Over the past 48 hours, at least 10 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, desperately seeking assistance from a controversially criticized US-backed organization, according to the government media office of the Enclave under siege.
Updated victims on Wednesday are the day after tragic video showed many hungry Palestinians rushing to get help from the distribution point of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in Rafa, southern Gaza.
In a statement, the government’s media office said Israeli forces fired directly on hungry Palestinian civilians gathered to receive assistance at distribution sites, causing at least 62 people to be injured.
Perhaps the number of shooting events occurred, and the day 10 Palestinians were fatally shot dead, was not immediately clear, but there were deaths on both days.
“These locations were turned into death traps under occupational shootings,” the media office said it had accused the killing of “heinous crimes.”
GHF said it opened two seconds of four planned aid streaming sites in Gaza on Wednesday.
The Centre is part of aid delivery scheme thoroughly condemned by UN officials and the humanitarian community, reiterating that life-saving aid can be properly and safely expanded in Gaza if Israel can grant assistance and handle the flow to organisations with decades of experience.
Earlier in the day, the head of UNRWA, a UN agency of Palestinian refugees, denounced the US-assisted delivery model as “distraction from atrocities,” and called on Israel to allow non-supported humanitarian systems to “do salvation work now.”
This message was reflected by several members of the UN Security Council during a meeting in New York that discussed the conflict in New York.
Riyadh Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, said Israel is using “assistance as a weapon of war.”
In a report from the UN headquarters, Al Jazeera’s Christensalmie said that Sigrid Kaagh, the special coordinator of the United Nations Middle East Peace, and Ferose Sidwa, a surgeon who recently attended a humanitarian mission to Gaza, spoke to the council.
“The messages from both of these experts were once again calling for a ceasefire and a full reopening of aid to the Gaza Strip,” she said.
Israel’s UN ambassador to UN, Danny Danon criticized the UN for saying he was an “attempt to block access to aid” and called for it to be withdrawn from the UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher for accusing Israel of committing genocide.
Marwan Vishara, senior political analyst at Al Jazeera, said the attacks imposed by Danon were not surprising.
“They are defensive, they have lost their public relations campaigns and they know that their reputation around the world is in the mud,” he said.
John Kelly, representative of the United Nations’ alternative US, said the UN should “work with the GHF and Israel to reach an agreement on how to operate this system in a way that is suitable for everyone.”
He claimed that the GHF is “independence” and was developed to “provide a safe mechanism to provide assistance to those in need.”
Relentless Israeli attack
As debate over aid access intensifies, Israeli punishing attacks continue throughout Gaza, with rights observers warning that the humanitarian situation would get worse.
At least 63 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since early Wednesday, according to medical sources who have brought deaths since October 7, 2023 and injured more than 123,308 people.
The ministry added that only 17 hospitals in Gaza are partially functional, with a significant shortage of essential medicines and oxygen supply.
Separately, the Red Cross reported that a field hospital in the Almawasi region of southern Gaza was exposed to an Israeli fire early on Wednesday, causing panic and injuries to patients.
In an open letter, Medical Assistance for Palestinians (MAP), Oxfam and other nonprofits called for a “full, independence, international investigation into attacks on healthcare in Gaza as a violation of international humanitarian law.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations World Food Program reported that Deia Elbara’s warehouse in central Gaza was broken by hungry people “in search of food.” Preliminary reports show that the cause of the latter was not immediately clear, but at least four people were killed in the Stampede and the shooting.
The agency said increasing aid was “the only way to reassure people not to starve.”
Hani Mahmoud of Al Jazeera reported that food exploration has been proven deadly even from busy distribution areas.
“For example, two people have been reported to have died in the Shujaia area in the last few hours. [of Gaza City]. They were killed trying to go to their home,” he said.
“They have been forced to evacuate in the past few weeks, and they have left everything behind. [were] Inside the house. ”
The ceasefire remains elusive
As the attack continued, the breakthrough for a more lasting agreement to end the battle remained elusive.
Still, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said Wednesday that he has “very good feelings” about him reaching a long-term solution soon.
It came shortly after Hamas said he had reached an agreement with Witkov about the general framework for a permanent ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the entry of unobstructed humanitarian assistance.
This framework appears in opposition to the position of Israeli military prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said the Israeli forces will remain in Gaza indefinitely, continuing to control access to aid and pursue Hamas’ complete defeat.
Speaking to Israeli parliament on Wednesday, Netanyahu cited Hamas officials who were killed during the war. The list included Mohammed Sinwar, the brother and successor of the murdered Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar.
Hamas has yet to confirm the death of Mohamed Singhwar.
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