Gaza aid distribution halts, Eid marked by violence
With severe food shortages plaguing the coastal enclave, fighting continued in many areas of the Gaza Strip.
Local health authorities said 16 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes, mostly in northern Gaza, while the Israeli army said four of its soldiers were killed and five were wounded by an explosion in a building in Khan Younis to the south.
In a day of confusing messaging, the GHF first announced its distribution sites in southern Gaza were closed, then it revealed that it had actually handed out food, before saying that it had had to close its gates as a precautionary measure.
"The distribution was conducted peacefully and without incident; however, it was paused due to excessive crowding that made it unsafe to proceed," it said in a statement.
As Palestinians across the war-ravaged Gaza Strip marked the start of one of Islam's most important holidays, Eid al-Adha, Israeli forces continued military operations that they say are needed to root out and destroy Hamas militants.
The Israeli military was rocked by the deaths of four soldiers in a booby-trapped building, which brought the army death toll to eight since the start of June.
"It is a sad and difficult day," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
The army earlier issued new evacuation orders for areas in and around Gaza City, warning of an imminent attack.
With many residential areas of Gaza reduced to rubble by months of fighting, locals held Eid al-Adha prayer services in the open, next to bombed-out mosques and homes.
"As you can see, we are holding Eid prayers, while the bombing, shelling and planes are ongoing," said one woman, Umm Mahmoud, in Khan Younis.
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral.
It suspended operations on Wednesday and asked the Israeli military to review security protocols after hospital officials said more than 80 people had been shot dead and hundreds wounded near distribution points between June 1-3.
Eyewitness blamed Israeli soldiers for the killings. The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on two days, while on Tuesday it said soldiers had fired at Palestinian "suspects" who were advancing towards their positions.
The army said on Friday that Gazans should only move to and from the GHF distribution centres from 6am to 6pm local time. Outside daylight hours these access routes should be considered a closed military zone.
"Entering it poses a significant risk to your life," military spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on X.
However, many Gazans say they have to walk for hours to reach the sites, meaning they have to start traveling well before dawn if they are to stand any chance of receiving food.
Palestinians have described the distribution process as chaotic and poorly organised, and say limited supplies have led to early morning crushes on access routes.
On Friday, the GHF said it had delivered 8160 boxes of food, providing approximately 471,240 individual meals.
Since launching its operations, the GHF has opened three sites, but over the past two days, only two of them have been functioning.
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Gazan family spends days seeking enough food to survive
Every morning, Abeer and Fadi Sobh wake up in their tent in the Gaza Strip, wondering the same thing - how will they find food for themselves and their six young children? The couple has three options. Maybe a charity kitchen will be open and they can get a pot of watery lentils. Or they can try jostling through crowds to get some flour from a passing aid truck. The last resort is begging. If all those fail, they simply don't eat. It happens more and more these days, as hunger saps their energy, strength and hope. The predicament of the Sobhs, who live in a seaside refugee camp west of Gaza City after being displaced multiple times, is the same for families throughout the war-ravaged territory. Hunger has grown throughout the past 22 months of war because of aid restrictions, humanitarian workers say. But food experts warned earlier this week the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza". Israel enforced a complete blockade on food and other supplies for more than two months beginning in March. It said its objective was to increase pressure on Hamas to release dozens of hostages it has held since it attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Though the flow of aid resumed in May, the amount is a fraction of what aid organisations say is needed. A breakdown of law and order has also made it almost impossible to deliver food safely. Much of the aid that does get in is hoarded or sold in markets at exorbitant prices. A day in the life of the Sobh family is consumed with the search for food. The family wakes up in their tent, which Fadi Sobh, a 30-year-old street vendor, says is unbearably hot in the summer. With fresh water hard to come by, his wife Abeer, 29, fetches water from the sea. One by one, the children stand in a metal basin and scrub themselves as their mother pours the saltwater over their heads. Nine-month-old Hala cries as it stings her eyes. The other children are more stoic. Abeer then rolls up the bedding and sweeps the dust and sand from the tent floor. With no food left over