The Gaza Strip is awash with starvation, and the only organization in charge of providing food aid is accused of committing grave human rights violations and systematically aiming at civilians.
After Israel lifted its total blockade of the Strip, the contentious United States-backed GHF, which was supported by Israel and GHF, took control of Gaza aid distribution in May.
More than 1,300 Palestinians have died trying to get food since then, according to the UN.
According to testimony from whistleblowers who were interviewed by GHF, many have been purposefully shot by Israeli soldiers or US security personnel.
Despite their daily frenzied efforts to survive, thousands of Palestinians brave the GHF sites every day in an effort to get as much food as they can.
Al Jazeera spoke with mothers, fathers, and children who claimed they witnessed soldiers igniting aid seekers in the chaos of the streets as hungry people frantically searched for flour and milk.
How can I help? ’
One Palestinian woman, who we are not naming for her safety, described the struggle to get food from a GHF-run distribution point in Gaza as “a death journey.
The mother of two, the woman, said, “I need to provide for my girls. I can’t depend on anyone to support me. ”
She travels to the aid organizations out of desperation.
Only those who dare to push deep into the crowd there come back with anything during the aid retrieval process, she said.
Men come in and steal it from children who worked hard to get the aid, they say. ”
The woman claimed that she left the aid facility with only rice, cooking oil, and a can of tomatoes after risking herself.
Despite having suffered an injury to her arm in the crowd, she continued, “it’s a blessing from God.”
According to a young person who spoke to Al Jazeera, going to a GHF site was the only option he had.
I’m going to bring my siblings food. My father died for his own sin. My siblings would die from hunger if I didn’t go to get it. How do I proceed? He inquired.
He claimed that he witnessed hundreds of starving Palestinians being shot dead at the distribution center, though.
Shooting, killing, and dying
Ibrahim Mekki, a Palestinian resident at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, claimed he had to wait at least six hours before being shot by Israeli forces and ended up with a few bags of pasta.
He described the scene as “shooting, killing, death, destruction, and martyrs.” And why? just to get some food.
It’s a trap, a game, that lets you move slowly before starting to fire. ”
Mekki claimed that there were “enormous” crowds at the aid facility where he went, but that only 5% of them managed to retrieve valuable items.
What did I receive when you looked at me? He then revealed two small bags of bulgur and pasta, respectively.
It won’t be enough to feed the kids for a single day. Every day, I must go back to try again. ”
He “died in my arms,” I said.
Rakan Jneid, a different man, claimed to have witnessed people running toward aid trucks close to a distribution point and running over some of them.
People started fighting over the milk as of today, according to Jneid. The Israelis “opened fire to exploit the circumstance,” they said. ”
Another Palestinian, Muhannad Abu Jarad, also referred to the Israeli army as “shooting at us.”
A mother of eight separately reported to Al Jazeera that her five-month-old daughter is malnourished because she was unable to eat enough during pregnancy.
According to her, she had already lost her fourth child to malnutrition.
