Witnesses in Gaza describe more chaos at food distribution sites
[May 30, 2025]
By ABDEL KAREEM HANA, MOHAMMED JAHJOUH and SARAH EL DEEB
NUSEIRAT, Gaza Strip (AP) — 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.
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Palestinians wave to the camera as they carry boxes and bags
containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza
Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed organization approved by
Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 29,
2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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.
___
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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