Media Report 2025.05.29

FPM Media Report Thursday May 29 2025.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-28/un-says-dozens-reportedly-injured-at-gaza-aid-distribution-point/105350396

UN says dozens reportedly injured by Israeli gunfire at Gaza aid site
Palestinians rushed into an aid centre in southern Gaza on its second day of operations.
In short:
The UN says dozens of civilians have been reportedly injured while trying to collect food from a Gaza aid site, with most of them shot by Israeli forces.
The Israeli military rejected the UN’s claims, saying its soldiers only “fired warning shots into the air, in the area outside” the centre.
What’s next?
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says it has temporarily halted aid distribution at the Gaza site due to disorder.
Link copied
The United Nations (UN) says dozens of civilians have been reportedly injured while rushing toward a Gaza aid distribution point, with most shot by Israeli forces.
Israel’s defence force has denied the claims.
On Tuesday, local time, thousands of hungry Palestinians overran an aid compound in southern Gaza, desperate for food after a weeks-long Israeli blockade.
The UN’s human rights office said it had seen unverified footage of panicked crowds “rushing in different directions,” while others carried away boxes of supplies.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has temporarily halted aid distribution. (Reuters: Hatem Khaled)
Ajith Sunghay, the head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian Territory, said on Wednesday that “about 47 people were injured” while trying to collect aid.
Speaking to the media in Geneva, he added those numbers could increase as information on the incident was still being gathered.
“Most of the injuries were caused by bullets,” he said, adding: “The shots came from the Israeli army.”
Israel denies UN claims
The Israeli military denied the UN’s claims, saying its soldiers “fired warning shots into the air, in the area outside” the centre.
Israeli military spokesperson Colonel Olivier Rafowicz said that “in no case [did they fire] towards the people”.
A group of men carry large boxes on their shoulder along a barren gravel path running between barbed wire security fences.
Palestinians received aid packages from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. (Supplied: GHF)
“We are checking information from the UN,” he said, referring to the injured civilians.
“At the time we are speaking, we have no information on this matter.”
Mr Rafowicz added that Hamas was “doing everything to prevent humanitarian aid”.
First food relief in weeks
The aid is some of the first food Gaza residents had access to in weeks.
Israel has stopped almost all aid from entering Gaza since March 2, only allowing small amounts into the strip in the past week.
Grave concerns over Gaza aid plan
Photo shows A boy holds up a jar on the back of a truckA boy holds up a jar on the back of a truck
As Gazans approach starvation, Israel’s government has stopped the United Nations and other agencies from distributing food in Gaza and replaced them with a mysterious new contractor.
The aid distribution site was managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a newly formed agency with links to both the American and Israeli governments.
The United Nations and other international aid groups refused to take part, saying the scheme violates the principle that aid should be distributed neutrally, based only on need.
“We have raised numerous concerns with this mechanism,” Mr Sunghay said.
“What we saw yesterday is a very clear example of the dangers of distributing food under the circumstances which the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is doing.”
Famine “very possible” amid “nightmare conditions” in Gaza | The World | ABC News
The Norwegian Refugee Council’s Middle East spokesperson Ahmed Bayram told ABC’s The World widespread famine in the besieged enclave was “very possible”.
“The entire population is on the verge of starvation — acute malnutrition is a huge phenomenon now in Gaza,” Mr Bayram said.
“Children will of course be on the verge of death because of starvation, we have seen images of children reduced to skin and bones … no child should live suffering like this.”
GHF temporarily halts aid
The GHF said on Wednesday it temporarily halted aid distribution in Gaza due to disorder, adding it was working to resolve the issues to guarantee safety.
Hours after the turmoil at the aid distribution site, several Gaza residents and merchants reported a number of UN food trucks were targeted by looters.
One Palestinian transport operator said at least 20 trucks belonging to the UN World Food Programme were attacked shortly before midnight.
“Some trucks made it through, then it seems that people became aware of that,” one witness told Reuters.
“They woke up, some placed barriers on the road, intercepted and stole the goods.”
ABC/wires
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Aid groups trying to get food into Gaza for months sidelined for shadowy US firm
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-28/aid-plan-israel-hamas-what-is-gaza-humanitarian-foundation/105341534

Palestinians receive aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organisation approved by Israeli authorities. (AP: Abdel Kareem Hana)
Thousands of hungry Palestinians overran an aid compound in southern Gaza, desperate for food after weeks of Israeli blockade.
They were coming to get parcels from a newly formed agency with links to both the American and Israeli governments.
The food is some of the first that Gazans have had access to in weeks because Israel has been stopping almost all aid from entering Gaza since March 2, only allowing small amounts into the strip in the past week.
While the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) expand their military offensive in Gaza, the Israeli government has moved to stop the United Nations (UN) and other agencies from distributing food in Gaza and replaced them with a mysterious new contractor.
The fate of many there now relies on a plan that echoes previous Israeli proposals to sidestep the longstanding international aid delivery system.
Instead of recognised international agencies, a newly registered American private security contractor is now responsible for delivering food to 2.1 million Gazans.
The company, Safe Reach Solutions, is unknown in the humanitarian field.
It has been backed by a new charity with undeclared funding sources, and has been recruiting combat veterans.
The company is reportedly headed by a former senior CIA officer, and was only registered in November last year.
Safe Reach Solutions’s relief operation is funded by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a new charity which initially incorporated in both the United States and Switzerland before dissolving some of its legal entities in the face of investigations.
How will aid be delivered?
The GHF’s stated plan is to set up four aid distribution hubs in southern and central Gaza.
The US government said the aid distribution hubs would be secured by the Israeli military outside and armed private security contractors within.
A group of men carry large boxes on their shoulder along a barren gravel path running between barbed wire security fences.
