A recent video shows Israeli warning shots flying close to desperate crowds. People were swarming aid trucks. They simply wanted food. Israel says they fired to control the situation. They insist they did not aim at civilians.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, shared this unsettling video. It shows aid convoys moving through the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Gaza Strip. The sound of gunfire cuts through the air. Thousands of people had gathered, waiting for the food.
Olga Serevko is an OCHA officer. She met tens of thousands of hungry and desperate people. They stood on the roads. As soon as the UN trucks stopped, people immediately pulled everything from the back of them. The video shows men running alongside the UN trucks as they enter Gaza. OCHA noted in the video that “Israeli forces fired warning shots just inches from crowds awaiting UN food convoys.”
The Israeli military has responded to the video. They said the event is under investigation. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) denied that their troops intentionally fired at civilians. They made it clear that IDF rules strictly forbid purposely shooting civilians. Warning shots, they said, happen only when there is a threat. They are done in a way that should not harm people.
This video came out as global anger grows. More images of very thin children have appeared. Reports of people dying from hunger are also increasing. This has pushed Israel to allow more aid. This week, Israel even stopped fighting in some areas. This allowed for food to be dropped from planes.
Still, aid groups and Palestinians say these actions are too small. They are not enough to stop the severe hunger. Experts warn that a terrible famine is happening. It is happening in this war-torn land.
More aid trucks are entering Gaza now. But almost none of them reach UN storage places. Huge crowds stop nearly all trucks on the way. These crowds include hungry civilians and armed groups. They use knives, axes, or guns to take supplies. They then hoard them or sell them.
Many people have also died trying to grab aid. Witnesses say Israeli soldiers often shoot at crowds around the trucks. Hospitals have reported hundreds of people hurt or killed. The Israeli military insists they only shoot to control crowds or protect their soldiers.
Another way to deliver food, run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and supported by Israel, also has many problems. Air drops have started again. But they deliver only a tiny amount compared to trucks. Often, the supplies land where people cannot reach them. Sometimes they fall into the Mediterranean Sea. People then swim out to collect the wet bags of flour.
Source: UNOCHA