By Tajudeen Balogun
The UN Human Rights Office has said it believes 47 people were injured in Gaza on Tuesday when crowds overwhelmed an aid distribution centre, run by a controversial new group, backed by the US and Israel.
A senior official in the office made the allegation on Wednesday.
The official confirmed that the UN was still gathering information, but that most of the injuries were due to gunshots and that “it was shooting from the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)”.
Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said one person was killed and 48 others were wounded during the incident.
The IDF said it was checking the reports. Its spokesman said troops fired “warning shots” into the air in the area outside the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s site in the southern city of Rafah, but that they did not fire towards people.
The GHF’s aid distribution system uses US security contractors and bypasses the UN, which has rejected it as unethical and unworkable.
The US and Israeli governments have said it is preventing aid from being stolen by Hamas, an accusation the group has denied.
UN agencies have warned that Gaza’s 2.1 million population is facing catastrophic levels of hunger, after an almost three-month Israeli blockade that was eased last week.
On Tuesday, thousands of Palestinians desperate for aid headed to the GHF distribution centre in Rafah, which is under full Israeli military control.
In the late afternoon, videos showed chaotic scenes, as thousands of men, women and children streamed into the site, walking over torn-down fences and earth berms. In one clip, some people were seen running as what appear to be gunshots ring out.
Today, Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories said it had received information that about 47 people were injured during the incident.
Credit: Agency report
