Twenty Palestinians were killed at a food distribution centre run by an Israeli-backed American organization in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, mostly from being trampled, the group said. They were the first deaths reported at one of the group’s sites, though hundreds have been killed by Israeli forces on the roads leading to them, according to witnesses and health officials.
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 54 others, including 14 children, according to hospital officials.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation accused the Hamas militant group of fomenting unrest at the food distribution centre, causing the stampede. For the first time since its operations began in May, “a large number” of people in the crowd were armed with pistols, GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay told reporters. He said an American medic was stabbed and wounded.
GHF said the Israeli military had warned it on Wednesday that Hamas had infiltrated the crowd, but did not provide evidence for any Hamas presence, aside from a photo of a pistol that it said one of its contractors had confiscated.
Witnesses said GHF guards threw stun grenades and used pepper spray on people pressing to get into the site before it opened, causing a panic in the narrow, fenced-in entrance.
Since the group’s operations began in late May, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in shootings by Israeli soldiers while on roads heading to the sites, according to witnesses and health officials. GHF’s four sites are all in military-controlled zones, and the Israeli military has said its troops have only fired warning shots to control crowds.
Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis brought on by Israel’s blockade, and the territory is teetering on the edge of famine, according to food security experts.