Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officials said their fact-finding and assessment unit would examine soldiers’ conduct around food-distribution points during the past month, after Israeli daily Haaretz quoted troops who claimed they were told to shoot at crowds to keep them away from Israeli positions.
The soldiers, who were not named, told the newspaper they worried they were using unjustified lethal force against people who posed no threat. Haaretz said the incidents were referred to the IDF unit that reviews possible violations of international law.
In a statement carried by Israeli media, the military denied issuing such orders, adding that “IDF directives prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians, including those approaching distribution centers.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement accusing Haaretz of “malicious falsehoods designed to defame the IDF, the most moral military in the world”, dubbing the allegation “blood libel”.
More than 500 Palestinians have been killed near aid hubs in recent weeks by air strikes, shelling and gunfire while either waiting for aid or travelling to distribution sites, according to medical records from independent NGOs seen by The Guardian. Hospitals reported hundreds of fatal bullet wounds and dozens caused by artillery.
Gaza’s 2.3 million residents risk famine after Israel imposed a near-total blockade on supplies in March and April. Although the embargo was partially eased last month, the United Nations says deliveries remain hobbled by rubble-choked roads, military restrictions, continuing air strikes and lawlessness. Armed gangs and desperate civilians have looted hundreds of aid lorries, according to The Guardian.
On Thursday, medical officials said an Israeli strike killed 18 people in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah while Palestinian police were handing out flour. Witnesses said most victims were ordinary civilians gathering near a warehouse run by Sahm (“Arrow”), a Hamas-supervised unit that seizes stolen aid and redistributes it. The dead included a child and at least seven Sahm members.
Israel accuses Hamas of diverting UN supplies for profit and military use – a charge the UN and international agencies reject, saying their monitoring is rigorous.
Aid distribution system
Last month, Israel backed the entry of a US contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which now hands out food boxes from four hubs. A GHF spokesperson said there had been no incidents or fatalities at its sites but urged Israel to “investigate these grave allegations and publish results transparently.”
Witnesses say Palestinians trying to reach GHF hubs often cross rubble-strewn roads and Israeli fire zones where tanks, mortars and machine-guns are used. “The soldiers fire to keep them away, or because they don’t know who is there, or because they don’t care – or all three,” a senior aid official in Gaza said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the US-backed aid effort as “inherently unsafe,” telling reporters on Friday: “People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence.”
Israel continues to allow limited UN convoys: about 70 trucks entered Gaza on Monday and Tuesday, officials said. But on Thursday, Israel closed entry points leading directly to the north, where hunger is most acute.
The flare-up began on 7 October 2023 when Hamas gunmen killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted 251 others. Gaza’s health authorities say Israeli operations have since killed 56,331 people, mostly civilians, over 20 months.
Last year, a UN report has found that Israel’s military actions are consistent with genocide. The Israeli government has repeatedly denied that the war effort in Gaza could be equated to genocide.
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Source: The Guardian, Reuters, Haaretz, The Times of Israel