Aid distribution sites closed, Palestinians advised to stay away
The US-backed group behind the chaotic aid distribution programme in Gaza has said all its sites are closed, and has advised people to stay away from the hubs “for their safety”. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which began distributing aid last week, said in a Facebook post that details about reopening would be announced later.
Operations at the group’s aid distribution hubs were halted earlier this week following days of deadly violence at the sites, in which Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian aid seekers. Two sites distributed aid on Thursday.
Doctor says M16 bullets removed from victims of aid centre shooting
Goher Rahbour, a surgeon working in Gaza’s Khan Younis, has told Al Jazeera that the bullets extracted from victims of the shooting near the aid distribution centre on Sunday were from an M16 assault gun, consistent with those used by the Israeli military.
“I operated on two patients and we removed M16 bullets from abdominal injuries,” Rahbour told Al Jazeera. “When I spoke to these patients, they were very clear to say they came from Israeli forces.”
The surgeon also said hospitals were operating with little or no resources. “There is a lack of everything – antibiotics, swabs, surgical instruments,” he said.
Desperate conditions on the ground are compounded by personal grief and loss. “One of the consultant surgeons I was working with on Sunday lost his cousin, who had gone to the distribution centre,” Rahbour said. “He went to bury him and then came to work.”
Israeli shelling kills at least 7 near aid distribution points in southern Gaza
A medical source at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis has told Al Jazeera that seven Palestinians have been killed in Israeli shelling near aid distribution centres west and north of Rafah, also in southern Gaza.
Israeli army warns Gaza residents not to approach aid distribution centres outside set timeframe
The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson has warned Palestinians in Gaza that movement towards humanitarian aid distribution sites is only permitted during daylight between 6am and 6pm.
Outside this timeframe, “the area is considered a closed military zone,” Avichay Adraee wrote on X. “Entering it poses a great danger to your lives. It is strictly prohibited to enter the distribution centres and the area near them” during the night.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been injured or killed by the Israeli army as it opened fire on aid seekers approaching the centres, which are managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial US- and Israel-backed body supposed to be replacing the United Nations’ aid delivery system.
