The Lethal Risk of Seeking Food in Gaza

A month after the launch of a new Israeli-backed aid system for Gaza, reaching the heavily guarded distribution hubs has become a life-risking endeavor for Palestinians, hampering efforts to get enough food to a hungry population.

Deadly violence has erupted frequently around the approaches to the aid sites, most of them in southern Gaza. The Gaza health ministry said on Wednesday that hundreds have been killed over the past month near the distribution points, which are run by American security contractors and guarded by Israeli troops stationed nearby.

In a separate aid effort that has also become engulfed in chaos, the United Nations and other international organizations have been delivering a trickle of food handouts to northern Gaza. Desperate crowds have been ransacking the trucks carrying flour and other goods minutes after they enter the enclave, according to witnesses.

Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. agency for coordination of humanitarian affairs, described the new aid distribution hubs as “death traps" for Gazans.

“Gaza is the hungriest place on earth,” he said on Wednesday. “When we are able to bring anything in, it’s getting plundered immediately by the population. That’s the level of desperation.”

The new aid system, run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has just a few operational hubs, primarily in the south. It was put into place after Israel blocked aid deliveries to Gaza for nearly three months from March to May. Restrictions on the entry of aid were partially lifted on May 19.