The United Nations documents gunfire during aid distribution and the Israeli army responds
August 2, 202551 ViewsRead Time: 2 minutes
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In a scene that reflects the depth of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented gunfire by Israeli forces near crowds of Palestinians waiting for food aid in the northern part of the territory.
The video published yesterday, Friday, showed a UN convoy crossing the Kerem Shalom crossing towards Gaza, while gunfire was being shot close to civilians.
Olga Sherifko, a staff member of the OCHA office, stated that the UN team encountered tens of thousands of hungry and desperate people on the road, as they unloaded everything the trucks carried of food supplies.
She added that footage from July 30 showed men running between UN vehicles under the sound of gunfire.
The office indicated that Israeli forces fired warning shots just inches away from the crowds, despite the clear fact that they were civilians waiting for food, raising concerns about endangering lives even during relief operations.
For its part, the Israeli forces denied these accusations and described them as misleading, asserting that direct fire on civilians contradicts their rules of engagement.
They clarified that they only resort to warning shots in the case of a real threat, and do so in a manner that does not endanger civilians, according to their statement.
This incident comes after a new round of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas failed last week, mediated by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt, aimed at reaching a ceasefire.
At the same time, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate rapidly in Gaza, where the threat of widespread famine looms over more than two million people, amid the population's near-total reliance on humanitarian aid that arrives by trucks or is dropped from the air.
The situation in the territory remains bleak, and the international community faces a real challenge in delivering aid to those in dire need, amidst ongoing fighting and stalled political efforts.
