More than 130 charities and other NGOs are calling for the controversial Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to be shut down.
Over 500 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid since the GHF started operating in late May, following Israel’s three-month blockade of Gaza, the organisations said. Almost 4,000 have been injured.
The organisations, including Oxfam, Save the Children, Amnesty International, and at least nine with head offices in Israel, say Israeli forces and armed groups “routinely” open fire on Palestinians seeking aid.
Israel denies its soldiers deliberately shot at aid recipients, and has issued instructions to forces on the “lessons learned”.
At least one Israeli newspaper has suggested orders to use live fire against civilians were issued.
Israel has repeatedly blocked most United Nations supplies into Gaza, where the entire population is now at risk of starvation, according to the United Nations.
The aid groups’ statement says the foundation should stop work immediately, and be replaced by a United Nations-led system.
Tuesday’s joint statement from some of the world’s biggest charities says the foundation is violating all norms of humanitarian work, including by forcing two million people into overcrowded and militarized zones where they face daily gunfire.
Since the GHF started operating in Gaza, there have been almost daily reports of Israeli forces killing people seeking aid at these sites, from medics, eyewitnesses and the Hamas-run health ministry.
The GHF aid distribution system replaced 400 aid distribution points that were operating during the temporary Israel-Hamas ceasefire with just four military-controlled distribution sites, three in the far south-west of Gaza and one in central Gaza.
“Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” the statement says.
“Orphaned children and caregivers are among the dead, with children harmed in over half of the attacks on civilians at these sites.”
The GHF aid system has been condemned by UN agencies. On Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “inherently unsafe”.
From the start the UN condemned the plan, saying it would “militarise” aid, bypass the existing distribution network and force Gazans to make long journeys through dangerous territory to get food.
The Israeli military has said it is examining reports of civilians being “harmed” while approaching GHF aid distribution centres.
According to a report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Friday, unnamed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers said they were ordered to shoot at unarmed civilians near aid distribution sites to drive them away or disperse them.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected the report, calling the allegations “malicious falsehoods”.
The Israeli military also denied allegations of deliberately firing at Palestinians waiting to collect humanitarian aid.
In a statement on Monday, the IDF said it was reorganising access to the sites and this would include new “fencing” and signposting, including directional and warning signs in order to improve the operational response.
But the 130-plus aid organisations said GHF “is not a humanitarian response” for the Gazans.
“Amidst severe hunger and famine-like conditions, many families tell us they are now too weak to compete for food rations,” the groups said.
