Guterres: US-backed Gaza aid operation "kills people"

(Patria) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that the aid operation supported by the United States in Gaza is "inherentno nesigurna", giving a direct assessment: "It kills people."

Israel and the United States want the UN to act through the controversial new Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF), but the UN has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forced displacement, Reuters reported.

"Any operation that directs desperate civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. It kills people," Guterres told reporters.

Guterres said that UN-led humanitarian efforts are "drowning," that humanitarian workers themselves are starving, and that Israel, as the occupying power, is being asked to agree to and facilitate the delivery of aid into and across the Palestinian enclave.

"People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families."
"The search for food must never be a death sentence," Guterres told reporters.

"It is time to find the political courage to call for a ceasefire in Gaza."

Since Israel lifted its eleven-week blockade of aid to Gaza on May 19, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume, the United Nations says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid from UN and GHF operations. A senior UN official said on Sunday that most of these people were trying to reach GHF locations.

Responding to Guterres, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Israeli army never targets civilians and accused the UN of "doing everything it can" to oppose the GHF aid operation. "This makes the UN complicit with Hamas, which is also trying to sabotage the GHF's humanitarian operations," they posted on social media X.

A GHF spokesperson said there had been no fatalities at or near any of the GHF aid distribution sites.

"It is regrettable that the UN continues to spread false information... regarding our operations," the spokesperson said. "The bottom line is that our aid is delivered safely. Instead of bickering and insults from the sidelines, we would welcome the UN and other humanitarian groups to join us and feed the people of Gaza."

GHF uses private US security and logistics firms to operate. It began operations in Gaza on May 26 and announced on Friday that it had distributed over 48 million meals to date. The US State Department announced on Thursday that it had approved thirty million dollars in funding for the GHF and called on other countries to also support the group.

Israel and the United States have accused Hamas of stealing aid from UN-led operations, which Hamas denies.