Some of the first batch of aid delivered into Gaza by GHF has been collected. (Supplied: GHF)
But the GHF said there would be no Israeli soldiers near the hubs.
“The IDF will not be stationed at or near [distribution] locations,” it said.
About 300,000 pre-approved Palestinians will be able to go to each of the four compounds, where they will be given “food rations, potable water, hygiene kits, blankets, and other necessary humanitarian supplies”, the GHF said in a statement.
It aims to expand that to reach more than 2 million people in total.
“GHF’s mission is to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s civilian population by delivering life-saving aid safely, securely, and in strict adherence to humanitarian principles — ensuring assistance reaches those most in need, without diversion or delay,” the GHF said.
The agency said it began delivering aid on Monday and would continue delivering aid daily despite the problem at its distribution point on Tuesday.
Footage showed thousands of people mobbing the distribution site, but GHF played down the severity of the incident.
Palestinians rushed into an aid centre in southern Gaza on its second day of operations.
“At one moment in the late afternoon, the volume of people at the SDS was such that the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate. This was done in accordance with GHF protocol to avoid casualties,” GHF said.
“Normal operations have resumed.”
The agency said it had delivered about 8,000 boxes of aid so far.
“Each box feeds 5.5 people for 3.5 days, totalling 462,000 meals,” GHF said.
Some Palestinians who received aid said they were grateful for the packages.
“It’s a big box. It is worth 1,000 shekels [about $400]. There is flour, sugar, cookies, there is everything,” Salim Shehade, from north Gaza’s Jabalia, said.
“I can feed my children for a week with that,” another recipient, Mohammad Afana, said.
According to the Israeli military, 170 trucks belonging to the UN and other aid groups crossed into Gaza on Monday after security inspections.
An emaciated man carrying a black box
Aid distributor GHF said its “team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate”. (AP: Abdel Kareem Hana)
Aid agencies have said 500 to 700 truckloads of aid are needed every day to supply essentials.
The Israeli military department that deals with civilian affairs in the occupied Palestinian Territories, COGAT, said it had cleared 400 trucks belonging to the UN and other agencies to enter Gaza.
“The contents, containing primarily food, have accumulated in the past several days and are waiting for collection and distribution by UN teams, which have yet to arrive, collect and distribute aid to the Gazan civilians in the past week,” the agency’s head, Major-General Ghassan Alian, said in a statement.”
The United Nations and other groups have said Israel’s escalation of its military campaign, refusal to coordinate access and the resulting chaos inside Gaza have made it almost impossible to safely deliver aid.
The UN and established humanitarian groups have also expressed outrage about GHF’s plan, which echoes multiple Israeli proposals for humanitarian “bubbles” inside Gaza aimed at isolating the militant group Hamas.
Israel accuses the militant group of stealing aid and says its blockade on the entry of food into the strip is partly aimed at preventing Hamas from diverting supplies.
But the World Food Programme’s Cindy McCain said: “People are desperate, and they see a World Food Programme truck coming in, and they run for it.”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with Hamas or any kind of organised crime or anything.”
An early plan for bubbles trialled in January 2024 reportedly failed when Hamas killed the Palestinians who had been hired to guard the aid.
Pallets of food aid can be seen on the back of a flat bottom truck.
Israel blockaded aid arrivals into Gaza for nearly three months in a move it said would put pressure on Hamas. (Reuters: COGAT)
A similar idea was floated again in July 2024 and then again in late 2024, when Israel’s government was being urged to consider something called “The Generals’ Plan”.
Under the proposal from former IDF Major-General Giora Eiland, Israeli forces would clear northern Gaza and only deliver aid to the south.
“After all the civilians leave and only the combatants stay, then we don’t have to fight,” he told the ABC in November.
“Those combatants who stay in this area will have to decide either to surrender or to die of starvation.”
GHF director resigns and aid groups push for probe
Already, the group has run into serious administrative problems.
The executive director of the GHF, Jake Wood, resigned on May 25, the same day Swiss authorities announced they might investigate a human rights group’s complaint about the organisation.
Mr Wood said he resigned because of concerns about the aid mechanism.
“It is clear that it is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon,” he said in a statement.
The rights group TRIAL International had asked Swiss government agencies to investigate whether the GHF complied with Swiss and international law.
After that, the GHF announced it was closing the Swiss entity and would be operating solely with a new, US-registered foundation.
The director of that foundation is American lawyer Loik Henderson, who the GHF said was a corporate law specialist.
The GHF board said it was disappointed by Mr Wood’s “sudden” resignation, but promised to begin deliveries the next day.
“Unfortunately, from the moment GHF was announced, those who benefit from the status quo have been more focused on tearing this apart than on getting aid in, afraid that new, creative solutions to intractable problems might actually succeed,” the board said in a statement.
Albanese says Israel’s ‘excuses’ for withholding Gaza aid not credible
Photo shows Anthony Albanese press conferenceAnthony Albanese press conference
In some of his strongest criticism to date, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Israel’s “excuses and explanations” for blocking aid into Gaza are untenable, and that it is an outrage that a democratic state would withhold aid.
One experienced humanitarian worker in the region told the ABC that GHF’s process was a “shit show”, reminiscent of last year’s $350 million US military pier that was supposed to help to bring aid to Gaza but broke up in rough seas after operating for only 20 days.
“It’s pier 2.0,” they said.
“And also a repeat of the air drops that killed people.”
Aid groups have condemned the plan from the outset, saying it breaches the humanitarian principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality.
“It makes aid conditional on political and military aims. It makes starvation a bargaining chip. It is a cynical sideshow. A deliberate distraction. A fig leaf for further violence and displacement,” UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs Tom Fletcher told the UN Security Council on May 13.
