As hungry Gazans crowd an aid convoy, a crush of bodies, Israeli gunfire and chaos
It was unclear who was supervising the convoy. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main UN aid group serving the Palestinians, said that no UN agency was involved and that the Israeli military said the aid would be distributed by “private contractors.”
Lawlessness reigns in many parts of northern and southern Gaza, residents and aid officials say, with no authority emerging to take charge of law and order following Israel’s expulsion of Hamas forces from those areas.
The World Food Programme said last week that it halted food deliveries to northern Gaza due to difficulties in safely delivering aid there.
Mr. Lazzarini said Sunday that UNRWA, whose funding has been suspended by several donor countries since the UN launched an investigation into about a dozen employees accused of taking part in the October 7 attacks, was last able to provide assistance to North Gaza.
In recent weeks, large crowds of Gazans have repeatedly stormed aid convoys and seized supplies, sometimes while armed. Some police officers in Gaza have refused to guard the convoys because they fear their ties to the Hamas-led government make them targets for Israeli forces, Western officials say.
A Hamas official, Izzat Al-Rishq, blamed Israel for the deaths and said Hamas would not allow negotiations aimed at stopping the war to be used as “a cover for the enemy’s continued crimes against our people in the Gaza Strip.”
The Palestinian Authority, which controls parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, called the deaths a “heinous act” by Israeli forces and demanded that the international community, especially Israel’s main ally the United States, intervene to halt Israel’s offensive to stop.
Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman, said the United States was “urgently seeking additional information about what exactly occurred” and had been in contact with the Israeli government since early Thursday about its investigation into the deaths.
“We will be closely monitoring that investigation and pressing for answers,” he said.