The Palestinian Plight!
Gaza City, June 10 (EFE).-
A total of 36 people were killed and 208 injured by Israeli gunfire and artillery fire at different points in the Gaza Strip as they were on their way to collect food on Tuesday, the enclave’s health ministry said.
According to data from the ministry, which is affiliated with Hamas, 32 of the 36 civilians died while waiting for trucks from UN organizations to arrive and receive aid in the Netzarim corridor area.
Seven died at the center opened in Wadi Gaza by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private organization of US contractors that is managing four aid distribution points according to a new mechanism established by Israel to bypass the UN.
Four more people died at the foundation’s distribution center in Tal al-Sultan, in the southern Rafah area near the Egyptian border.
Since the GHF began operating in the Strip on May 27, 163 people have died and another 1,495 have been injured while collecting aid, according to the health ministry.
Zaher al-Waheidi, director of the information unit of the Gazan ministry said in an audio message that since the opening of the so-called distribution centers, hundreds of citizens who walk long distances daily to receive aid have been killed.
He added that Tuesday morning was one of the bloodiest, and at least 36 civilians, 32 of them in the Netzarim area, were killed by Israeli fire while more than 200 were injured, most by gunfire and others by artillery fire near the aid centers.
Since the implementation of the new distribution model controlled by GHF, deaths are being reported almost every day near the new food distribution points controlled by this private American organization and guarded by Israeli forces.
International organizations and the UN, which used to be the main distributors of aid and now play a secondary role, have criticized the initiative for being illegitimate and forcing Palestinians to move into military zones.
Israel allows access to some of the trucks of these organizations but far from the 600 per day that the UN considers should enter Gaza.
In parallel, the foundation distributes at four points, three in the south and a fourth in the center, but these open irregularly due to security concerns and the fact that the aid they have runs out quickly. EFE
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