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Key Points
- Aid centres run by the GHF, a US and Israel-backed agency, will temporarily close on Wednesday.
- The Israeli military faces allegations of shooting into crowds of civilians rushing to pick up aid packages near GHF sites.
- The UN has urged accountability.
Aid centres run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a United States and Israel-backed agency, will temporarily close for renovation on Wednesday, the foundation said.
“June 4, distribution centres will be closed for renovation, reorganisation and efficiency improvement work,” GHF wrote on Facebook.
Aid distribution will resume on Thursday, it said.
The Israeli army confirmed the temporary closure.
“It is prohibited tomorrow [Wednesday] to travel on roads leading to the distribution centres, which are considered combat zones,” Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on social media.
An officially private effort with opaque funding, GHF started operations on 26 May after Israel completely cut off supplies into Gaza for over two months, sparking warnings of mass famine.
But GHF’s first week of operations, during which it claimed to have distributed more than seven million meals’ worth of food, has been marred by criticism.
The Israeli military faces allegations of shooting into crowds of civilians rushing to pick up aid packages near GHF sites —Palestinian authorities say dozens have been killed.
Israeli authorities and the GHF — which uses contracted US security to deliver aid — denied any such incident had taken place.
The United Nations and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
For decades, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, had spearheaded aid distribution in Gaza, with dozens of other organisations participating in efforts to assist the population.
Israel accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas militants, claiming some of the agency’s employees took part in the group’s 7 October 2023 attack.
A UN investigation later found nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Hamas attack.
The agency fired them but said Israel had not provided evidence of more widespread involvement by its staff.
Gazans killed seeking aid
Gaza’s civil defence agency said 27 people were killed in southern Gaza on Tuesday as Israeli troops opened fire near a US-backed aid centre, with Israel’s military saying the incident was under investigation.
UN secretary-general António Guterres decried the deaths of Palestinians seeking food aid as “unacceptable”, and the world body’s rights chief condemned attacks on civilians as “a war crime” following a similar shooting near the same site on Sunday.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defence agency, said tanks, drones and helicopters opened fire about a kilometre from a GHF site.
It is the third such incident in three days.
Some 31 Palestinians were killed on 1 June, and three more the following day, according to Palestinian health authorities.
All incidents reportedly occurred near newly established aid hubs in southern Gaza.
Brigadier General Effie Defrin, Israeli army spokesperson, said troops fired only warning shots at persons who left safe corridors and posed a threat.
Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, called for accountability.
“Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza are unconscionable,” he said.
“For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.”
He said the UN issued clear warnings about it.
“Palestinians have been presented the grimmest of choices: die from starvation or risk being killed while trying to access the meagre food that is being made available through Israel’s militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism.
“This militarised system endangers lives and violates international standards on aid distribution, as the United Nations has repeatedly warned.”
— With additional reporting from Agence France-Presse