Hundreds of people line up along the beach, with destroyed builds seen in the background
The plan threatens the established practices for delivering aid in conflicts worldwide, Oxfam’s policy lead for the occupied Palestinian Territories, Bushra Khalidi, told the ABC.
“If this becomes the new normal, the whole world is in trouble,” she said.
“We are basically turning aid into a tool of control.
“If this becomes the only model — fragmented, militarised, opaque — it sets a terrifying precedent not just for Gaza, but for any future crises.”
GHF funding remains unclear
The US government is nevertheless backing the proposal, saying it comes directly from President Donald Trump, and denying it is an Israeli plan linked to Israeli military goals in Gaza.
“This is not an IDF or an Israeli operation. That would cause some potential partners to say we don’t want to be involved,” US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, told a press conference in Jerusalem on May 9.
“The Israelis’ role — and this is a significant one — is helping provide security. But they’re not operating the distribution, they’re not operating the bringing of the food in or the distribution of the food when it gets into Gaza.”
But investigations by The New York Times and Israeli newspaper Haaretz have both revealed extensive Israeli involvement in the plan.
“The New York Times found that the broad contours of the plan were first discussed in late 2023, at private meetings of like-minded officials, military officers and business people with close ties to the Israeli government,” the paper said.
Neither the US nor Israeli governments have said who is funding the GHF.
“There are some people who have already committed to helping fund,” Mr Huckabee said.
“They don’t want to be disclosed as of yet. When they do, we’ll announce them or they’ll announce themselves.”
UN issues warning as Gazan babies face food shortages
Photo shows A young woman holding out bowls of food to her four children next to some camps at a refugee camp.A young woman holding out bowls of food to her four children next to some camps at a refugee camp.
Humanitarian organisations warn current aid levels are not enough to tackle the hunger crisis gripping Gaza, as the British government suspends trade talks with Israel over its expanded military offensive in the strip.
Israeli Opposition leader Yair Lapid has even suggested the Israeli government could be funding the group, something swiftly denied by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether the Israeli military will allow deliveries to the various humanitarian agencies operating in Gaza.
The groups said they have thousands of trucks waiting outside Gaza.
Israel has only allowed a few hundred to enter the strip in recent days, after 11 weeks of complete blockade that sent Gazans to the brink of starvation, according to the UN and WHO.
“We do not need to wait for a declaration of famine in Gaza to know that people are already starving, sick and dying, while food and medicines are minutes away across the border,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier in May.

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Death and injuries in gunfire and chaos as crowds overrun Gaza aid hub
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/israeli-fire-sparks-panic-as-starving-palestinians-overrun-new-gaza-aid-centre-20250528-p5m2re.html

By Mohammed Jahjouh, Samy Magdy, Nidal al-Mughrabi, Melanie Lidman and Wafaa Shurafa
Updated May 28, 2025 — 9.56pmfirst published at 6.09am
Deir al-balah, Gaza Strip: At least one Palestinian was killed and 48 others wounded when a crowd was fired upon while they overran a new food aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip, set up by a foundation backed by the United States and Israel, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.
Crowds of Palestinians on Tuesday broke through fences around the distribution site on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), where hundreds of thousands of people had massed. An Associated Press journalist heard Israeli tank and gun fire, and saw a military helicopter firing flares.
It was not yet known whether the death and injuries were caused by Israeli forces, private contractors or others. The foundation said its military contractors had not fired on the crowd but “fell back” before resuming aid operations. Israel said its troops nearby had fired warning shots.
Earlier on Wednesday, the head of the United Nations Human Rights Office for the Palestinian territories, Ajith Sunghay, said, it appeared that Israeli army fire had caused most of the injuries at the aid distribtion centre.
The hub was set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and began operations on Monday, distributing food in southern Gaza after an 11-week Israeli blockade on food and supplies that was enacted to pressure militant group Hamas, and which left Gaza’s population of 2.3 million on the brink of famine.
Hundreds of thousands of people had made their way to centre by Tuesday afternoon and when they overran it, nearby Israeli troops fired what they said were warning shots, sending people fleeing in panic.
The Israeli military said its troops fired the warning shots in the area outside the centre and that “control over the situation was established”.
At least three injured Palestinians were seen by AP being taken from the scene, one of them bleeding from his leg.
The distribution hub outside Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah – which is under full Israeli army control – had been opened the day before by the GHF, which has been slated by Israel to take over aid operations.
Distribution hubs and ‘screening’: How the new aid system will work in Gaza
The UN and other humanitarian organisations have rejected the new system, saying it won’t be able to meet the needs of the population and allows Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population. They have also warned of the risk of friction between Israeli troops and people seeking supplies.
Palestinians have become desperate for food after nearly three months of an Israeli blockade that has pushed Gaza to the brink of famine.
Palestinians at the scene told AP that small numbers of people made their way to the GHF centre on Tuesday morning and received food boxes. As word spread, large numbers of men, women and children walked for several kilometres from the sprawling tent camps along Gaza’s Mediterranean coast. To reach the hub, they had to pass through nearby Israeli military positions.
By the afternoon, hundreds of thousands were massed at the hub. Videos seen by Reuters – some of which could not immediately be verified – showed lines of people walking through a wired-off corridor and into a large open field where aid was stacked. Later, images shared on social media showed large parts of the fence torn down as people jostled their way onto the site.
Two people said each person was searched and had their faces scanned for identification before being allowed to receive the boxes. Crowds swelled and turmoil erupted, with people tearing down fences and grabbing boxes. The staff at the site were forced to flee, they said.
The AP journalist positioned some distance away heard gunfire and rounds of tank fire. Smoke could be seen rising from where one round impacted. He saw a military helicopter overhead firing flares.