from the day before, she heads out to beg for something for her family's breakfast. Sometimes, neighbours or passersby give her lentils. Sometimes she gets nothing. Abeer gives Hala water from a baby bottle. When she's lucky, she has lentils that she grinds into powder to mix into the water. "One day feels like 100 days, because of the summer heat, hunger and the distress," she said. Fadi heads to a nearby soup kitchen. Sometimes one of the children goes with him. "But food is rarely available there," he said. The kitchen opens roughly once a week and never has enough for the crowds. Most often, he said, he waits all day but returns to his family with nothing "and the kids sleep hungry, without eating". Fadi used to go to an area in northern Gaza where aid trucks arrive from Israel. There, giant crowds of equally desperate people swarm over the trucks and strip away the cargo of food. Often, Israeli troops nearby open fire, witnesses say. Israel says it only fires warning shots, and others in the crowd often have knives or pistols to steal boxes. Fadi, who also has epilepsy, was shot in the leg in July. That has weakened him too much to scramble for the trucks, so he's left with trying the kitchens. Meanwhile, Abeer and her three eldest children - 10-year-old Youssef, nine-year-old Mohammed and seven-year-old Malak - head out with plastic jerrycans to fill up from a truck that brings freshwater from central Gaza's desalination plant. The kids struggle with the heavy jerrycans. Youssef loads one onto his back, while Mohammed half-drags his, his little body bent sideways as he tries to keep it out of the dust of the street. Abeer sometimes heads to Zikim herself, alone or with Youssef. Most in the crowds are men - faster and stronger than she is. "Sometimes I manage to get food, and in many cases, I return empty-handed," she said. If she's unsuccessful, she appeals to the sense of charity of those who succeeded. "You survived death thanks to God, please give me anything," she tells them. Many answer her plea, and she gets a small bag of flour to bake for the children, she said. She and her son have become familiar faces. One man who regularly waits for the trucks, Youssef Abu Saleh, said he often sees Abeer struggling to grab food, so he gives her some of his. "They're poor people and her husband is sick," he said. "We're all hungry and we all need to eat." During the hottest part of the day, the six children stay in or around the tent. Their parents prefer the children sleep during the heat - it stops them from running around, using up energy and getting hungry and thirsty. As the heat eases, the children head out. Sometimes Abeer sends them to beg for food from their neighbours. Otherwise, they scour Gaza's bombed-out streets, foraging through the rubble and trash for anything to fuel the family's makeshift stove. They've become good at recognising what might burn. Scraps of paper or wood are best, but hardest to find. The bar is low: plastic bottles, plastic bags, an old shoe - anything will do. One of the boys came across a pot in the trash one day - it's what Abeer now uses to cook. The family has been displaced so many times, they have few belongings left. "I have to manage to get by," Abeer said. "What can I do? We are eight people." After a day spent searching for the absolute basics to sustain life — food, water, fuel to cook - the family sometimes has enough of all three for Abeer to make a meal. Usually, it's a thin lentil soup. But often there is nothing, and they all go to bed hungry. Abeer said she's grown weak and often feels dizzy when she's out searching for food or water. "I am tired. I am no longer able," she said. "If the war goes on, I am thinking of taking my life. I no longer have any strength or power." Every morning, Abeer and Fadi Sobh wake up in their tent in the Gaza Strip, wondering the same thing - how will they find food for themselves and their six young children? The couple has three options. Maybe a charity kitchen will be open and they can get a pot of watery lentils. Or they can try jostling through crowds to get some flour from a passing aid truck. The last resort is begging. If all those fail, they simply don't eat. It happens more and more these days, as hunger saps their energy, strength and hope. The predicament of the Sobhs, who live in a seaside refugee camp west of Gaza City after being displaced multiple times, is the same for families throughout the war-ravaged territory. Hunger has grown throughout the past 22 months of war because of aid restrictions, humanitarian workers say. But food experts warned earlier this week the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza". Israel enforced a complete blockade on food and other supplies for more than two months beginning in March. It said its objective was to increase pressure on Hamas to release dozens of hostages it has held since it attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Though the flow of aid resumed in May, the amount is a fraction of what aid organisations say is needed. A breakdown of law and order has also made it almost impossible to deliver food safely. Much of the aid that does get in is hoarded or sold in markets at exorbitant prices. A day in the life of the Sobh family is consumed with the search for