Deadly chaos at Gaza aid handout

GAZA STRIP: An aid delivery in Gaza descended into chaos on Saturday with shots fired and a Red Crescent paramedic reporting five people killed, as almost six months of Israeli bombardment has left hundreds of thousands in the Palestinian territory in desperate need.

A Red Crescent paramedic at a nearby hospital said five people were killed and dozens injured by gunfire and a stampede during a rare aid distribution in north Gaza, which has received the least help.

Witnesses told AFP shots were fired both by Gazans overseeing the aid delivery and Israeli troops nearby, and panicked lorry drivers drove quickly away, hitting people trying to get the food. The Israeli military told AFP it had “no record of the incident described”.

Aid deliveries have become increasingly fraught as the needs of Gazans increase. Foreign powers have ramped up airdrops of aid but several people have been killed by falling crates, or stampedes or drowned trying to retrieve packages from the Mediterranean.

Two charities have organised aid deliveries by sea, with their second mission in just over two weeks setting sail from Cyprus on Saturday.

Their flotilla is carrying around 400 tonnes of supplies.

“There is not enough aid getting through to Gaza and we need to open as many ways as possible,” Juan Camilo of World Central Kitchens, one of the charities, said in a video shot from the flotilla and posted on social media.

UN agencies have said repeatedly that overland deliveries are the only way of supplying aid in the volume needed.

UN agencies have warned repeatedly that the northern part of Gaza is on the verge of famine and called it a manmade crisis because aid lorries are backed up on the EgyptGaza border awaiting long checks by Israeli officials. Israel has denied responsibility.

The top UN court has ordered Israel to allow in aid and the UN Security Council has adopted a resolution demanding an “immediate ceasefire” but neither has affected the situation on the ground.