“There was no order, the people rushed to take, there was shooting, and we fled,” Hosni Abu Amra, who had been waiting to receive aid, said. “We fled without taking anything that would help us get through this hunger.”
“It was chaos,” Ahmed Abu Taha said, adding he heard gunfire and saw Israeli military aircraft overhead. “People were panicked.”
Crowds were seen running from the site. A few managed to secure aid boxes – containing basic items like sugar, flour, pasta and tahini – but the vast majority left empty-handed. A UN spokesperson called images of the incident “heartbreaking”.
In a statement, GHF said that because of the large number of Palestinians seeking aid, staff at the hub followed the group’s safety protocols and “fell back” to allow them to dissipate, then later resumed operations.
A spokesperson for the group told the AP that no shots were fired from GHF. Speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the group’s rules, the spokesperson said the protocols aimed at “avoiding loss of life, which is exactly what happened”.
In a separate development, Israel carried out airstrikes on Wednesday on the international airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, destroying the last plane belonging to the country’s flagship carrier. The strikes came after Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired several missiles at Israel in recent days, without causing casualties.
The Israeli military said it destroyed aircraft used by the rebels. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded in the strikes.
Israel and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said – without providing evidence – that Hamas, Gaza’s dominant militant group, had tried to block civilians from reaching the aid distribution centre in Rafah.
Hamas denied the accusation. “The real cause of the delay and collapse in the aid distribution process is the tragic chaos caused by the mismanagement of the same company operating under the Israeli occupation’s administration in those buffer zones,” Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, said.
“This has led to thousands of starving people, under the pressure of siege and hunger, storming distribution centres and seizing food, during which Israeli forces opened fire.”
GHF uses armed private contractors to guard the hubs and the transportation of supplies. The hub is also close to Israeli military positions in the Morag Corridor, a band of territory across the breadth of Gaza that divides Rafah from the rest of the territory.
Israel’s three-month long blockade has pushed Gaza to the brink of famine.
Israel’s three-month long blockade has pushed Gaza to the brink of famine.Credit: AP
GHF has set up four hubs around Gaza to distribute food, two of which began operating on Monday – both of them in the Rafah area.
By late afternoon on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), GHF said it had distributed about 8000 food boxes, equivalent to about 462,000 meals.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein wrote on X that 8000 “food packages” were delivered to Palestinians on Tuesday, the first day of what he described as an American initiative.
Some of the recipients showed the content of the packages, which included some rice, flour, canned beans, pasta, olive oil, biscuits and sugar.
The UN and other humanitarian groups have refused to participate in GHF’s system, saying it violates humanitarian principles. They say it can be used by Israel to forcibly displace the population by requiring them to move near the few distribution hubs or else face starvation – a violation of international law. They have also opposed the use of facial recognition to vet recipients.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the turmoil at the Rafah centre, saying, “There was some loss of control momentarily … happily we brought it under control.”
He repeated that Israel planned to move Gaza’s entire population to a “sterile zone” at the southern end of the territory while troops fight Hamas elsewhere.
Israel has said the new system is necessary because it claims Hamas has been siphoning off supplies that reach Gaza. The UN has denied that any significant diversion takes place.
How is the new Gaza aid plan supposed to work — and why are so many aid groups against it?
How is the new Gaza aid plan supposed to work — and why are so many aid groups against it?
A U.S.-backed group that is slated to take over aid distribution in Gaza says it plans to launch operations imminently despite opposition from the U.N.
Throughout the war, the UN and other aid groups have conducted a massive operation distributing food, medicine and other supplies to wherever Palestinians are located. Israel says GHF will replace that network, but the past week has allowed a trickle of aid to enter Gaza for the UN to distribute.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency in charge of co-ordinating aid, said on Tuesday that 400 trucks of supplies, mainly food, were waiting on the Gaza side of the main crossing from Israel, but that the UN had not collected them. It said Israel had extended the times for collection and expanded the routes that the UN could use inside Gaza.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office OCHA, told reporters in Geneva that agencies struggle to pick up the supplies “because of the insecure routes that are being assigned to us by the Israeli authorities to use”.
State Department defends US-backed private Gaza aid initiative
Israel claims to have killed Hamas chief in GazaHe said the amount of aid allowed the past week was “vastly insufficient.”
More than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s air and ground war, Gaza health authorities say. The war was launched following a cross-border Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that killed some 1200 people and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
AP, Reuters
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‘See you in heaven’: Four Palestinians killed storming UN food warehouse in Gaza
https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/four-palestinians-killed-storming-un-food-warehouse-in-gaza-20250529-p5m340.html

By Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy and Melanie Lidman
May 29, 2025 — 6.02am
Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip: Hundreds of Palestinians stormed a United Nations food warehouse on Wednesday in Gaza in a desperate attempt to get something to eat, shouting and shoving each other and even ripping off pieces of the building to get inside.
Four people died in the chaos, hospital officials said.
The Palestinians burst into the warehouse in the central Gaza Strip, pushing each other in the shadow of the cavernous facility’s main door. Others ripped off pieces of the metal walls to enter.
Two people were fatally crushed in the crowd, while two others died of gunshot wounds, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.
The deaths came a day after a crowd was fired upon while overrunning a new aid-distribution site near Rafah in the Gaza Strip set up by an Israeli and US-backed foundation, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding 48 others, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
Scores of aid-seekers could be seen carrying large bags of flour as they fought their way back out into the sunlight through throngs of people pressing to get inside. Each bag of flour weighs about 25 kilograms.
In response to the run on the warehouse The World Food Program said “humanitarian needs have spiralled out of control” after the blockade. Palestinians have become desperate for food after nearly three months of Israeli border closures pushed Gaza to the brink of famine.
“Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve,” the group said.
