In Gaza, a land already ravaged by siege and war, food distribution centres run by a new US-backed organisation are turning into deadly traps, where military violence and forced disappearances are unleashed with impunity by Israel against desperate Palestinians.
On 26 May, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), operated by a private US security firm contracted by the US government, began distributing aid at four locations across Gaza, three in the south and one near the centre.
While branded as “humanitarian relief,” the reality was starkly different. Israeli soldiers encircled the sites, heavy weaponry drawn and ready; drones and surveillance aircraft hovered menacingly overhead; and cameras monitored every movement of the starving civilians gathering below.
Thousands of hungry Palestinians, many displaced, exhausted, and desperate, flocked to aid distribution points across Gaza, clinging to the fragile hope of securing a morsel of food amid Israel’s relentless siege.
But this hope turned into a nightmare at a distribution centre in Rafah as a massacre unfolded. …..more