UN reports nearly 800 deaths near Gaza aid hubs, humanitarian convoys in last 6 weeks
Europe unveils new deal to allow more food and fuel into Gaza
The UN human rights office said Friday it had recorded at least 798 killings within the past six weeks near aid points in Gaza run by a U.S.- and Israeli-backed group and near convoys run by other relief groups as European officials reached a new deal with Israel to allow desperately needed food and fuel into Gaza.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a United Nations-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.
The European Commission said Monday it has no evidence that Hamas is stealing humanitarian aid in Gaza.
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians trying to reach GHF's aid hubs in zones where Israeli forces operate, the United Nations has called the aid model "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
"[From May 27] up until the seventh of July, we've recorded 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys," UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing in Geneva.
The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, told Reuters the UN figures were "false and misleading." It has repeatedly denied that deadly incidents have occurred at its sites.
"The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys," a GHF spokesperson said.
The Israeli army said it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimize friction between Palestinians and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes.
The OHCHR said it bases its figures on a range of sources, such as information from hospitals in the Gaza Strip, cemeteries, families, Palestinian health authorities, NGOs and its partners on the ground.
Most injuries were gunshot wounds: UN
Most of the injuries to Palestinians in the vicinity of aid distribution hubs recorded by OHCHR since May 27 were gunshot wounds, Shamdasani said.
"We've raised concerns about atrocity crimes having been committed and the risk of further atrocity crimes being committed where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food," she said.
Following the GHF assertion that the OHCHR figures are false and misleading, Shamdasani said: "It is not helpful to issue blanket dismissals of our concerns — what is needed is investigations into why people are being killed while trying to access aid."
Israel has repeatedly said its forces operate near the relief aid sites to prevent supplies falling into the hands of militants it has been fighting in the war triggered by the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
"Following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted in the Southern Command," an IDF spokesperson said in a statement, adding that such incidents were under review by the army.
The GHF said Friday it had delivered more than 70 million meals to hungry Gaza Palestinians in five weeks, and that other humanitarian groups had "nearly all of their aid looted" by Hamas or criminal gangs.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, while the UN World Food Program said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by "hungry civilian communities."
There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies 21 months into Israel's military campaign, during which much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble and most of its 2.3 million inhabitants displaced.
European officials announce new deal
The deal announced by European officials Thursday could result in "more crossings open, aid and food trucks entering Gaza, repair of vital infrastructure and protection of aid workers," said Kaja Kallas, the 27-member EU's top diplomat.
"We count on Israel to implement every measure agreed," she said in a post on social media.
Kallas said the deal would reactivate aid corridors from Jordan and Egypt and reopen community bakeries and kitchens across Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar acknowledged the deal while at a conference in Vienna, saying it followed "our dialogue with the EU" and that it includes "more trucks, more crossings and more routes for the humanitarian efforts."
Neither Saar not Kallas said whether the aid would go through the UN-run system or the GHF.
Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 57,680 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. It has destroyed swaths of the territory and driven most Palestinians from their homes, displacing them multiple times in the 21-month-long war.
The Hamas attack on Israeli border communities that triggered the war killed around 1,200 people and the militant group seized around 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
With files from The Associated Press