At least 21 Palestinians were killed in a stampede at a Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) aid distribution center in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday. The incident occurred amid a chaotic scene where desperate and starving individuals were trying to receive food, with the main gate to the distribution center reportedly closed.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 15 of the victims died due to suffocation and intense stampede after tear gas was fired at crowds of aid seekers. “For the first time, deaths have been recorded due to suffocation and the intense stampede of citizens at aid distribution centers,” the ministry added.
The GHF had initially claimed that armed agitators affiliated with Hamas provoked the stampede, resulting in 19 people being trampled and one stabbed. However, Palestinian authorities and witnesses have disputed this version of events, with Al Jazeera’s correspondent Hani Mahmoud stating that a witness confirmed tear gas was fired on the crowd, “causing mayhem and chaos,” which led to the stampede.
A medical source at Nasser Hospital revealed that the Israeli occupation forces and the center’s private security personnel opened fire on the crowd, resulting in a large number of deaths and injuries. This incident is the latest in a series of tragic events at aid distribution centers in Gaza, where at least 875 people have been killed trying to get food since the GHF started operating in late May. The United Nations has described the GHF sites as “death traps,” calling them “inherently unsafe” and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network, criticized the GHF for gross mismanagement, stating that “people who flock in their thousands (to GHF sites) are hungry and exhausted, and they get squeezed into narrow places, amid shortages of aid and the absence of organization and discipline by the GHF.” The incident comes as an Israeli attack on a camp of displaced people in al-Mawasi killed nine people, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed since dawn on Wednesday to at least 43, including 21 people seeking aid.