Israel has killed over 274 Palestinians at US-Israeli “aid” sites. How is the world letting this happen?
The ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’ opened its first site in Gaza 17 days ago. Since then, it has been used to commit massacres which have wounded more than 2,000 people and killed at least 274.
Nuvpreet Kalra
Timeline of the past week of massacres at US-Israeli aid distribution sites via the ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’. This is from the past week of GHF’s operation, for a timeline on the first 11 days, see here.
June 7
The GHF sites were shut for a fourth day.
June 8
The GHF posted on Facebook that it was going to deliver food in Wadi Gaza and al-Mawasi in Rafah. Thousands of people tried to access food aid – IOF soldiers shot at and threw tear gas on people approaching. Israel killed more than 13 people and injured over 120, particularly with wounds to their necks, chests, and heads. As hospitals face overcrowding and limited resources, doctors have responded that it has been difficult to treat their wounds.
June 9
The IOF killed 14 Palestinians on their way to a GHF site in Rafah. In central Gaza, the IOF opened fire on starving people and injured more than 31 people. Most face injuries to the head, neck, and chest.
June 10
20 people have been killed and more than 124 injured while waiting for aid near the so-called Netzarim Corridor, south of Gaza City.
June 11
57 people were killed and more than 363 injured. Israeli foreign ministry described GHF as a “dramatic success”
June 12
Israel killed 24 people and injured over 200 more people trying to access aid.
June 13
As of writing, at least 2 people have been killed today at an aid distribution point in Rafah.
June 14
At least 15 people were killed by Israel as they approached an aid site near the “Netzarim Corridor”, a zone in Central Gaza that the IOF has militarized. The GHF did not distribute any aid.
The GHF is being used as a proxy for death traps and massacres in Gaza. There were previously 400 aid distribution sites in Gaza — the GHF has aimed to replace them with four sites in the middle of “combat zones”. The words “aid” and “humanitarian” should not be used anywhere near what can only be described as a genocidal operation.
In order to reach these sites, people have to travel many miles on foot, through checkpoints, and in combat zones where occupation snipers follow them, tanks are lined up, and drones fly overhead. For people able to access aid, they receive dry goods that require water and fuel to become edible. Israel has destroyed water infrastructure and refused entry of fuel into Gaza. This “aid” is merely a farcical attempt for Israel to claim it is not starving Palestinians in Gaza.
In fact, Netanyahu said this as such: in May, he said some aid must be let into Gaza in order to stop the “images of mass famine.” Now, these images of famine and death traps bear the logo “GHF”.
Israel is still imposing its deadly, suffocating blockade of Gaza. Since March 2nd, no aid has entered Gaza. Israel is manufacturing a famine as part of its genocide against the Palestinian people, and in order to justify its own aid operation which has been used to kill more than it has helped.
The US-Israeli aid sites have only opened in south and central Gaza, leaving the north of Gaza without any food aid. This is a deliberate strategy as part of wider US-Israeli policy to ethnically cleanse the north of Gaza. They are starving people in the north in order to force them to travel to the south of Gaza, after which, they will not be able to return to the north.
It is an absolute disgrace that these aid massacres have been allowed to happen for almost three weeks. The US and Israel are showing the world time and time again that there is no red line, there is no limit to their barbarity. As US-backed Israel bombs Iran, imposes a total siege on the occupied West Bank, and has cut Internet and communications in Gaza, this is only escalating.
But people across the world are with Palestine, they are with Iran, they are with the people resisting US-Israeli genocide. They show us each day that the masses of people across the world are on the side of justice and humanity. Thousands are marching to Gaza this weekend in an attempt to break the siege, just as the Freedom Flotilla tried last week. This march to Gaza is not the first nor will it be the last time that a global movement refuses to stand by as Israel and the US attempt to ethnically cleanse an entire population. These brave activists give us hope and give us faith that the people will be victorious, the people will win.
Nuvpreet Kalra is CODEPINK's Digital Content Produce & Bases Off Cyprus Campaign Coordinator
Nuvpreet is based in London, England. She completed a Bachelor’s in Politics & Sociology at the University of Cambridge, and an MA in Internet Equalities at the University of the Arts London. Her studies focused on racialised surveillance capitalism, with a focus on Artificial Intelligence as a weapon of war and settler colonialism. Nuvpreet joined CODEPINK as an intern in 2023, and now produces digital content, co-ordinates the Bases Off Cyprus campaign, and organises against imperialism in Britain.