11 weeks and deprived of the basics, including water and medicines. Mothers and fathers have run out of food for their children. The elderly have died due to lack of medications. The help that comes now is a needle in a haystack.”
The UN World Food Program has reported that “Hordes de Hambrientos” have broken into one of the agency’s stores in the center of Gaza on Wednesday. Their first data indicates that two people have died and several more have been injured in this incident. “Gaza needs an immediate increase in food aid. This is the only way to assure the population that it will not starve,” said the body in a statement.
Other UN and NGO agencies on the ground have reaffirmed their request on Wednesday so that the Netanyahu government allows “a significant and uninterrupted aid flow”, in the words of Lazzarini. The United Nations agencies on the ground estimate that daily entry of between 500 and 600 trucks is needed to meet the basic needs in the strip.
One of the organizations that has joined this claim has been World Central Kitchen (WCK). The entity, which lost seven of its workers in Gaza in an Israeli attack a year ago, has indicated in its X profile that its trucks are held at the Kerem Shalom crossing. “The FDI [Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel] They have not yet provided safe routes to bring supplies to our kitchens. (…) We are ready to cook as soon as we can. ”
The Government Activity Coordinator in the Territories (COGAT), the Unit of the Israeli Ministry of Defense in charge of humanitarian logistics in the Strip, has replicated the NGO led by the Spanish chef José Andrés: “The WCK and other agencies and organizations had several alternative routes for the collection of aid at the crossroads.” And he blames the entity for not having collected the supplies: “It has been his decision.”
Israel has denied in various channels that is making it difficult to entry supplies from other organizations other than the controversial GHF. The chief of the COGAT, Ghassan Alian, has assured that the unit has “struck her hand to all humanitarian organizations and the international community” to participate in the distribution of assistance. “However, in recent days, the UN has avoided fulfilling its role and, instead, continues to spread false and incorrect information about civilians’ anguish.”
The international spokesman for the Defense Forces of Israel, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, has gone one step further and has denounced a global campaign against the distribution of aid. “In the last 24 hours, international organizations have undertaken a campaign. Not a campaign to distribute help, but a campaign against the country that facilitates help to Gaza. And worse, it is a disinformation campaign at the service of terrorists. Why are the UN and other organizations so worried that the help reaches Gaza’s civilians without terrorists to put their hands in it?” United Nations leaders.
