United Nations: 875 Palestinians Killed Near Aid Delivery Sites in Gaza

(Patria) - The United Nations Human Rights Office said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings in the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the Humanitarian Foundation for Gaza (GHF), supported by the United States and Israel, and convoys led by other humanitarian groups, including the United Nations, Reuters reported.

Most of those killed were near locations of the Humanitarian Foundation for Gaza, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.

GHF uses private American security and logistics companies to deliver supplies to Gaza, largely bypassing the UN-run system, which Israel claims allowed Hamas-led militants to loot aid shipments intended for civilians, a charge Hamas denies.

GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an eleven-week aid blockade, previously told Reuters that such incidents had not occurred at its locations and accused the UN of misinformation, which the UN denies.

“The data we have is based on our own information gathered through various reliable sources, including medical human rights organizations and humanitarian organizations,” said Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in Geneva.

The United Nations has called the GHF aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of standards of humanitarian impartiality.

GHF said yesterday that since late May it had delivered more than 75 million meals to Palestinians in Gaza and that Hamas or criminal gangs had “looted almost all aid” from other humanitarian groups.

The Israeli military earlier told Reuters in a statement that it was reviewing recent mass casualties and had sought to reduce friction between Palestinians and its troops by erecting fences and signs and opening additional routes.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs previously cited cases of violent looting of aid, and the UN World Food Programme said last week that most trucks carrying food aid to Gaza were intercepted by “hungry civilian communities.”