Videos show chaos around Israeli-backed Gaza Strip food sites

A new Israeli-backed food distribution system in the Gaza Strip has repeatedly turned deadly in its first week of operation.

Near one aid site, almost 50 people were killed in two large-scale shootings within just three days, according to health officials in Gaza. In both cases, the Israeli military said its soldiers had opened fire nearby.

Although very few videos captured the violence itself, an analysis of videos and satellite imagery by The New York Times showed the chaos that preceded as desperate Gaza residents sought aid.

In one video, taken at the crack of dawn as one site opened, Palestinians can be seen racing for food boxes before they run out. The video was shared by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed aid organization that runs the site.

Israel restricts international journalists from reporting in Gaza except on some military embeds, and videos from the new distribution sites are limited.

To assess conditions on the ground, the Times analyzed imagery from multiple sources, including eyewitnesses, the Israeli military, the United Nations and the GHF.

The United Nations once ran around 400 sites from which it distributed aid across the enclave. Even then, it had to contend with Israeli restrictions, looting and lawlessness, and the extreme difficulty of operating in a war zone.

The aid distributed under the new Israeli-backed system is a trickle after Israel lifted a nearly three-month blockade on humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The Israel-based group has only four distribution sites, generally in more remote locations, and it is unclear how many are operational.

The shootings took place near the biggest GHF site, in Rafah, near the Egyptian border.

Israeli officials say the new aid-distribution system is intended to prevent the militant group Hamas from seizing food, fuel and other supplies. The United Nations says there is no evidence that Hamas systematically diverted international aid under the previous U.N.-coordinated distribution framework.

The scarcity of the GHF sites and their relative remoteness mean that many people must often make arduous journeys to reach them — at times leaving empty-handed. Aid agencies have criticized the initiative for forcing Gaza residents to walk across military lines to reach food.

Another GHF video, verified by the Times, shows crowds of people waiting at the Rafah distribution point as armed contractors pace in front of them. “Come back tomorrow,” the crowd is told.

Once they are near the distribution point, people are funneled through lanes of metal fencing on one side of the distribution center, and then emerge into an open area where boxes of aid are placed on tables or on the ground.

Those who manage to secure food exit through another lane. One video, provided by the U.N. and verified by the Times, shows people inside corridors at another distribution site in central Gaza, near the Netzarim corridor.

Ibrahim al Qardawi, a Gaza resident from Nuseirat, went to the site the day it opened to film what was happening.

“They’re humiliating people by making them go through these corridors to get to the distribution point,” al Qardawi said. “These corridors are only about a meter to a meter and a half wide.”

When the distribution site near the Netzarim corridor opened May 29, crowds were dispersed quickly with stun grenades, captured in a video filmed by al Qardawi. It was unclear who used them.

The aid centers are run primarily by contractors working for private American firms tied to the GHF. But the Israeli military, which invaded Gaza after Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, is still in control of much of the enclave, and its soldiers are deployed near the distribution points.

One of them posted an Instagram video Tuesday showing soldiers in Rafah just over 1,000 feet from the largest aid site, which is behind a building shown at the end of the video. Another aid site can be seen earlier in the clip.

The shootings took place on the narrow route to that site.

On Sunday, more than 20 people were killed, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, when Israeli soldiers opened fire near the site.

Two days later, at least 27 people were killed, according to the Red Cross and Gaza health ministry. The Israeli military said its forces had fired near people who were “deviating from the designated access routes” and who did not respond to warning shots. The statement said that “additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects.”

One video verified by the Times shows people running as short bursts of gunfire are heard along Al-Rasheed road, near the Rafah distribution site, early Tuesday. Some are carrying bags of aid on their backs.

In announcements published on GHF’s Facebook page, the group said the Israeli military would be in the area and would prohibit anyone from approaching the aid site before 5 a.m. “The military considers anyone advancing into the square ahead of time as endangering their troops,” said Mohanad Keshta, a freelance journalist who shot a video.

Some people begin waiting as early as 11 p.m. the night before in an area more than a mile away, he said. Others arrive after dawn prayers, around 4 a.m.

They are supposed to wait for 5 a.m., but the scramble often begins before then, Keshta said.

“They push each other, and some move in ahead,” he said.

After all the waiting and chaos, many come away with nothing.

Reports vary about what those lucky enough to secure a box find inside.

According to the GHF, each box is meant to feed roughly five people and last for three days. Videos and interviews show that the boxes typically contain food such as beans, rice and pasta. Some were reported to contain oil and flour.

The GHF said it had distributed 5.8 million meals by the end of the first week, but it did not provide further details. After the shootings, the organization temporarily closed its aid sites before reopening two Thursday.

“Restoration and reorganization” were the reasons given.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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