A UN envoy compared the limited aid being allowed into Gaza to “a lifeboat after the ship has sunk.” Sigrid Kaag, acting UN special coordinator for the Mideast, told the UN Security Council that people facing famine in Gaza “have lost hope”.
“Instead of saying ‘goodbye,’ Palestinians in Gaza now say, ‘See you in heaven,’” Kaag said.
Two people were killed in the crush, while two others died of gunshot wounds, hospital officials said.Credit: A
On Tuesday, thousands of Palestinians broke through fences around the distribution site where thousands had gathered.
The distribution hub outside Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah was opened on Monday by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has been slated by Israel to take over aid operations.
The Israeli military, which guards the site from a distance, said it fired only warning shots to control the situation. The foundation said its military contractors guarding the site did not open fire. The Red Cross Field Hospital said the 48 people who were wounded suffered gunshot wounds, including women and children.
The UN and other humanitarian organisations have rejected the new aid system, saying it will not be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and that it allows Israel to use food to control the population. The organisations have also warned of the risk of friction between Israeli troops and people seeking supplies.
Israel says it helped establish the new aid mechanism to prevent Hamas from siphoning off supplies, but it has provided no evidence of systematic diversion, and UN agencies say they have mechanisms in place to prevent it while delivering aid to all parts of the territory.
GHF says it has established four hubs, two of which have begun operating in the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah. It said about eight truckloads of aid were distributed at the hubs on Wednesday without incident. About 600 trucks entered Gaza every day during a ceasefire earlier this year.
The GHF sites are guarded by private security contractors and have chain-link fences channelling Palestinians into a what resemble military bases surrounded by large sand berms. Israeli forces are stationed nearby in a military zone separating Rafah from the rest of the territory.
The UN and other aid groups have refused to participate in GHF’s system, saying it violates humanitarian principles. They say it can be used by Israel to forcibly displace the population by requiring them to move near the few distribution hubs or else face starvation, a violation of international law.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that “there was some loss of control momentarily” at the Rafah distribution point, adding that “happily, we brought it under control”.
He repeated that Israel plans to move Gaza’s entire population to a “sterile zone” at the southern end of the territory while troops fight Hamas elsewhere. Netanyahu has also vowed to facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of Gaza’s population to other countries, a plan for what Palestinians and others view as forcible expulsion.
Wednesday marks 600 days since the war in Gaza began with Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu said his country killed senior Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, the brother of Yahya Sinwar, one of the October 7 masterminds who was killed by Israeli forces last year.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his military has eliminated the leader of Hamas in Gaza.
Speaking before parliament, Netanyahu included Sinwar in a list of Hamas leaders killed by Israeli forces, apparently confirming his death in a recent airstrike in Gaza.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7 killing some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Hamas still holds 58 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive. Most of the rest were released in ceasefire deals or other agreements. Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered dozens of bodies.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry says women and children make up most of the dead, but it does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.
Related Article
Palestinians inspect the damage at school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit by Israeli military strike in Gaza City on Monday.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Distribution hubs and ‘screening’: How the new aid system will work in Gaza
The US has been trying to broker a ceasefire. Israel – which resumed its military operation in Gaza in March after a brief truce – continued strikes on Wednesday, killing at least 30 people, Palestinian health officials said.
“We are on the precipice of sending out a new term sheet that hopefully will be delivered later on today,” US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Wednesday. “The president is going to review it.”
Witkoff made the comments at the White House alongside Trump, who said that his administration was working on accelerating food deliveries to Palestinians living in Gaza. “We’re dealing with the whole situation in Gaza. We’re getting food to the people of Gaza. It’s been a very nasty situation,” Trump said.
In other developments on Wednesday, Israel carried out airstrikes on the international airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, destroying the last plane belonging to the country’s flagship airline. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said it was the last plane used by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The strikes came after Houthi rebels fired several missiles at Israel in recent days, without causing casualties. The Israeli military said it destroyed aircraft used by the rebels. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded in the strikes.
The airport said the last plane belonging to the country’s flagship carrier, Yemenia, had been destroyed. The airline did not say if anyone was wounded.
Houthi-backed Yemeni President Mahdi al-Mashat visited the airport on Wednesday and said his group would not back down from its support of people in Gaza until the siege ends, according to SABA Yemen News Agency.
AP, Reuters
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Letters The Age
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/pm-after-the-words-must-come-the-actions-20250528-p5m308.html

History will judge them, the UK has said about Israel and its actions in Gaza and history will judge Australia if we do not finally recognise Palestine and impose sanctions on Israel for its abhorrent and inhumane total destruction of Gaza and its peoples (″⁣The time is right, Labor luminary calls for Netanyahu sanctions, Palestine statehood″⁣, 27/5).
How long must our leaders take to recognise the incessant bombing and starvation of women and children, the killing of children and others sheltering in schools, the killing of journalists and even the 11-year-old Yaqeen Hammad social media influencer who used to bring cheer to others and give practical survival tips in a war zone? How long before this new government takes action, and gives hope, not just words? How long before they meet with our American allies to urge them to cease sending arms to Israel? How long before effective action is taken? How long?
Peta Colebatch, Hawthorn
System of aid is a system of imprisonment
The resignation of two senior staff from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is more than bureaucratic friction — it is a damning indictment of a system designed not to help Palestinians, but to control them (“Head of Gaza plan resigns″⁣, 28/5). This so-called aid system will force desperate civilians to move towards Israeli-controlled distribution zones in the north — areas bombed into rubble — while crossing military checkpoints. All under the banner of “help.” This isn’t relief—it’s a cage built with food parcels.
