Waves of desperate Palestinians overwhelmed a humanitarian distribution centre in southern Gaza on Tuesday, as a controversial new aid system run by a previously unknown US-backed group began operations in the shattered enclave.
The chaotic episode added to concerns about the ability of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to manage aid distribution in the territory, where the UN has warned that half a million people face starvation after Israel blocked all aid deliveries for more than two months.
GHF said that at “one moment in the late afternoon, the volume of people” at one aid centre was such that its team “fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate”.