Palestinians carry bags of flour after storming a U.N. World Food Program warehouse in Zawaida, Central Gaza Strip. AP
Four people died in the chaos, hospital officials said.
The deaths came a day after Israeli forces opened fire at a crowd while overrunning a new aid-distribution sitein Gaza set up by an Israeli and U.S.-backed foundation, killing at least three Palestinian and wounding 48 others, Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Palestinians burst into the U.N.'s World Food Program warehouse Wednesday in central Gaza. Two people were fatally crushed in the crowd, while two others died of gunshot wounds, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.
Scores of aid-seekers could be seen carrying large bags of flour as they fought their way back out into the sunlight through throngs of people pressing to get inside. Each bag of flour weighs around 25 kilograms (55 pounds).
A United Nations envoy compared the limited aid being allowed into Gaza to “a lifeboat after the ship has sunk.” Sigrid Kaag, acting U.N. special coordinator for the Mideast, told the U.N. Security Council that people facing famine in Gaza “have lost hope.”
“Instead of saying ‘goodbye,’ Palestinians in Gaza now say, ’See you in heaven,’” Kaag said.
The World Food Program said “humanitarian needs have spiraled out of control" after Israel's long blockade of supplies entering Gaza, which began in early March.
The Palestinian ambassador to the U.N. broke down as he spoke of the 1,300 children killed and 4,000 wounded since Israel ended the latest ceasefire in March, and of mothers seen “embracing their motionless bodies, caressing their hair, talking to them, apologizing to them.”
“If this is civilized,” Riyad Mansour said, “what is barbarism?”
Wael Tabsh, a displaced man from the city of Khan Younis, urged world leaders to help end the war.
“How long will this torture last?" he asked.
Israel claims it helped establish the new aid mechanism to prevent Hamas from siphoning off supplies, but it has provided no evidence of systematic diversion, and U.N. agencies say they have mechanisms in place to prevent it while delivering aid to all parts of the territory.
GHF says it has established four hubs, two of which have begun operating in the now mostly uninhabited Rafah. It said around eight truckloads of aid were distributed at the hubs on Wednesday without incident.
About 600 trucks entered Gaza every day during the ceasefire earlier this year.
The GHF sites are guarded by private security contractors and have chain-link fences channeling Palestinians into a what resemble military bases surrounded by large sand berms. Israeli forces are stationed nearby in a military zone separating Rafah from the rest of the territory.
The U.N. and other aid groups have refused to participate in GHF’s system, saying it violates humanitarian principles. They say it can be used by Israel to forcibly displace the population by requiring them to move near the few distribution hubs or else face starvation, a violation of international law.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamen Netanyahu said Tuesday there was only a brief “loss of control” at the site.
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