One director quit explicitly because the group could not meet even the most basic humanitarian principles: impartiality, independence, and humanity. The UN has refused to take part. Aid groups warn this plan violates international law. Yet the US backs it, and Australia remains silent. Australia must denounce this farce for what it is — and stop collaborating in crimes dressed up as compassion. We cannot allow aid to become a weapon of forced submission.
Fernanda Trecenti, Fitzroy
The unintended consequences
Your correspondent’s criticism (Letters, 28/5) of the Australian government’s opposition to alternative methods of aid delivery that might hamper Hamas’ looting of aid, might consider that if there was an abundance of aid, Hamas’ looting of aid might cease or be ineffectual. Surely it’s the Israeli government’s policy and practice of delivering minute volumes of aid that precisely makes it a scarce product and the subject of looting (by Hamas)?
Brendan O’Farrell, Brunswick
Recruitment campaign for Hamas
There is now a humanitarian crisis in Gaza where children and women are starving to death. This is not in a country where famine is occurring through crop failure but deliberately because Israel is doing this as an act of war. As much as I would like to see them gone, nothing that Israel does will destroy Hamas. If anything, Israel’s actions I think have acted as a recruitment campaign for Hamas. Embarking on this level of response to the October 7 attack was an unwise decision by Benjamin Netanyahu and is losing him international support.
Mary Ryan, Black Rock
Australia is betraying Israel
I fully support Alex Ryvchin’s commentary (″⁣Israel’s actions ‘outrageous’: PM″⁣, 27/5). Israel is fighting for the return and safety of its citizens, taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. Yet, in Israel’s hour of need, the world, including Australia, chooses to lecture rather than support. Yes, humanitarian aid is important, and Israel can and should do more. But if the Albanese government genuinely cared about both Israeli security and humanitarian outcomes, it would engage Israel respectfully and privately — not humiliate it on the world stage. This public scolding isn’t diplomacy. It’s cowardice disguised as compassion. And for a country that once proudly stood by Israel, it’s nothing short of betrayal.
Zak Boulton-Singh, Skye
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Food trucks in Gaza raided, underscoring aid problems
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8977623/food-trucks-in-gaza-raided-underscoring-aid-problems/

By Nidal Al-Mughrabi and James Mackenzie
UN trucks delivering food to Gaza were stopped and looted overnight, Gaza residents and merchants say, hours after desperate Palestinians overran a distribution site run by a US-backed group trying to start delivering aid.
The incidents underscore the problems getting supplies to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing worsening hunger and starvation after a weeks-long Israeli blockade.

On Tuesday, Israeli troops fired warning shots as crowds rushed to a distribution point run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed group that began supplying aid under a new system that Israel hopes will prevent aid reaching Hamas.
The United Nations and other international aid groups have refused to take part, saying the scheme violates the principle that aid should be distributed neutrally, based only on need.
As the new system began, the Israeli military also allowed 95 trucks belonging to the UN and other aid groups into the enclave, but three Gaza residents and three merchants said a number of trucks were targeted by looters.
One Palestinian transport operator said at least 20 trucks belonging to the UN World Food Programme were attacked shortly before midnight.
“Some trucks made it through, then it seems that people became aware of that,” one witness told Reuters via a chat app, declining to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.
“They woke up, some placed barriers on the road intercepted and stole the goods.”
Israeli forces, which resumed their operation in Gaza in March following a brief truce, continued strikes on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people including eight members of the family of a local journalist, Palestinian health officials said.
To qualify for aid under the new system, people seeking food are supposed to undergo screening to ensure they are not linked to Hamas, a measure that has heightened Palestinian suspicion of the operation.
But witnesses on Tuesday said no effective identification process seemed to be in place.
“What we saw yesterday was a very clear example of the dangers of distributing food,” said Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“We are exposing people to death and injury,” he told reporters in Geneva, adding that 47 people had been wounded by gunfire as the chaos unfolded.
Footage shared on social media showed fences broken down by crowds trying to reach crates of supplies as private security contractors operating the site fell back.
“I am a big man, but I couldn’t hold back my tears when I saw the images of women, men, and children racing for some food,” said Rabah Rezik, 65, a father of seven from Gaza City.
Israel imposed the blockade on aid supplies in March, accusing Hamas of seizing supplies meant for civilians, a charge Hamas denies. UN officials say they have seen no evidence that the militant group has been looting trucks since Israel eased the blockade this month under mounting international pressure.
However, Hamas has told people in Gaza not to go to the four distribution points in southern Gaza set up for the new system. It denied accusations from Israel that it was blocking access to the sites.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called it “sad and disgusting” that the United Nations and other groups were not taking part in the new system to distribute aid.
“There were lines of people that got food which was not stolen by Hamas. The manner in which it was distributed is effective so far,” he told Reuters.
Israel has faced increasing pressure over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, even from countries long reluctant to voice strong criticism. France, Britain and Germany have said they may take action if the military campaign is not halted. On Wednesday, Italy also said the offensive had become unacceptable and must stop immediately.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023 that killed some 1200 people and saw 251 hostages abducted into Gaza.
Its assault has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians and reduced much of the crowded coastal enclave to rubble, with the population of more than two million now squeezed into narrow areas on the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.

The new aid plan for Gaza has angered Hamas, which is why it might work
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-new-aid-plan-for-gaza-has-angered-hamas-which-is-why-it-might-work/news-story/508b31b7ba592fefcdab60a3400fb1da

Cameron Stewart
You may be tempted to think the new US-backed aid distribution system in Gaza is yet another disaster to befall Palestinians, given the criticism international agencies have hurled at it and the chaotic teething problems it encountered on its second day of operation. But think again. The most telling criticism of the new system came from Hamas, which warned it would not allow food to be used “as a weapon during wartime”.