food. The family wakes up in their tent, which Fadi Sobh, a 30-year-old street vendor, says is unbearably hot in the summer. With fresh water hard to come by, his wife Abeer, 29, fetches water from the sea. One by one, the children stand in a metal basin and scrub themselves as their mother pours the saltwater over their heads. Nine-month-old Hala cries as it stings her eyes. The other children are more stoic. Abeer then rolls up the bedding and sweeps the dust and sand from the tent floor. With no food left over from the day before, she heads out to beg for something for her family's breakfast. Sometimes, neighbours or passersby give her lentils. Sometimes she gets nothing. Abeer gives Hala water from a baby bottle. When she's lucky, she has lentils that she grinds into powder to mix into the water. "One day feels like 100 days, because of the summer heat, hunger and the distress," she said. Fadi heads to a nearby soup kitchen. Sometimes one of the children goes with him. "But food is rarely available there," he said. The kitchen opens roughly once a week and never has enough for the crowds. Most often, he said, he waits all day but returns to his family with nothing "and the kids sleep hungry, without eating". Fadi used to go to an area in northern Gaza where aid trucks arrive from Israel. There, giant crowds of equally desperate people swarm over the trucks and strip away the cargo of food. Often, Israeli troops nearby open fire, witnesses say. Israel says it only fires warning shots, and others in the crowd often have knives or pistols to steal boxes. Fadi, who also has epilepsy, was shot in the leg in July. That has weakened him too much to scramble for the trucks, so he's left with trying the kitchens. Meanwhile, Abeer and her three eldest children - 10-year-old Youssef, nine-year-old Mohammed and seven-year-old Malak - head out with plastic jerrycans to fill up from a truck that brings freshwater from central Gaza's desalination plant. The kids struggle with the heavy jerrycans. Youssef loads one onto his back, while Mohammed half-drags his, his little body bent sideways as he tries to keep it out of the dust of the street. Abeer sometimes heads to Zikim herself, alone or with Youssef. Most in the crowds are men - faster and stronger than she is. "Sometimes I manage to get food, and in many cases, I return empty-handed," she said. If she's unsuccessful, she appeals to the sense of charity of those who succeeded. "You survived death thanks to God, please give me anything," she tells them. Many answer her plea, and she gets a small bag of flour to bake for the children, she said. She and her son have become familiar faces. One man who regularly waits for the trucks, Youssef Abu Saleh, said he often sees Abeer struggling to grab food, so he gives her some of his. "They're poor people and her husband is sick," he said. "We're all hungry and we all need to eat." During the hottest part of the day, the six children stay in or around the tent. Their parents prefer the children sleep during the heat - it stops them from running around, using up energy and getting hungry and thirsty. As the heat eases, the children head out. Sometimes Abeer sends them to beg for food from their neighbours. Otherwise, they scour Gaza's bombed-out streets, foraging through the rubble and trash for anything to fuel the family's makeshift stove. They've become good at recognising what might burn. Scraps of paper or wood are best, but hardest to find. The bar is low: plastic bottles, plastic bags, an old shoe - anything will do. One of the boys came across a pot in the trash one day - it's what Abeer now uses to cook. The family has been displaced so many times, they have few belongings left. "I have to manage to get by," Abeer said. "What can I do? We are eight people." After a day spent searching for the absolute basics to sustain life — food, water, fuel to cook - the family sometimes has enough of all three for Abeer to make a meal. Usually, it's a thin lentil soup. But often there is nothing, and they all go to bed hungry. Abeer said she's grown weak and often feels dizzy when she's out searching for food or water. "I am tired. I am no longer able," she said. "If the war goes on, I am thinking of taking my life. I no longer have any strength or power." Every morning, Abeer and Fadi Sobh wake up in their tent in the Gaza Strip, wondering the same thing - how will they find food for themselves and their six young children? The couple has three options. Maybe a charity kitchen will be open and they can get a pot of watery lentils. Or they can try jostling through crowds to get some flour from a passing aid truck. The last resort is begging. If all those fail, they simply don't eat. It happens more and more these days, as hunger saps their energy, strength and hope. The predicament of the Sobhs, who live in a seaside refugee camp west of Gaza City after being displaced multiple times, is the same for families throughout the war-ravaged territory. Hunger has grown throughout the past 22 months of war because of aid restrictions, humanitarian workers say. But food experts warned earlier this week the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza". Israel enforced a complete blockade on food and other supplies for more than two months beginning in March. It