The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – a shadowy organisation backed by the United States and Israel – will not immediately resume distributing aid in the war-torn territory after a full-day closure on Wednesday, saying that operations will restart when maintenance and repair work on its distribution sites is complete.
In a statement posted on Facebook, the GHF said its “distribution sites will not open as early as” Thursday morning and that it would “share information on opening times as soon as work is complete”.
The GHF also strongly urged aid seekers travelling to its locations to “follow the routes” set by the Israeli military to “ensure safe passage”.
The Israeli military warned Palestinians on Wednesday not to approach GHF aid distribution sites while “reorganisation work” was under way, saying that access roads to those locations would be “considered combat zones”.
Israel’s military has not apparently issued any new directive regarding the safety of the GHF distribution sites as they remain closed for a second day.
The suspension of GHF’s distribution of food supplies in Gaza comes after Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians seeking aid for a fourth time near a GHF distribution site in Rafah, southern Gaza, early on Tuesday.
The Israeli attack killed at least 27 people and injured about 90 more, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
On Sunday, Israeli forces opened fire on thousands of aid seekers near the same site in Rafah, killing at least 31 people and wounding more than 150, according to Gaza’s Civil Defence agency. One person was also shot dead at another aid distribution site, south of the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, on the same day.
Then, on Monday, three more people were killed and about 30 injured when Israeli forces again opened fire near the GHF’s Rafah distribution site.
‘Unprecedented’ mass casualty incidents
The Israeli military had denied reports its troops shot at civilians near or within the GHF aid distribution site on Sunday, saying its forces only fired warning shots at people who were not using “designated access routes”.
Israeli army spokesperson Effie Defrin then claimed that soldiers only fired towards people who “were approaching in a way that endangered” the troops.
The GHF, which began chaotic aid distribution operations on May 26, has also labelled reports of aid seekers being killed in large numbers “outright fabrications”, claiming it has yet to see evidence of an attack at or near its facilities.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has confirmed that it received a “mass casualty influx of 179 cases” after Sunday’s attack, including 21 patients who were “declared dead upon arrival”. Women and children were among the casualties, the group said, with the majority suffering “gunshot or shrapnel wounds”.
