Shots fired at new Gaza food aid hub after thousands overrun center
Thousands of Palestinians are seen crowding the center near the city of Rafah, which was supplying boxes of food, video taken on Tuesday shows.
The newly opened centers, operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), aim to provide aid to around half of all Palestinians in the territory, or approximately one million people, by the end of the week.
Aid boxes, including bags of rice, dried beans, flour, oil, salt and canned vegetables, were pictured on X.
6 The first two of four aid distribution centers have opened in Gaza.
via REUTERS
'Approximately 8,000 food boxes have been distributed so far. Each box feeds 5.5 people for 3.5 days, totaling 462,000 meals,' the GHF said in a statement earlier.
A further two aid distribution sites — operated by a private American security company and under the supervision of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) — are expected to open in the Gaza Strip.
But after an orderly start to the food distribution, tensions seemed to boil over as thousands crowded around the aid centers, leading to the IDF firing shots to disperse the throngs of people.
6 The aid centers aim to deliver food to half of Gaza's two million inhabitants.
AFP via Getty Images
The IDF was forced to deny reports that its troops opened fire from a helicopter during the disarray at the center.
Israeli forces did not carry out 'any aerial fire toward the humanitarian aid distribution center,' the IDF said in a statement.
However, troops fired warning shots outside the compound, a military source told The Times of Israel.
'Control over the situation was established, food distribution operations are expected to continue as planned, and the safety of IDF troops was not compromised,' the source said.
American security subcontractors fell back to allow 'a small number' of Palestinians to collect food from the distribution center, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said in a statement on Tuesday as it looked to downplay the chaos.
'The needs on the ground are great. At one moment in the late afternoon, the volume of people at the SDS [distribution center] was such that the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate,' the Foundation said in a statement.
6 The supply of food to Gaza has become a major diplomatic incident between Israel and the UN.
Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Aid has been allowed into Gaza for the past week by Israel following a 78-day blockade of the territory.
Operations at the distribution center have since returned to normal, the GHF claimed.
Non-profit leaders, meanwhile, have slammed the foundation as 'selfish' over its alleged mishandling of the new aid distribution center.
6 The destruction in the Gaza Strip.
AFP via Getty Images
'The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has left Palestinians without food. The people that created it are selfish,' Emirati-backed NGO World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andrew wrote on X.
WCK has refused to cooperate with GHF, whose CEO resigned earlier this week in frustration at what he called Israeli restrictions.
The United Nations decried the scenes from the Gaza food distribution center on Tuesday as 'heartbreaking.'
6 The UN has accused Israel of making it difficult to supply aid to Gaza.
REUTERS
'We have been watching the video coming out of Gaza around one of the distribution points set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. And frankly, these videos, these images, are heartbreaking to say the least,' Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres, said in a statement.
6 For its part, Israel has accused the UN of failing to collect humanitarian aid.
via REUTERS
Israel is still allowing the UN to deliver aid, but with obstacles, Dujarric added.
For its part, Israel has accused the UN of failing to collect the humanitarian aid it says is piling up on the Israeli side of the Gaza border.
More than 400 truckloads of humanitarian aid are still awaiting collection and distribution by the UN, the Israeli Defense Ministry's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in a statement.