said its objective was to increase pressure on Hamas to release dozens of hostages it has held since it attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Though the flow of aid resumed in May, the amount is a fraction of what aid organisations say is needed. A breakdown of law and order has also made it almost impossible to deliver food safely. Much of the aid that does get in is hoarded or sold in markets at exorbitant prices. A day in the life of the Sobh family is consumed with the search for food. The family wakes up in their tent, which Fadi Sobh, a 30-year-old street vendor, says is unbearably hot in the summer. With fresh water hard to come by, his wife Abeer, 29, fetches water from the sea. One by one, the children stand in a metal basin and scrub themselves as their mother pours the saltwater over their heads. Nine-month-old Hala cries as it stings her eyes. The other children are more stoic. Abeer then rolls up the bedding and sweeps the dust and sand from the tent floor. With no food left over from the day before, she heads out to beg for something for her family's breakfast. Sometimes, neighbours or passersby give her lentils. Sometimes she gets nothing. Abeer gives Hala water from a baby bottle. When she's lucky, she has lentils that she grinds into powder to mix into the water. "One day feels like 100 days, because of the summer heat, hunger and the distress," she said. Fadi heads to a nearby soup kitchen. Sometimes one of the children goes with him. "But food is rarely available there," he said. The kitchen opens roughly once a week and never has enough for the crowds. Most often, he said, he waits all day but returns to his family with nothing "and the kids sleep hungry, without eating". Fadi used to go to an area in northern Gaza where aid trucks arrive from Israel. There, giant crowds of equally desperate people swarm over the trucks and strip away the cargo of food. Often, Israeli troops nearby open fire, witnesses say. Israel says it only fires warning shots, and others in the crowd often have knives or pistols to steal boxes. Fadi, who also has epilepsy, was shot in the leg in July. That has weakened him too much to scramble for the trucks, so he's left with trying the kitchens. Meanwhile, Abeer and her three eldest children - 10-year-old Youssef, nine-year-old Mohammed and seven-year-old Malak - head out with plastic jerrycans to fill up from a truck that brings freshwater from central Gaza's desalination plant. The kids struggle with the heavy jerrycans. Youssef loads one onto his back, while Mohammed half-drags his, his little body bent sideways as he tries to keep it out of the dust of the street. Abeer sometimes heads to Zikim herself, alone or with Youssef. Most in the crowds are men - faster and stronger than she is. "Sometimes I manage to get food, and in many cases, I return empty-handed," she said. If she's unsuccessful, she appeals to the sense of charity of those who succeeded. "You survived death thanks to God, please give me anything," she tells them. Many answer her plea, and she gets a small bag of flour to bake for the children, she said. She and her son have become familiar faces. One man who regularly waits for the trucks, Youssef Abu Saleh, said he often sees Abeer struggling to grab food, so he gives her some of his. "They're poor people and her husband is sick," he said. "We're all hungry and we all need to eat." During the hottest part of the day, the six children stay in or around the tent. Their parents prefer the children sleep during the heat - it stops them from running around, using up energy and getting hungry and thirsty. As the heat eases, the children head out. Sometimes Abeer sends them to beg for food from their neighbours. Otherwise, they scour Gaza's bombed-out streets, foraging through the rubble and trash for anything to fuel the family's makeshift stove. They've become good at recognising what might burn. Scraps of paper or wood are best, but hardest to find. The bar is low: plastic bottles, plastic bags, an old shoe - anything will do. One of the boys came across a pot in the trash one day - it's what Abeer now uses to cook. The family has been displaced so many times, they have few belongings left. "I have to manage to get by," Abeer said. "What can I do? We are eight people." After a day spent searching for the absolute basics to sustain life — food, water, fuel to cook - the family sometimes has enough of all three for Abeer to make a meal. Usually, it's a thin lentil soup. But often there is nothing, and they all go to bed hungry. Abeer said she's grown weak and often feels dizzy when she's out searching for food or water. "I am tired. I am no longer able," she said. "If the war goes on, I am thinking of taking my life. I no longer have any strength or power." Every morning, Abeer and Fadi Sobh wake up in their tent in the Gaza Strip, wondering the same thing - how will they find food for themselves and their six young children? The couple has three options. Maybe a charity kitchen will be open and they can get a pot of watery lentils. Or they can try jostling through crowds to get some flour from a passing aid truck. The last resort is begging. If all those fail, they simply don't eat. It happens more and more these days, as hunger saps their energy, strength and