A food crisis
Israel’s decision to change how food is distributed in Gaza hasn’t just been disruptive — it has been deadly. Last week, the military empowered private, mostly American contractors to deliver aid. They began getting food to some Gazans after an Israeli blockade stopped supplies for nearly three months. The war has decimated farmland that once grew wheat and olives, and without crops or food shipments, Gaza has become the “hungriest place on Earth,” according to the U.N. As the first cardboard boxes of food arrived, people sprinted, scaled barriers and joined surging crowds to get them. And Israeli troops stationed near the aid sites have repeatedly opened fire. Nearly 50 people have been killed and dozens wounded, according to Red Cross officials. All of the new sites suspended operations today, and Gazans are desperate for food and water. Below, I explain what is happening and why. A new programFor most of the war, experienced groups like the United Nations have distributed aid. It has been contentious. Aid groups say their work has been unsafe and constrained: Israel has targeted aid convoys and facilities that it erroneously determined to be a threat and repeatedly blocked deliveries. At the same time, Israel said some aid workers had ties to Hamas. And it claimed that Hamas had diverted many of the supplies. (That couldn’t be verified by The Times, and the U.N. said it was exaggerated.) So last week, Israel implemented a new system. It transferred the responsibility to a private group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which pays American contractors to deliver food. Israel conceived of the plan and said the process would be “neutral” and “independent,” but the group’s leader said he didn’t think that was possible, so he resigned. A chaotic rollout
The group began operating last week after Israel lifted an 80-day blockade on aid deliveries. The contractors were quickly overwhelmed. Hungry Palestinians have walked for miles and gathered before dawn at the distribution sites. The crowds have panicked and shoved in the dark for a chance to get one of the limited cardboard boxes of food. Israeli soldiers stationed near the sites have repeatedly opened fire. The circumstances are contested, but the Red Cross reported that at least 27 people were killed yesterday morning and at least 21 people were killed in a shooting on Sunday. In response to one shooting, the military said the troops had fired near “a few” people who it said had strayed from the designated route to a food site and who did not respond to warning shots. The statement said these people had “posed a threat” to soldiers, though a military spokeswoman declined to explain the nature of the threat. Israel has blocked international correspondents from reporting on the ground in Gaza, and Hamas restricts what journalists can report on within the territory. Given the conflicting accounts, “it’s hard to say with certainty how these incidents have unraveled,” Patrick Kingsley, The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, told me. “Our interviews left us with the impression that those sudden surges have alarmed Israeli soldiers, prompting them to open fire.” Abdulrahman Odeh, 21, said he saw several bodies carted away after the shooting, but was eventually able to get a carton of aid. “There’s no system or order to receive it,” he said. “It’s survival of the fittest.” Others weren’t able to get a box: “We go, we see dead and injured people in front of us, and we leave empty-handed,” Rasha al-Nahal, a displaced Palestinian, said. “The only thing we get from going is humiliation.” The context
The chaos has several causes:
The responseThe shootings come at a particularly bad time for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Even Israel’s allies have condemned its approach to delivering food. Britain, Canada and France also denounced his plans to expand the war as “disproportionate” and “egregious.” “The bloodshed heightens international scrutiny on Prime Minister Netanyahu at a time when he faces growing foreign demands, including from President Trump, to reach a truce with Hamas,” Patrick said. “The bigger the global outcry, the greater pressure he will face to compromise in the cease-fire negotiations.” For more: “People were stepping on dead bodies”: See a video of witnesses recounting yesterday’s shooting. |