Twenty Palestinians died in a stampede at a food distribution site in southern Gaza on Wednesday after guards used teargas or pepper spray on crowds, Palestinian health authorities and witnesses said.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-backed organisation running the site near Khan Younis, said 19 people were crushed and one stabbed in what it described as a “chaotic and dangerous surge”.
Gaza’s health ministry said 15 people died from suffocation after toxic gases were fired at the crowd. Health authorities said it was “the first time that deaths have been recorded due to suffocation and severe stampedes at aid distribution centres” since the war began.
The deaths occurred as Palestinians face severe food shortages in the territory, where Israeli attacks have killed over 58,000 people, most of them civilians. At least 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces whilst trying to access food since GHF began operations in late May.
GHF said it identified armed individuals in the crowd for the first time since starting operations and confiscated one weapon. The organisation claimed, without providing evidence, that people with Hamas links “fomented unrest”.
One witness described in a social media video how guards threw teargas at crowds already struggling to breathe. “I was running like everybody else to reach the gate,” the man said. “People were crushing each other at the gate and they started throwing teargas at us.”
The organisation, which has no prior experience distributing food in conflict zones, operates only four sites to feed 2 million people. Food security experts say deaths are inevitable in a system with such limited distribution points that open for short, irregular periods.
This contrasts with the previous UN-run aid model, which used over 400 distribution points during nearly 20 months of war. Israeli authorities claimed they needed a new system because Hamas was diverting aid, but have not provided evidence supporting allegations against the closely audited UN supply chains.
GHF says it bears no responsibility for deaths outside its perimeters.
(Source: The Guardian)
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