hope. The predicament of the Sobhs, who live in a seaside refugee camp west of Gaza City after being displaced multiple times, is the same for families throughout the war-ravaged territory. Hunger has grown throughout the past 22 months of war because of aid restrictions, humanitarian workers say. But food experts warned earlier this week the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza". Israel enforced a complete blockade on food and other supplies for more than two months beginning in March. It said its objective was to increase pressure on Hamas to release dozens of hostages it has held since it attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Though the flow of aid resumed in May, the amount is a fraction of what aid organisations say is needed. A breakdown of law and order has also made it almost impossible to deliver food safely. Much of the aid that does get in is hoarded or sold in markets at exorbitant prices. A day in the life of the Sobh family is consumed with the search for food. The family wakes up in their tent, which Fadi Sobh, a 30-year-old street vendor, says is unbearably hot in the summer. With fresh water hard to come by, his wife Abeer, 29, fetches water from the sea. One by one, the children stand in a metal basin and scrub themselves as their mother pours the saltwater over their heads. Nine-month-old Hala cries as it stings her eyes. The other children are more stoic. Abeer then rolls up the bedding and sweeps the dust and sand from the tent floor. With no food left over from the day before, she heads out to beg for something for her family's breakfast. Sometimes, neighbours or passersby give her lentils. Sometimes she gets nothing. Abeer gives Hala water from a baby bottle. When she's lucky, she has lentils that she grinds into powder to mix into the water. "One day feels like 100 days, because of the summer heat, hunger and the distress," she said. Fadi heads to a nearby soup kitchen. Sometimes one of the children goes with him. "But food is rarely available there," he said. The kitchen opens roughly once a week and never has enough for the crowds. Most often, he said, he waits all day but returns to his family with nothing "and the kids sleep hungry, without eating". Fadi used to go to an area in northern Gaza where aid trucks arrive from Israel. There, giant crowds of equally desperate people swarm over the trucks and strip away the cargo of food. Often, Israeli troops nearby open fire, witnesses say. Israel says it only fires warning shots, and others in the crowd often have knives or pistols to steal boxes. Fadi, who also has epilepsy, was shot in the leg in July. That has weakened him too much to scramble for the trucks, so he's left with trying the kitchens. Meanwhile, Abeer and her three eldest children - 10-year-old Youssef, nine-year-old Mohammed and seven-year-old Malak - head out with plastic jerrycans to fill up from a truck that brings freshwater from central Gaza's desalination plant. The kids struggle with the heavy jerrycans. Youssef loads one onto his back, while Mohammed half-drags his, his little body bent sideways as he tries to keep it out of the dust of the street. Abeer sometimes heads to Zikim herself, alone or with Youssef. Most in the crowds are men - faster and stronger than she is. "Sometimes I manage to get food, and in many cases, I return empty-handed," she said. If she's unsuccessful, she appeals to the sense of charity of those who succeeded. "You survived death thanks to God, please give me anything," she tells them. Many answer her plea, and she gets a small bag of flour to bake for the children, she said. She and her son have become familiar faces. One man who regularly waits for the trucks, Youssef Abu Saleh, said he often sees Abeer struggling to grab food, so he gives her some of his. "They're poor people and her husband is sick," he said. "We're all hungry and we all need to eat." During the hottest part of the day, the six children stay in or around the tent. Their parents prefer the children sleep during the heat - it stops them from running around, using up energy and getting hungry and thirsty. As the heat eases, the children head out. Sometimes Abeer sends them to beg for food from their neighbours. Otherwise, they scour Gaza's bombed-out streets, foraging through the rubble and trash for anything to fuel the family's makeshift stove. They've become good at recognising what might burn. Scraps of paper or wood are best, but hardest to find. The bar is low: plastic bottles, plastic bags, an old shoe - anything will do. One of the boys came across a pot in the trash one day - it's what Abeer now uses to cook. The family has been displaced so many times, they have few belongings left. "I have to manage to get by," Abeer said. "What can I do? We are eight people." After a day spent searching for the absolute basics to sustain life — food, water, fuel to cook - the family sometimes has enough of all three for Abeer to make a meal. Usually, it's a thin lentil soup. But often there is nothing, and they all go to bed hungry. Abeer said she's grown weak and often feels dizzy when she's out searching for food or water. "I am tired. I am no longer able," she said. "If the war goes on, I am thinking of taking my life. I no longer have any strength or power."