'In the past few days, the UN has avoided fulfilling its role and instead continues to spread false and incorrect information regarding civilian distress,' COGAT chief Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
44 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Why not enough food is reaching people in Gaza even after Israel eased its blockade
International outcry over images of emaciated children and increasing reports of hunger-related deaths have pressured Israel to let more aid into the Gaza Strip. This week, Israel paused fighting in parts of Gaza and airdropped food. But aid groups and Palestinians say the changes have only been incremental and are not enough to reverse what food experts say is a ' worst-case scenario of famine' unfolding in the war-ravaged territory. The new measures have brought an uptick in the number of aid trucks entering Gaza. But almost none of it reaches U.N. warehouses for distribution. Instead, nearly all the trucks are stripped of their cargo by crowds that overwhelm them on the roads as they drive from the borders. The crowds are a mix of Palestinians desperate for food and gangs armed with knives, axes or pistols who loot the goods to then hoard or sell. Many have also been killed trying to grab the aid. Witnesses say Israeli troops often open fire on crowds around the aid trucks, and hospitals have reported hundreds killed or wounded. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots to control crowds or at people who approach its forces. The alternative food distribution system run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has also been marred by violence. International airdrops of aid have resumed. But aid groups say airdrops deliver only a fraction of what trucks can supply. Also, many parcels have landed in now-inaccessible areas that Palestinians have been told to evacuate, while others have plunged into the Mediterranean Sea, forcing people to swim out to retrieve drenched bags of flour. Here's a look at why the aid isn't being distributed: A lack of trust The U.N. says that longstanding restrictions on the entry of aid have created an unpredictable environment, and that while a pause in fighting might allow more aid in, Palestinians are not confident aid will reach them. 'This has resulted in many of our convoys offloaded directly by starving, desperate people as they continue to face deep levels of hunger and are struggling to feed their families,' said Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA. 'The only way to reach a level of confidence is by having a sustained flow of aid over a period of time,' she said. Israel blocked food entirely from entering Gaza for 2 ½ months starting in March. Since it eased the blockade in late May, it allowed in a trickle of aid trucks for the U.N., about 70 a day on average, according to official Israeli figures. That is far below the 500-600 trucks a day that U.N. agencies say are needed — the amount that entered during a six-week ceasefire earlier this year. Much of the aid is stacked up just inside the border in Gaza because U.N. trucks could not pick it up. The U.N says that was because of Israeli military restrictions on its movements and because of the lawlessness in Gaza. Israel has argued that it is allowing sufficient quantities of goods into Gaza and tried to shift the blame to the U.N. 'More consistent collection and distribution by U.N. agencies and international organizations = more aid reaching those who need it most in Gaza,' the Israeli military agency in charge of aid coordination, COGAT, said in a statement this week. With the new measures this week, COGAT, says 220-270 truckloads a day were allowed into Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday, and that the U.N. was able to pick up more trucks, reducing some of the backlog at the border. Aid missions still face 'constraints' Cherevko said there have been 'minor improvements' in approvals by the Israeli military for its movements and some 'reduced waiting times' for trucks along the road. But she said the aid missions are 'still facing constraints.' Delays of military approval still mean trucks remain idle for long periods, and the military still restricts the routes that the trucks can take onto a single road, which makes it easy for people to know where the trucks are going, U.N officials say. Antoine Renard, who directs the World Food Program's operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, said Wednesday that it took nearly 12 hours to bring in 52 trucks on a 10-kilometer (6 mile) route. 'While we're doing everything that we can to actually respond to the current wave of starvation in Gaza, the conditions that we have are not sufficient to actually make sure that we can break that wave,' he said. Aid workers say the changes Israel has made in recent days are largely cosmetic. 'These are theatrics, token gestures dressed up as progress,' said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam's policy lead for Israel and the Palestinian territories. 'Of course, a handful of trucks, a few hours of tactical pauses and raining energy bars from the sky is not going to fix irreversible harm done to an entire generation of children that have been starved and malnourished for months now,' she said. Breakdown of law and order As desperation mounts, Palestinians are risking their lives to get food, and violence is increasing, say aid workers. Muhammad Shehada, a political analyst from Gaza who is a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said aid retrieval has turned into the survival of the fittest. 'It's a Darwin dystopia, the strongest survive,' he said. A truck driver said Wednesday that he has driven food supplies four times from the Zikim crossing on Gaza's northern border. Every time, he said, crowds a kilometer long (0.6 miles) surrounded his truck and took everything on it after he passed the checkpoint at the edge of the Israeli military-controlled border zones. He said some were desperate people, while others were armed. He said that on Tuesday, for the first time, some in the crowd threatened him with knives or small arms. