Witnesses in Gaza describe more chaos at food distribution sites

NUSEIRAT, Gaza Strip — Chaos erupted again Thursday as tens of thousands of desperate Palestinians in the Gaza Strip tried to collect food from distribution sites run by a new U.S.- and Israeli-backed foundation. Multiple witnesses reported a free-for-all of people grabbing aid, and they said Israeli troops opened fire to control crowds.

In central Gaza, Associated Press video showed smoke bombs arching through the air around a distribution center, and gunfire was audible as an Israeli tank moved nearby. Witnesses said it was Israeli troops who fired the projectiles to clear large crowds of Palestinians after the center ran out of supplies Thursday.

''I came to get a sack of flour … a sardine tin or anything,'' said Mahmoud Ismael, a man on crutches from an earlier leg injury who said he walked for miles to get to the center, only to leave empty-handed.

''There is no food in my house, and I can't get food for my children,'' he said.

Turmoil has plagued the aid system launched this week by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs three distribution centers in the territory. Israel has slated GHF to take over food distribution in Gaza despite opposition from the United Nations and most humanitarian groups.

Over the past three days, there have been reports of gunfire at GHF centers, and Gaza health officials have said at least one person has been killed and dozens wounded.

The Israeli military said it has facilitated the entry of nearly 1,000 truckloads of supplies into Gaza recently and accused the U.N. of failing to distribute the goods. It claimed Hamas was responsible for the crisis by stealing aid and refusing to release the remaining hostages.

The military's spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effei Defrin, said the army will continue ''to provide for the humanitarian needs of the civilian population while taking necessary steps to ensure that the aid does not reach the hands of Hamas.''

With media not allowed to access the centers, the circumstances remain unclear. The distribution points are guarded by armed private contractors, and Israeli forces are positioned in the vicinity. On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it fired warning shots to control a crowd outside one center.

Dr. Khaled Elserr, a surgeon at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, told the AP he treated two people wounded at distribution centers on Thursday -- a 17-year-old girl and a man in his 20s. Both had gunshot wounds in the chest and stomach, he said, adding that other casualties had come in from the centers but that he did not have an exact number.

In a statement Thursday, GHF said no shots had been fired at any of its distribution centers the past three days and there have been no casualties, saying reports of deaths ''originated from Hamas.''

Separately on Thursday, Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 34 people, according to local health officials. Israel said it would establish 22 more Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Most of the international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to resolving the decades-old conflict.

Turmoil at aid distribution sites

Hunger and malnutrition have mounted among Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians since Israel barred entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies nearly three months ago, allowing a trickle of aid in only the past two weeks.

GHF has opened hubs in three locations – two in the far south around the city of Rafah, and the other in central Gaza near the Netzarim corridor, a strip of territory controlled by Israeli forces. The large crowds have to walk miles to reach the locations.

More than a dozen Palestinians described chaos at all three Thursday.

At one of the Rafah sites near the Morag Corridor, another Israeli-held strip, one man told the AP he and his cousin arrived at 5:30 a.m., and found thousands of people massed outside, waiting to be let in. When it was opened, the crowd flowed into an outdoor area ringed by barbed wire and earth berms, where pallets of food boxes had been left.

Armed contractors stood on the berms watching, and beyond them Israeli troops and tanks were visible, said the 41-year-old man, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his first name, Shehada, for fear of reprisals. The crowd descended on the food boxes, and pushing and shoving got out of control, he said.

Shehada said the contractors pulled back and Israeli troops shot at people's feet. His cousin was wounded in the left foot, he said. ''The gunfire was very intense,'' he said. ''The sand was jumping all around us.''

At the other Rafah site, several people told AP of a similar scene of pallets of food boxes left on the ground for the crowds to take whatever they could with no control by staff. Mohammad Abu-Elinin, said ''gangs'' carried off cartloads of flour bags and multiple aid boxes.

Samira Z'urob said by the time she arrived at 6.a.m, ''the thieves had stolen people's aid.'' When she begged, one person gave her a bag of pasta and a can of beans. ''I said, Thank God, and took it to my children,'' she said. ''I haven't had flour for more than a week.''

Another woman, Heba Joda, said people tore down metal fences and took wooden pallets. When the food boxes ran out, staff told people to leave, then fired sound grenades to disperse them, she said.

As people fled through a nearby roundabout outside the center, Israeli troops fired gunshots, causing a panic, she said. Abu-Elinin said he saw one man wounded by shrapnel.

At the center in central Gaza, witnesses told the AP that Israeli troops fired tear gas and smoke grenades to disperse the crowds when aid ran out. AP video showed crowds of people returning from the site, some with carts full of boxes and many with nothing.

Aisha Na'na said all she managed to grab were some sticks to use as firewood. ''We had come to get food for our children, but it was all in vain — we returned with nothing,'' she said.

Israel says the GHF system will replace the massive aid operation that the U.N. and other aid groups have carried out throughout the war. It says the new mechanism is necessary, accusing Hamas of siphoning off large amounts of aid. The U.N. denies that significant diversion takes place.

In its statement Thursday, GHF said it has distributed more than 32,200 boxes of food since Monday. It says each box, which contains basics like sugar, lentils, pasta and rice, can make 58 meals. It said it will scale up to start operations at a fourth center and will build additional hubs in the weeks ahead.

The U.N. and other aid groups have refused to participate in the mechanism, saying it violates humanitarian principles. They say it allows Israel to use food as a weapon, forcing people to move to the hubs, potentially emptying large swaths of Gaza. They also say it cannot meet the massive needs of the population.

Israel has allowed in some trucks of aid for the U.N. to distribute, but the U.N. has struggled to deliver the material amid looting and Israeli military restrictions.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday that Israeli authorities hadn't given permission for U.N. trucks to move to the border to retrieve the arriving supplies for the previous three days.

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Jahjouh reported from Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, El Deeb from Beirut. AP correspondents Samy Magdy and Fatma Khaled in Cairo, and Julia Frankel and Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem, contributed to this report.

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