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THOUSANDS OF DESPERATE people stormed a United Nations warehouse in central Gaza yesterday.
Four people died in the chaos, hospital officials said.
The deaths came a day after a crowd was fired upon by Israeli soldiers while overrunning a new aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip set up by an Israeli and US-backed foundation, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding 48 others, Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
The Red Cross Field Hospital said the wounded from that scene included women and children with gunshot wounds.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza, where aid has finally begun to trickle in after a two-month blockade, is dire following 18 months of devastating war. Food security experts say starvation is looming for one in five people.
AFP footage showed crowds of Palestinians breaking into a WFP warehouse in Deir Al-Balah and taking bags of emergency food supplies as gunshots rang out.
“Hordes of hungry people broke into WFP’s Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, Central Gaza, in search of food supplies that were pre-positioned for distribution,” WFP said in a statement on X.
“Initial reports indicate two people died and several were injured in the tragic incident,” WFP said, adding that it was still confirming details.
Yesterday, Israel accused the United Nations of seeking to block Gaza aid distribution, as the global body said it was doing its utmost to facilitate distribution of the limited assistance green-lit by Israel’s authorities.
The issue of aid has come sharply into focus amid starvation fears and intense criticism of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private US-backed aid group that has bypassed the longstanding UN-led system in the territory.
Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon told the Security Council that aid was entering Gaza by truck – under limited authorisation by Israel at the Kerem Shalom crossing – and via a “new distribution mechanism developed in coordination with the US and key international partners”.
Danon was referring to the GHF operation, which he accused the UN of “trying to block”, saying it was “using threats, intimidation and retaliation against NGOs that choose to participate in the new humanitarian mechanism”.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, reiterated the world body’s opposition to coordinating with GHF.
“We will not participate in operations that do not meet our humanitarian principles,” Dujarric told AFP.
He said the UN was doing all it could to send aid, adding that since last week 800 truckloads were approved by Israel but fewer than 500 made it into Gaza.
As the war entered its 600th day Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the offensive had “changed the face of the Middle East”.
He said it had killed tens of thousands of militants, including Mohammed Sinwar, Hamas’s presumed Gaza leader and the brother of Yahya – the assassinated mastermind of the October 2023 attacks that sparked the Gaza war.
Israeli media said Mohammed Sinwar was targeted by strikes in southern Gaza earlier this month. His brother was killed in October 2024.
In Washington, US envoy Steve Witkoff expressed optimism about a possible ceasefire, saying he expected to propose a plan soon.
“I have some very good feelings about getting to a… temporary ceasefire, and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution of that conflict,” he said.
But Gazans remained pessimistic.
“Six hundred days have passed and nothing has changed. Death continues, and Israeli bombing does not stop,” said Bassam Daloul, 40.
“Even hoping for a ceasefire feels like a dream and a nightmare.”
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced today the creation in the occupied West Bank of 22 new settlements, which are illegal under international law.
“We have made a historic decision for the development of settlements: 22 new communities in Judea and Samaria, renewing settlement in the north of Samaria, and reinforcing the eastern axis of the State of Israel,” the minister said on X, using the Israeli term for the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967.
“Next step: sovereignty!” he added.
In a statement on Telegram, the Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the move a “once-in-a-generation decision”, saying the initiative had been led by Smotrich and Defence Minister Israel Katz and approved by the security cabinet.
“The decision also includes the establishment of four communities along the eastern border with Jordan, as part of strengthening Israel’s eastern backbone, national security and strategic grip on the area,” it said.
The party published a map showing the 22 sites spread across the territory.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are condemned by the United Nations as one of the main obstacles to a lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.
The announcement comes ahead of an international conference to be led by France and Saudi Arabia at UN headquarters in New York next month, which is meant to resurrect the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
With reporting from Press Association
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