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety. Ali al-Derbashi, another truck driver, said that during one trip in July armed men shot the tires, stole everything, including the diesel and batteries and beat him. 'If people weren't starving, they wouldn't resort to this,' he said. Israel has said it has offered the U.N. armed escorts. The U.N. has refused, saying it can't be seen to be working with a party to the conflict – and pointing to the reported shootings when Israeli troops are present. Uncertainty and humiliation Israel hasn't given a timeline for how long the measures it implemented this week will continue, heightening uncertainty and urgency among Palestinians to seize the aid before it ends. Palestinians say the way it's being distributed, including being dropped from the sky, is inhumane. 'This approach is inappropriate for Palestinians, we are humiliated,' said Rida, a displaced woman. Momen Abu Etayya said he almost drowned because his son begged him to get aid that fell into the sea during an aid drop. 'I threw myself in the ocean to death just to bring him something,' he said. 'I was only able to bring him three biscuit packets'. ___
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
How the gender education gap is impacting dating
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. More and more women are "marrying down" when it comes to education, said The Atlantic. Marriages had been moving in a "more egalitarian direction" since the mid-20th century, when more women began attending university and entering the job market. But now the trend of women "partnering up with their educational equals" seems to be reversing, with a growing number practicing "hypogamy" – wedding someone of a lower social class or education level. Too picky? Women now outnumber men in higher education in almost all developed countries. In the UK, more women were accepted into university than men for the first time in 1996, and that gap has only grown; in 2024, female students outnumbered male students by 28%, according to government figures. While women's educational advancement is a "cause for celebration", it's also causing "issues" when it comes to heterosexual relationships, said The Independent. There has been an increase in "assortative mating", where people want their potential partners to have the same education level as them, as well as having similar attitudes in areas like politics, personal habits and finances. A 2023 study from the US-based Institute for Family Studies found 45% of single women with a degree said their relationship status was due to an "inability to find someone who met their expectations", said the paper. In her book "Motherhood on Ice: the Mating Gap and Why Women Freeze their Eggs", Yale professor Marcia Inhorn said the women she spoke to were having trouble finding partners who fulfilled the "three 'E's: eligible, educated, equal". And it appears they're not just being "too picky". As part of the study, polling expert Daniel A. Cox surveyed more than 5,000 people, and found his interviews with the male participants "dispiriting"; many were "limited in their ability and willingness to be fully emotionally present and available". 'Romantic pessimism' Women's academic success, coupled with the "male breadwinner norm" that remains a lingering "cultural anchor", gives the "shrinking pool of more successful men tremendous power", said Sarah Bernstein in The New York Times. Social media is "rife with male fantasies", including "beautiful, submissive tradwives" embracing traditional gender roles. But while a small group of rich, successful men are "reaping the benefits", others find themselves struggling to compete in the dating market. "Enter the manosphere", a space filled with "romantic pessimism" and the idea that "modern women are not to be trusted". And women themselves are feeling "similarly despondent" about dating. In fact, according to a study by the Survey Center on American Life, 41% of single people in 2023 had "no interest in dating at all". It's "too soon" to know whether this "gulf in attitudes" among young people today will negatively impact the already "tumbling birth rates", said The Economist. But "early signs are discouraging". Policymakers must tackle the "underlying problems that are driving young men and women apart", starting with figuring out how to make education work for underperforming boys at school. It's not all bad, though. There is some evidence that beliefs are "evolving", said The Atlantic. Christine Schwartz, a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin, analysed data from the World Values Survey and found that in the countries where hypogamy is more prevalent, people were less likely to agree with the statement "if a woman earns more money than her husband, it's almost certain to cause problems". And while hypogamous marriages used to be more likely than others to end in divorce, recent analyses of marriages in Europe and the US suggests this is "no longer the case". These trends don't necessarily prove a major shift is under way. "But they might offer a reason to be cautiously optimistic about society's ability to adjust to new realities." Solve the daily Crossword
Atlantic
7 hours ago
- Atlantic
‘We're Trying to Do the Best We Can Before We Die'