ABC News
29-07-2025
- ABC News
The long and dangerous journey into Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites
Gaza has been cut off from steady food supplies for months, and since aid deliveries have resumed, more than 1,000 desperate people have been killed while trying to access essentials. Many of the killings have happened around sites recently set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed private operation that has taken over distribution of critical supplies from traditional aid agencies. Palestinians in Gaza have told the ABC they feel they have to risk their lives in the hope of collecting food at one of the aid sites. Multiple witnesses told the ABC they have seen soldiers fire directly at Palestinians. People in Gaza are starving, and as the UN points out, they face an "unacceptable" choice over risking death to get food. "The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached new and astonishing levels of desperation," the UN said. After mounting international pressure, Israel has announced "tactical pauses" of its bombardment of Gaza to allow more aid to be dropped. Humanitarian agencies said the aid drops wouldn't deliver enough for the 2 million people in Gaza. Many will still have to make the long, dangerous and possibly fruitless journey to one of the GHF's four aid depots. They set off after a message appears on Facebook. "To the residents of Gaza, aid will be open tomorrow in Khan Younis in Saudi neighbourhood as of 9am. Please do not come to the location before this, as we may still be preparing the sites. The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] may still be in the area before that time." People immediately begin the long walk from across the strip, leaving their tents and shelters and heading towards the site they have been told will open. The night before the site opens, some sleep in the sand dunes nearby, hoping to secure a place at the front of the growing crowd. They want to arrive as early as possible to give themselves the best chance of getting aid. The people massing outside the centres don't know exactly when the gate will open, or for how long. There's no guarantee that after the long walk to the site they will leave with a box of food. "Many stay for days, because distributions are inconsistent, and you never know when the next box will come," Fayez Abu Obeyd told the ABC. The Israeli military has created long approach corridors for each of the GHF sites. People are only allowed to enter by walking down a kind of trench. They're corridors made from bulldozed berms and security fences and are hundreds of metres long. If people try to approach by another way to avoid the crush of the crowd, they say they are shot at by Israeli soldiers and tanks. Drones also fly over those walking the trenches to the aid sites. Hassan Abu Obeid, one of the many aid seekers, told the ABC the most dangerous part of the journey was reaching the queue at the distribution centre. Abu Abel described a similarly terrifying situation. "Guards open fire on anyone who steps even slightly out of line," he told the ABC. "There are no warnings. A few centimetres off, and they shoot to kill, aiming for the head or chest." Sami Ashour said there was barely room to move in the queues. "We're packed so tightly that it feels claustrophobic," he said "Just getting to the distribution centre is incredibly difficult. There are far too many people, all desperate for the same thing." He said he had to risk his life "just to survive". "There's no other choice," he said. "Either I take the risk or we have nothing." People have taken to calling the distribution sites cemeteries. "That's how deadly they've become," Abu Abel said. Abu Khaled has also been to the GHF sites. "These aren't aid distributions — they're death distributions," he told the ABC. GHF denies its workers have shot Palestinians. There is evidence the Israeli military has fired at people queuing to collect aid. The UN said that as of July 21, 1,054 people had been killed in Gaza while trying to get food, 766 near GHF sites. GHF and the IDF have disputed the figures and have previously denied targeting civilians. They have however admitted to firing "warning shots" towards "suspects". Before the site has opened, an Israeli tank is positioned outside to stop people entering, people who have been to the sites told the ABC. GHF has been using a coloured flag to indicate when people can enter their sites to collect aid. "We never approach until the flag is lowered and the tank moves. That's the signal, meaning