The irony was apparently lost on the terror group which maintains its power over ordinary Gazans by stealing aid as it comes into the strip, then selling that aid at inflated prices to the locals – in other words, using food as a weapon of control.
Thousands of Palestinians stormed into sites where aid was being distributed by a foundation backed by the U.S. and Israel on
What’s more, Hamas – showing its heartfelt concern for the welfare of its own people – threatened that any Gazan who co-operates to help impose the new aid system “will pay the price, and we will take the necessary measures against them”.
The terror group has reason for concern: the new system of aid distribution has been introduced to stop Hamas stealing the aid and giving it to its own fighters before reselling the remainder for profit.
If this new system succeeds in doing this, Hamas loses the ability to feed its fighters. It also loses a crucial level of control over the population, many of whom are angry at the group for the misery it has wreaked on them as a result of its terror attack on Israelis on October 7, 2023.
So, what is the new system? It is run by a new entity backed by the US and Israel, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Unlike other aid agencies, it seeks to protect the aid from Hamas by having its own distribution points in Gaza guarded by private security firms. For extra security the Israeli military is present on the periphery.
The new aid system will rely initially on four major distribution centres in southern Gaza, where people must go to collect supplies. Families are to be screened for involvement with Hamas militants, potentially using facial recognition or biometric technology. Four more distribution hubs in central and northern Gaza will be established, and until they are operational, the existing UN-led system of aid distribution will continue in parallel.
The criticism by the UN and other NGOs is that the new system holds the potential for abuse because it could force the local population to move to where it is being distributed, helping Israel’s aim of moving people to the south of Gaza while its military campaign focuses on the north of the strip. The GHF insists it would not be a part of any such policy of forced displacement. The UN also says the new system violates the principles of independence and impartiality in aid distribution.
It is true the US and Israel, rather than the UN and other agencies, will have influence now over the way aid is distributed in Gaza, but the only reason that is now the case is because Hamas was so easily looting the UN-supplied aid to Gaza.
The US state department calls the UN’s criticism of the GHF “the height of hypocrisy” because “the issue here is giving aid to Gaza, and then suddenly it moves into complaints about style or the nature of who’s doing it”.
This new aid system will not be perfect, and the chaotic scenes which accompanied its second day of operations show there will be teething problems. But when it is up and running, it promises to offer the best hope of feeding Gazans without also feeding Hamas.
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Gazans lining up for food say supplies remain limited
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/gazans-lining-up-for-food-say-supplies-remain-limited/news-story/e938010fa71407534c07c404413517b7

Abeer Ayyoub, Suha Ma’ayeh and Anat Peled
A new aid system backed by Israel delivered more food in Gaza on Wednesday, but residents who lined up outside the distribution centres complained of limited supplies and disorder, one day after the effort was marred by scenes of chaos and looting.
Thousands of Palestinians desperate for food lined up outside two distribution centres in southern Gaza on Wednesday, despite concerns over security. Large crowds had overwhelmed one of the centres a day earlier and Israeli forces said they fired warning shots outside the compound. As the number of people surged after a slow start, witnesses said there was disorder and crowding as they heard about food running out.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private entity overseeing the new aid system, said that it was operating the two distribution sites in southern Gaza on Wednesday afternoon without unusual incidents. It has distributed approximately 14,550 boxes of food since it began operations on Monday, GHF said, but didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on supplies running out and disorder at the distribution sites on Wednesday.
Nizar Thabet, 37, who walked to one of the distribution sites near the Israeli-built Morag corridor in Rafah with his two hungry children, said he was able to get his hands on lentils, rice, and packs of pasta by asking others to give him some rather than receiving his own box.
“Some boxes were opened — quantities were gone. I got food from others who hadn’t eaten in 20 days,” he said. Many others left empty-handed because supplies ran out, he said.
Israel was pressured to end its more than two-month blockade on Gaza, which it says was aimed at pressuring Hamas to release the hostages. During this period, no aid, medicine or fuel entered the enclave, leading to widespread hunger, according to residents and aid groups. The humanitarian crisis led to an international outcry, including from the US, Israel’s close ally, which pushed Israel to lift the blockade earlier this month.
Displaced Palestinians react as they display items received from an aid distribution centre in Khan Yunis. Picture: AFP
Displaced Palestinians react as they display items received from an aid distribution centre in Khan Yunis. Picture: AFP
But little aid has since reached Gazans, according to residents, and many are surviving on just one meal a day, mainly bread and canned goods.
According to the new plan, aid is to be handed out directly to Gazan families at distribution sites with the help of private security companies, to prevent Hamas from taking control of the aid, as Israel alleges. Hamas denies that it seizes the aid. Israeli military forces are stationed nearby for security.
Many Gazans who are facing severe food shortages say they will do anything to feed their families, but the scenes of chaos, looting and Israeli shooting near the compound Tuesday were concerning, they said.
“The scenes were heartbreaking,” said Mohammed Al-Saafin, 25 years old, who is sheltering in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. “People were desperate, running after trucks, just trying to get a bag of flour or some canned food. I won’t go — it’s too dangerous,” he said.
The new aid plan overhauls the way aid has entered Gaza through international aid groups since the start of the war, and has faced criticism from more than 20 countries and the United Nations. Critics say it puts people unnecessarily at risk and can’t meet the needs of the population on the ground. Most of the planned distribution sites are situated in southern Gaza, which makes reaching them difficult for those who live elsewhere or are unable to move.
“The UN has refused to participate in this scheme, warning that it is logistically unworkable and violates humanitarian principles by using aid as a tool in Israel’s broader efforts to depopulate areas of Gaza,” Jonathan Whittall, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said at a press briefing Wednesday.
Since the start of the war, Israel has issued evacuation orders that cover widespread areas in Gaza, which it says are aimed at ensuring the population is out of harm’s way in active combat areas but which have repeatedly displaced Gazans.