George Anton is hungry, but he's become used to the sensation—the urgent, aching feeling in his stomach, the heaviness of his limbs. He hardly has time to acknowledge the discomfort, given all the work he has to do. He is the operations manager for an aid-distribution program operating through the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City, the sole remaining Catholic church in Gaza. Anton lives at the church in a single room that he shares with his wife and three daughters. Four hundred people are sheltering there, he told me; it was once a sanctuary from the war. Recently, however, the fighting has come to encircle it. An Israeli tank shell struck the church early last month, killing three people there, according to a statement by the patriarchate. This week, daily pauses in the fighting have calmed the neighborhood somewhat, but not enough for the church to resume aid programs: food hampers, a communal laundry, psychosocial support programs and clinics. Some of these functioned even before the current war. But these days, the church has nothing to distribute. Its food pantry is empty, and supplies have run out. When I reached Anton by phone on Wednesday, he was busy looking for a way to bring more food to the church's pantry. Anton is one of hundreds of Gazan aid workers—affiliated with religious, international, and local organizations—who are trying to find and distribute supplies to keep others alive. Complicating their work is their own hunger and exhaustion, as well as the paucity of food coming into the territory altogether. An alert on Tuesday from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, an organization made up of United Nations agencies and aid groups, noted that the 'latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City.' The people sheltering at the church have, in the absence of communal supplies, begun to ration their own small stashes of food items, mostly gathered from the markets when the situation was stable enough for them to venture out. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has become the official mechanism for dispensing food aid, has very few distribution points, all in areas far from the church. Many Gazans fear visiting these sites: According to the UN, more than 1,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces while seeking assistance from GHF, the UN, and other aid convoys. (GHF has called these numbers 'false and exaggerated statistics.') I spoke with one Palestinian aid worker who did try to get food from GHF. In early June, Youssef Alwikhery, an occupational therapist with Medical Aid for Palestinians, hadn't eaten for close to a week. Several of his brothers, uncles, and cousins had tried to get food from GHF before—30 attempts altogether, he estimated—but only one had succeeded in bringing a box back. So Alwikhery rose one morning at 3 a.m. and made his way to Salah al-Din Street in central Gaza, a main thoroughfare leading to a distribution point that was a little over a mile from his home. He saw thousands of people. Some started running toward the distribution point, and he ran too. 'It was like a game, like a death game,' he told me. Soon came the sound of shots and explosions. Alwikhery turned back. 'It's not help. It's like Russian roulette,' he said. 'If you want to run, you might die, or you might get injured. You might get a box. This is the formula. This is the point.' Alwikhery now pays exorbitant prices for small amounts of food at the market, and he eats just one meal a day. He lives with his parents and his brothers' families, including 9- and 11-year-old children. They, too, eat only one meal a day, usually around four or five in the evening, and if a family member needs to cook, they burn whatever they can, because the price of fuel is high. One photo Alwikhery sent me shows his occupational-therapy textbook being used as kindling. I first met Alwikhery in the summer of 2022, at Al-Awda Hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northernmost part of Gaza, when we worked with the same international medical organization. He specialized in helping patients with congenital disabilities carry out their daily activities. Israel ordered the closure of Al-Awda in May, and now Alwikhery works in Medical Aid for Palestinians' emergency clinic in central Gaza. He told me that he finds the state of his pediatric patients disturbing; he described children with cerebral palsy who couldn't move their bodies to do simple exercises because they were so calorically deprived. My call with Anton was at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, and so far that day, he told me, he had consumed nothing but coffee and tea. He rises early, at 6 a.m. The first thing he does is check to make sure the church's solar panels, water tanks, and piping are still functioning and did not sustain any damage overnight. Then he reads the news, goes to morning prayers, and calls his colleagues in Jerusalem for updates on when food trucks might reach Gaza and how they will be secured. Around 4 p.m. the day we spoke, his wife and three daughters, ages 9, 11, and 14, had shared one can of tuna with some bread. In recent weeks, his girls have taken to spending much of their time in the family's room, sleeping and reading to conserve their energy. The oldest and youngest used to enjoy soccer and basketball, but now they don't feel safe going out, and anyway, they're too tired. Anton told me he encourages them to pretend they're fasting, as though for Lent. Photos: Starvation and chaos in Gaza Sometimes, fellow aid workers or journalists tell Anton about families on the brink, and he gathers any extra supplies he can from the families sheltering in the church to deliver by foot. Recently, a journalist told him about a father of six who used a wheelchair and could not access income or aid. This man had no extended family nearby to share resources. Anton was able to gather only enough food to last the family approximately one week. When conditions were safe enough last Saturday, he delivered the food to the family's tent. The children, two boys and two girls, were 'really suffering,' he told me. 'They're like skeletons, you know.' Families such as that one, where one or more members have a disability, or whose kinship networks are small or nonexistent, are among those hardest hit by starvation, both Anton and Alwikhery told me. Anton's day would not finish after we spoke. He said he would try to find himself some bread later in the night. He and some other people sheltering at the church would stay up to monitor the hostilities in the neighborhood, tend to anyone needing help or comfort, and assist some of the elderly to use the communal bathrooms in the dark. 'We're trying to do the best we can before we die, you know,' he told me. 'Because I'm telling you, if this situation will last for a longer time, all of us will die hungry.'
