The number of Palestinians who have been murdered while seeking aid in Gaza has climbed to 750 in just over a month. Currently, only the US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is allowed by Tel Aviv to distribute aid in the Strip. Human rights groups say the GHF is a tool of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, eight Palestinians were killed near aid sites on Sunday, pushing the total to 751. Additionally, nearly 5,000 Palestinians have been wounded while attempting to access food.
Near the beginning of March, Tel Aviv implemented a full blockade on Gaza, preventing most goods, including aid, from entering the Strip. Over the next two months, existing food stockpiles in Gaza were exhausted.
At the end of May, the GHF began limited aid distribution. While GHF sites are secured by private contractors, Palestinians are forced to travel past IDF positions to reach the distribution locations.
Israeli forces told Haaretz that they have received orders to fire on aid seekers. A similar dynamic exists for the contractors, with recent footage from Gaza appearing to show a mercenary celebrating after killing a civilian.
Last week, Amnesty International issued a report concluding that the GHF is a tool of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. “To deliberately impose conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction as part of its ongoing genocide,” the org explained. “In the month following Israel’s imposition of a militarized ‘aid’ scheme run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured either near militarized distribution sites or en route to humanitarian aid convoys.”
The Amnesty report concludes that “All the evidence gathered, including testimonies which Amnesty International is receiving from victims and witnesses, suggests that the GHF was designed so as to placate international concerns while constituting another tool of Israel’s genocide.”