it's finally safe to start," Fayez Abu Obeyd said. Palestinians told the ABC the opening times had been inconsistent and unpredictable. At 5am, a crowd has formed around an aid site. At 9am, the rush starts. "Young men often have to run when the gates open, competing to get supplies for their families," Abu al Majed told the ABC. Most of the people trying to get aid are young men, who have the best chance of reaching a box of aid in time. Umm Ali, one of the few women to try reaching the sites, told the ABC she can't reach the food before them. She has missed out every time. "I've never been able to get a single aid box," she said. "But I've seen many people killed, most of them young teenage boys. One moment they're standing in line, and the next, a shot to the head, no warning, no reason. She said trying to collect aid from the sites was not safe. "There should be a secure, dignified way for people to access food, without risking their lives," she said. The GHF held a "women only" day at one of its sites last week, saying it was responding to community concern about the distribution method favouring men. The sites generally open twice a day — in the morning and the afternoon. That gives people two windows of about 15 minutes to grab whatever they can. "Inside one box there's 5kg of flour, 2kg of bulgur [wheat], 1kg of rice, 1kg of lentils, pasta, salt, tahini, and cooking oil," Hassan Abu Obeid said. One aid seeker, who spoke to the ABC after going to a GHF site, said all she managed to get was a kilogram of flour. "Not even the basics," she said. "If I had a choice, I would never come to these distribution centres." It's not just food that's in short supply. Fuel is scarce, and turning the ingredients in the aid boxes into food becomes another challenge. "We cook using cardboard we collect from the streets," Hassan Abu Obeid said. "There's no gas. We haven't had gas canisters for four or five months." Hassan Abu Obeid even though the sites were "deadly", people had no choice but to go there. The GHF denied that any guards it contracted had shot at Palestinians seeking aid. Much of the carnage has been around the three GHF sites in Gaza's south and its other in the centre of the strip. But there have also been reports of people being killed while trying to access aid deliveries in the north of Gaza. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has described what is said happened shortly after 25 aid trucks entered via the Zikim crossing a week ago. "The convoy encountered large crowds of civilians anxiously waiting to access desperately needed food supplies," the WFP said. "As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire." About 80 people were killed, according to Palestinian authorities. More than 170 aid organisations have condemned the GHF's operations as immoral, in breach of international law and against humanitarian principles. Bushra Khalidi, the policy lead for the occupied Palestinian territories for Oxfam, said the aid community was horrified by the large numbers of Palestinians killed around the GHF sites, as well as the way aid was distributed there. "Massacres have happened daily at these distribution sites," she told the ABC. Ms Khalidi said one person her organisation had spoken with had almost died seven times in one day while trying to get flour. Ms Khalidi said aid delivery should be handled by independent agencies and guided by international law. "The GHF does not abide by any of these principles, nor is it impartial because it's run by the US, American veterans and armed actors. And the Israeli military. Nor is it independent, because it is directly tied to the Israeli military, and nor is it dignified," she said. "Where is the dignity in throwing food like boxes of flour and oil and pasta to the strongest? Because now it's survival of the fittest in Gaza." Aid should also be prioritised for the most vulnerable, she said. "A pregnant woman right now, a child, an elderly person, an amputee … how are they supposed to walk for five to six kilometres towards these distribution sites in the middle of the night through rubble and roads that they don't even recognise because Israel has basically destroyed Gaza," she said. The GHF is also only distributing boxes of food, but people in Gaza have little access to water, gas and electricity. "Palestinians have lost their homes and water and sanitation infrastructure has been completely destroyed," she said. "Electricity doesn't exist in Gaza for the last 20 months. None of this is addressed by these food distribution sites.
