Why Israel’s US-backed Gaza aid plan is so deadly

“This is a trap for us, not aid,” Adham Dahman told Associated Press after at least four were killed by Israeli fire near Gaza food point on Sunday. Subscribe to The Guardian on YouTube ► http://bit.ly/subscribegdn There have been frequent shootings in the past two weeks near the new hubs, where thousands of Palestinians are being directed to collect food. Since 27 May, when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) became responsible for civilian food provision, more than 110 people have been killed and more than 1,000 people have been injured. The GHF announced on Wednesday that its operations would be suspended for 24 hours after Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians, as it pressed Israel to improve civilian safety beyond the perimeter of its distribution sites. A GHF spokesperson said there had been “no incident at or in [the] surrounding vicinity” of any distribution site. The UN and other humanitarian organisations have rejected the new system, saying the GHF will not be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and that it allows Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population. A global hunger monitor said in May that half a million people in the strip faced starvation. Israel began bombing Gaza on 7 October 2023, after Hamas crossed the border into Israel, killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage to Gaza. Israel’s attacks on Gaza since then have killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women, children and elderly people, and injured more than 125,000, according to health authorities in the territory, whose figures have proved accurate in past conflicts. We asked Chris Newton, a senior analyst at Crisis Group, an international think tank, why the controversial US-backed Israeli aid plan for Gaza is so deadly. #gaza #gazaaid #gazaaidcrisis #palestine #israel #gazafamine #gazafoodshortages #gazahumanitarianfoundation #food