Humanitarian aid in Gaza under the fire of criticism. Israel denies that his army would shoot at civilians, but the UN reports a number of injured in the area.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that its troops did not shoot at civilians in the distribution center of the humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. It responded to the UN report, according to which several persons suffered gunshot wounds on Tuesday. According to the AFP report, TASR reports this.
“We are reviewing the UN information. At the moment we have no information on this matter,” said Army spokesman for AFP, referring to wounded civilians. Israeli soldiers “shot warning shots in the air in front of” the center, managed by the Humanitarian Foundation in Gaza and “in no way (they did not shoot) at people”, the spokesman said. At the same time, he stressed that the militant movement “Hamas is doing everything to prevent the distribution of humanitarian aid”.
The Palestinians hit fire
The head of the Palestinian Office of the UN High Commissioner Ajith Sunghay said on Wednesday that “approximately 47 people suffered injuries” when thousands of Palestinians rushed to the distribution center of aid in Rafah in the south of Gaza. “Most of the injuries were caused by bullets,” and “the shooting was launched by the Israeli army,” he stressed. AP reported on one victim, but it is not yet clear whether death has caused Israeli forces, private security services in the center or other groups.
The Humanitarian Foundation for Gaza was established by Israel with the United States. The United Nations and other international humanitarian agencies have declared that they will not cooperate with a foundation that does not engage in the functioning of the Palestinians and bypasses the UN. The Israeli Government wants the Foundation to be responsible for the redistribution of humanitarian aid supplies in the future. According to her, the new mechanism for distribution of aid in distribution centers is to prevent Hamas from seizing humanitarian deliveries.
“We have repeatedly expressed our concerns about this mechanism. What we saw yesterday is a very clear example of the danger of food distribution in the way the humanitarian foundation for Gaza is doing,” added Sunghay chief.