ABC News
29-07-2025
- ABC News
Israel has begun airdrops in Gaza but aid groups say it's not enough. Here's the reality
After weeks of global condemnation sparked by images of starving people in Gaza, Israel on Sunday announced changes to aid operations in the strip. It would start airdropping pallets of food in the territory, it said, as well as make it easier for humanitarian groups to bring trucks of aid to Gaza. But after just two days there has been criticism that the airdrops are expensive, ineffective and dangerous. One aid agency called it a "smokescreen" and a "distraction". Humanitarian groups have also said far more is needed to feed the roughly 2 million people inside Gaza. So why has Israel announced them, and how much food will they really deliver to hungry Palestinians? On Sunday, Israel and a coalition of other countries, including Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, began airdropping parcels of food in Gaza. At the same time, the Israeli military announced military operations — including bombing and fighting — would "pause" for 10 hours a day in different parts of Gaza, to make it easier to distribute aid. The military also said it would create "humanitarian corridors" to provide secure routes the United Nations and other aid agencies could use to take food through the strip. Designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will be in place between 6am and 11pm, it said. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which coordinates aid deliveries in Gaza, said the population needed more than 62,000 tonnes of food aid per month. That amount would just cover people's most basic needs, the WFP said. WFP said in the past two months it had been able to deliver about 22,000 tonnes of food aid — just one-sixth of what was needed. "The quantity of food aid delivered to date is still a tiny fraction of what a population of over 2 million people need to survive," it said in a recent update. Nearly one in three people in Gaza have not eaten for days at a time, the WFP said. About 500 trucks of aid — including food and other supplies like medical equipment — entered Gaza each day on average before the war, according to the UN. Many aid groups say a full ceasefire, to allow for aid to be distributed over land, is the only way to address the hunger crisis. It's hard to give an exact answer to that question. But humanitarian organisations say it won't be enough. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the airdrop it did on Sunday consisted of seven pallets carrying supplies such as flour, sugar and canned food. It did not say how much food exactly each pallet contained, or how many people they were expected to feed. While it's hard to know how much food will be delivered on the ground, previous airdrop expeditions have given us some insight. Last year the ABC joined a UK RAF airdrop flight over Gaza and learned that each trip parachuted 12 pallets of food — weighing about 11 tonnes total — into Gaza. At the time, 11 tonnes was equivalent to just one truck full of food. On Sunday, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates parachuted 25 tonnes of aid into Gaza, according to Jordanian officials. That would amount to about two trucks' worth of humanitarian aid. On Monday, an extra 20 pallets of aid were airdropped, said Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which is responsible for coordinating aid into Gaza. One of the issues with using airdrops to distribute aid is that it's difficult to make sure it gets to the people who need it most, said Olga Cherevko, the spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza. There have also been reports of some Palestinians being injured by the air drops, she added. "Any effort to provide aid to people here is a welcome thing," she said. "But as we have previously said … the most efficient way is to bring aid by land." Palestinians in Gaza also told the ABC they were worried they could not access the airdropped supplies. One man, who only gave his name as Salah, said he was trying to support 14 members of his family, and could not reach the aid as it was being dropped in areas far from where he was living. "The distribution via airplanes is difficult — the crowds of people, it is very difficult to reach it, especially the elderly and the sick," he said. "There should be a different way, a solution that will benefit everyone." Samah Shahin, who lives with health issues including diabetes and high blood pressure, said she and her family — including children and grandchildren — hadn't eaten for two days. "What they send from air, neither me nor the people in the camp benefit from it," she said. "The aid that arrives is stolen, we don't get to see anything from the aid … we want our share." Aid organisations said there were a few issues, including Israel blocking aid entering Gaza for weeks at a time and challenges with movement inside the strip making it difficult to distribute supplies. Israel blocked all aid entering the strip for 11 weeks, from March 2 to May 21. "The Gaza Strip has been deprived of the proper scale of assistance for months," Antoine Renard, the World Food Programme country director for Palestine who is currently in Gaza, told Radio National Breakfast. "That means that people are lacking any of the basics." Last week more than 100 humanitarian agencies warned mass starvation was spreading across the strip. The World Health Organization (WHO) labelled it a man-made crisis — a claim disputed by Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Hamas had been stealing aid and impeding its distribution, and also blamed groups such as the UN for failing to deliver the aid. Israel claimed the UN had left hundreds of truckloads of food waiting at depots inside the Gaza border — criticism the UN and humanitarian agencies have rejected. The organisations accused Israel of failing to provide safe routes for convoys to travel through Gaza, making it too dangerous for staff to pick up supplies and take them to the areas needed. The head of the UN's Palestinian aid agency, Philippe Lazzarini, described the resumption of airdrops as a "distraction" and "smokescreen". "Driving aid through is much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper and safer. It's more dignified for the people of Gaza," he posted on X. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, which conducted some of the first airdrops, also said the aerial aid was not a substitute for delivery by land. Aid agencies said more than 100 truckloads of aid had been collected since Sunday, but warned far more was needed. "This is progress, but vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis," said Tom Fletcher, the United Nations' Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a statement issued overnight. COGAT said 200 trucks of aid were collected and distributed on Monday. An additional 260 trucks had entered Gaza and were awaiting collection and distribution, along with hundreds of others still queued for UN pick-up, it said.
