16 Palestinians Killed Trying To Access Food in Gaza
By Yadnom Awu/ Asaba
At least 16 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since dawn on Thursday.
The dead, and the many more who were wounded, were shot while trying to access food at the designated centres in Gaza.
The Hamas -run Gaza Health Ministry said the victims were fired upon as they attempted to get humanitarian aid at the Netzarim corridor .
Today’s incident is a continuation of the daily cycle of death and injuries to Palestinians in Gaza where a controversial aid distribution module, formed and ran by Israel and America, has assumed responsibility for the distribution of humanitarian aid in the besieged enclave.
Aside from those killed at the aid centre, 23 others were killed at Al Shati Camp where they had gone to charge their phones and laptops..
As in the aid centre, residents said there had been no warning before Israeli tanks and snipers opened fire on the victims.
Between Tuesday and Wednesday, at least 70 Palestinians were killed both at the aid centres and elsewhere.
More than 100 others were injured in the attacks over the same period.
The dead included 47 killed at various aid distribution centres.
The aid centres , almost always overcrowded, have been centres of violence after the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, GHF, took over responsibility for humanitarian services in Gaza, thus effectively side stepping the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, which had been in charge since the 1950s.
More than 500 persons have been killed or wounded in violence at the aid centres since the GHF took responsibility more than a month ago.
Both UNRWA and other international humanitarian agencies have stayed away from the GHF which operates just four centres at which it hands out token aid packages to desperate Palestinians who had endured three months of effective blockade of food and other humanitarian supplies by Israel.
The founder and
first Chief Executive Officer of GHF, Jake Woods, resigned just days before it formally began operations in Gaza.