UN records over 600 Gaza killings near aid distribution points, humanitarian convoys
‘It is clear the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach distribution points’ operated by the Israeli-backed US organisation GHF
Israeli air strikes killed 15 Palestinians in Gaza early on Friday, while a hospital said another 20 people died in shootings while waiting for aid.
Meanwhile, the UN human rights office says it has recorded 613 killings in Gaza near humanitarian convoys and as Palestinians try to reach aid at distribution points run by an Israeli-backed American organisation since it first began operations in late May.
Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the rights office was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings. But she said “it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points” operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
In a message to Associated Press, Shamdasani said that of the total tallied, 509 killings were “GHF-related”, meaning at or near its distribution sites.
“Information keeps coming in,” she added. “This is ongoing and it is unacceptable.”
Shamdasani originally told the UN briefing the killings were recorded both at GHF sites and near humanitarian convoys. She later clarified that the killings in the vicinity of GHF distribution points were “at or near their distribution sites”.