Hungry Palestinians fear “being killed while trying to get a bag of lentils,” warned care providers such as the Israelically supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) closed for the second time closed auxiliary centers closed in a week.
Aid organizations told The independent That the GHF is already failing to provide assistance to the starving population of the enclave.
The GHF, run by a private group of American military contractors and approved by the Israeli army, announced on Friday that all his distribution centers in Gaza would close until further notice.
The organization supported by the US had already insisted Palestinians to stay away from all his three centers for safety reasons after a series of fatal shootings earlier this week. Dozens of people were shot in the vicinity of the GHF Rafah site for three consecutive days described in scenes as ‘terrible’ by UN Secretary General António Guterres.
The GHF said that a reopening date would be announced later on Friday, with the closures that lead to further concern that the organization is poorly equipped to tackle the terrible humanitarian situation in the enclave.
The UN has warned that the majority of the 2.3 million population of Gaza runs the risk of famine after an Israeli blockade of 11 weeks of the enclave that ended last month.
“These are not humanitarians, they are people with weapons,” said James Elder, a spokesperson for UNICEF who arrived in Rafah two days ago.
“Without a doubt, [the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation] Is not sustainable because it is politized and militarized. ”
Since he arrived in Gaza, he says: “Nothing has been open”, despite claims from the GHF that they fed 1.4 million meals of two locations in the Tal Sultan and Saudi neighborhoods in Rafah on Thursday. They say that they have spread more than eight million meals in total.
When approached by The independent During these claims, the GHF said that it had delivered nearly 8.5 million meals and “look at extra improvements” to support his assistance.
Salma Altaweel, a care provider for the Norwegian Refugee Council based in Gaza City in the North, where there are currently no GHF distribution centers, told The independent She could “see despair on the faces of people”.
“The food situation has reached a desperate point,” she says. “The new distribution mechanism has not met the basic needs of people.
“People here talk about how they are afraid of being killed while trying to receive a bag of lentils. I have not seen any help here in the north, only more people displaced by the repeated movers of Israel.”
On Thursday, the GHF said it worked on “operational plans” to open extra distribution sites, also in the north of Gaza.
Mr Elder said that he had spoken with a 23-year-old woman in the hospital who had traveled to one of the distribution points earlier this week to almost be killed when the Israelis opened fire. She was contracted against the wire fence that ran to the auxiliary area and cut her leg and arm. The woman eventually left without food.
Asked if she would go back despite the dangers of the journey, Mr Elder said she quickly answered: “Yes, because I have no food”.
He said that with parents who are forced to leave their children to go to these distribution centers, or to bring them to return trips that can be as long as a marathon and means that they go to combat zones where citizens are killed, add the GHF operations “another risk layer”.
“I spoke with dozens of adults who said they would rather risk hungry than their children die if they are not there,” he said, adding that the bombing of Israeli missiles is “as intense as always”.
The GHF was already accused of missing neutrality in view of the support of the US and the Israeli government. Under their plan, Palestinians have to travel to militarized zones for miles from their houses to gain access to vital help.
Jake Wood, the former head of the GHF, resigned two weeks ago after he admitted that the group could not fulfill the principles of “humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence”.
Sara Hashash, deputy director of Amnesty International for the Midden -Oost and Noord -Africa, said that the GHF is the “wrong reaction” on the chronic food shortages in Gaza.
“The newly established militarized humanitarian auxiliary schedule of Israel, run by the GHF, is the wrong response to Gazas made humanitarian disaster,” she said.
“The scheme is seriously at odds with humanitarian imperatives and international humanitarian law. It actively endangers the lives of Palestinians and does not ensure that it is wise to offer effective humanitarian enlightenment.”
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