Palestinians describe being treated like animals as chaos breaks out again at U.S.-run aid site in Gaza
For the third time this week, chaos broke out at the aid distribution point run by the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Eyewitnesses said American mercenaries did not intervene once they witnessed armed looting at the site.
Khaled Murad, 33, headed north from the central Gaza Strip toward a new aid distribution point he heard had opened up on Thursday, May 29th. When news reached Murad that the site was similar to the center that had begun distributing food boxes to residents in Rafah on Tuesday, he immediately made his way to the intended location northwest of the Netzarim Axis.
When Murad arrived, he saw tens of thousands of people gathering to receive the aid. Before him was a large site equipped with the same metal gates and barbed wire fences that had been used in Rafah to contain the crowds and serve as entry points for lining up to receive the food parcels. Organized by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the U.S. contractor tasked by the Israeli army to distribute aid to Palestinians in place of the UN, the distribution site in Rafah had been overrun by the throngs of starving people who tore down the barbed wire fences in desperation to reach the aid.
But this time, the aid distribution didn’t use the existing infrastructure. According to Murad, there did not seem to be any system in place.
Murad saw the aid arranged on tables around the distribution point while people waited for the doors to open. The GHF’s U.S. employees, along with other site staff, stood armed and kept their distance from the aid, observing the scene without intervening.
At 11:30 a.m., the gates opened to the people, as hungry men, women, and children who had walked long distances from central Gaza’s al-Bureij entered all at once, rushing toward the aid boxes on the tables. Each person carried what they could. Some were able to carry one box, some 10.
“It was as if we were in a large chicken coop,” Murad told Mondoweiss. “It was as if they were throwing grain to the chickens. Whoever could get something, took it, and those who couldn’t returned hungry and disappointed.”
“There was no way every chicken could get a grain of barley,” Murad added.
Thursday marked the third day this week that the food distribution operation run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation devolved into chaos as too many people crowded through the site to obtain too little aid. The American company has been widely condemned by international aid agencies and the UN as complicit in the Israeli weaponization of aid for political aims, including using the aid as bait to lure Palestinians into concentrated ghettoes in Gaza to facilitate the Israeli army’s permanent occupation of the Strip and the displacement of its population.
Three people were killed by Israeli forces during the incident in Rafah on Tuesday, while 48 were injured and another seven were reported missing. At least one case has been reported of a person being detained at the Rafah distribution center after failing to answer a question about a relative. The distribution of aid resumed on Thursday after being briefly suspended in the wake of Tuesday’s incident. The new center is located northeast of the Netzarim Axis, which separates north and south Gaza, and has been used as a major strategic military position for the Israeli army throughout the genocide.
People headed to the aid center based on instructions sent to their mobile phones by the company. Contacting just a handful of families in Gaza, the news still spread like wildfire among the population in the area. Soon after, thousands flocked to the center.
Imposed chaos
Murad tried to arrive early to get something for his family, but when he got there, he was surprised by the large crowds and the scarcity of food. “The checkpoint was the size of a football field, with tables lined with food boxes and employees standing far away,” Murad said. “At around 11:00 a.m., one of the employees called out over the loudspeaker and told us that the food was on the tables and that we were allowed to enter.”
“People rushed for the food, taking as much as they could,” he added. “There was no order, and it was complete chaos. I saw someone grab 10 food boxes, and I left empty-handed.”
Despite the chaos that erupted, GHF employees were present but did not intervene to stop it or prevent people from taking more than their share, despite reports that some of them spoke Arabic in various dialects.
“They were standing within eyeshot,” Murad explained. “We could see them, they could see us, and we could hear their voices, but there was no direct contact between us.”
The displaced were surprised by the chaos and lack of organization, even though they went with their ID cards in anticipation of an ID-based distribution system.
‘People turned on each other as the Americans watched’
Since famine conditions began to return to Gaza following Israel’s total food blockade on the strip with the breakdown of the ceasefire in mid-March, a state of anarchy has emerged due to Israel’s policy of targeting Gaza’s police force and civil servants responsible for providing services to the population. This has led to the rise of armed gangs backed by Israel that loot aid trucks. The Israeli army has also targeted and killed Gaza government personnel protecting the aid.
This policy of imposed chaos is now effectively being implemented on a small scale at the GHF aid distribution points. According to testimonies from the site north of Netzarim, the American company’s guards witnessed Palestinians using knives to steal food parcels from the hands of people who had already received them, without intervening.
“At first, when there were food boxes, each of us was able to get one box,” Murad explained. “But when the boxes ran out and the number of people increased, people turned on each other as the Americans watched.”
The chaos erupted at around 1:00 p.m., just as the food ran out and more people arrived in droves.
“I was carrying a bag of flour and a box, but they were stolen from me, and I couldn’t protect myself,” Murad recounted. “There were people using knives and bladed weapons. They stole the aid right in front of the American mercenaries, and they didn’t do anything.”
Several other witnesses have repeatedly reported accounts of theft from within the distribution point, also confirming that many people carried bladed weapons inside the center due to the lack of any inspection or identity verification mechanism.
Omar Abed Rabbo, 33, was among those present at the center, but he was threatened by another man and forced to give up his food.
“It happened to me personally when someone brandished a knife in my face and prevented me from entering where the food was being stored,” Abed Rabbo said. “He seized the boxes and transferred them to a cart. This happened in front of security personnel, who were wearing vests marked ‘American Security.’ But they didn’t break up the melee or intervene in the thefts.”
Abed Rabbo said that the American mercenaries were only present at the perimeter “to protect the distribution point.”
Abed Rabbo said that anyone seen with two boxes instead of one was immediately attacked. “This was especially true when people saw others carrying animal-drawn carts filled with food boxes and bags of flour,” he added.
“After the food ran out, people kept demanding more, and the chaos increased, making it difficult for people to leave the checkpoint,” Abed Rabbo continued. “Sound grenades started falling among people, and then tear gas canisters, followed by some shots fired in the air.”
Residents who spoke to Mondoweiss have not confirmed the source of the bombs and gunfire, but they say the American company employees “treated them with respect” and did not confirm that they were the ones firing the shots. Several residents claimed the Israeli army was responsible.
Ahmad Jalal contributed to this report.
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