Momen Hassouneh, a 33-year-old father to three young children who is living in the al-Rimal neighbourhood in Gaza City, located in the strip’s north, said it would be difficult to make the journey to distribution centres in the south.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip since the October 7 attack in southern Israel, hold their portraits during a protest to mark 600 days of their captivity and demand their release and ending the war. Picture: AFP
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip since the October 7 attack in southern Israel, hold their portraits during a protest to mark 600 days of their captivity and demand their release and ending the war. Picture: AFP
“Transportation is difficult. If the roads were open, we’d want to go,” Hassouneh said.
The continuing war makes people fearful of moving unless forced. Israel says that it launched a renewed offensive in the enclave to crush Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel had killed Hamas’s top leader in Gaza, Mohammed Sinwar, after targeting him in a strike earlier this month.
Mohammad Abo Nasem, 38 and a father of three children, is living in a tent in Khan Younis, after being displaced six times since the start of the war. He said he was initially encouraged by photos of people receiving aid on Tuesday, but was deterred by the large crowds.
“I didn’t like what happened yesterday because there was no order,” he said. “If there was a system that was more comfortable for people and spared people the humiliation of standing in long lines and chaos, if there was a better mechanism, everyone could get their share without problems or crowding,” he said.
But with a family to feed he is desperate. “I literally have nothing to feed my family. No lentils, no pasta, nothing.” He said he would go to a distribution centre tomorrow to try his luck.
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HAMAS ‘ORCHESTRATED AID CENTRE CHAOS’
https://todayspaper.theaustralian.com.au/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=23fbd9a0-16c1-4ae4-9b78-9851751e7a5e&share=true

Militant group determined to keep control in Gaza
Staff writers
The pandemonium surrounding the launch of an Israeli-backed plan to deliver aid in Gaza was reportedly orchestrated by Hamas, which is determined to retain control of food distribution in the enclave.
The second day of aid operations by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation descended into chaos after thousands of Palestinians broke into two distribution sites and forced its staff to retreat. Israeli troops fired warning shots, sending people fleeing in panic.
The United Nations Human Rights Office for the Palestinian territories said at least 47 people were injured.
The incident has come amid widespread criticism of the US-backed organisation, which oversees the new system of aid distribution that aims to feed up to 600,000 Palestinians a week via four major food distribution centres.
Under the aegis of the GHF, food is to be handed directly to major Gazan families with the help of private US security firms. Those families are then expected to distribute the aid throughout the enclave, bypassing Hamas.
The UN and other humanitarian groups have rejected the new system, saying it will not be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and allows Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population.
Critics have said the chaos on Tuesday (AEST) shows the GHF cannot control the distribution of aid and will fail in its attempts to control the food supply.
However, Israeli media reports that as the first two distribution sites opened Hamas threatened Palestinians they would “pay the price” if they co-operated with the organisation, and tried to prevent Gazan residents from reaching the aid points.
The group told Palestinians to stay home, claiming Israel was using the company to collect intelligence information.
“Do not go to Rafah. Do not fall into the trap. Do not risk your lives. Your homes are your fortress. Staying in your neighbourhoods is survival, and awareness is your protection,” a statement published by the Hamas-linked Home Front said.
Channel 12 and Israel’s state broadcaster Kan TV report that militants placed barriers to block access to the distribution sites in the southern city of Rafah and told Gazans that Israelis were arresting residents near those areas.
It was frustration at these illicit checkpoints, not at the aid workers, that led to thousands of Palestinians forcing their way into the distribution centres, Kan TV reported.
Channel 12 also suggested that Hamas militants had infiltrated the compounds from where food was being handed out and looted the food.
The new plan had been embraced by Jerusalem as a way to wrest back control of food supplies from Hamas. The militant group is known to steal aid and sell it back to Palestinians to raise finances for the group and fund its war against Israel.
To cut off this “tool of looting”, as he describes it, Isareli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered a block on all food, fuel and medical supplies to Gaza.
But after 11 weeks of the blockade Israel has faced global opprobrium as malnutrition set in.
Last week, limited amounts of aid began to flow back into Gaza, but the Jerusalem Post reports that on Saturday, five aid trucks were hijacked and their contents stolen and sold to Gazans in Deir el-Balah and the Nuseirat refugee camp.
On Friday, 15 World Food Program trucks that were carrying humanitarian aid were looted overnight in the Strip, the Jerusalem Post adds.
GHF said the pandemonium around the distribution sites lasted less than 20 minutes.
In a statement, the organisation said because of the large number of Palestinians seeking aid, staff at the hub followed the group’s safety protocols and “fell back” to allow them to dissipate, then later resumed operations.
“The needs on the ground are great,” GHF said. “At one moment in the late afternoon, the volume of people at the SDS was such that the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate.”
Before the break-in, the organisation said “approximately 8000 food boxes have been distributed so far. Each box feeds 5.5 people for 3.5 days, totalling 462,000 meals.”
Israel has declared the distribution so far a success, with a security source telling Kan TV: “The barrier of fear from Hamas has been broken.
“Throughout the day, Hamas tried to prevent Gaza residents from reaching the distribution sites, but the population reached the sites and took food. Hamas is trying to thwart the American plan because it directly harms its ability to govern.”
Mr Netanyahu said: “There was some loss of control momentarily … happily we brought it under control.”
With AP
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Death and injuries in gunfire and chaos as crowds overrun Gaza aid hub
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/middle-east/israeli-fire-sparks-panic-as-starving-palestinians-overrun-new-gaza-aid-centre-20250528-p5m2re.html

By Mohammed Jahjouh, Samy Magdy, Nidal al-Mughrabi, Melanie Lidman and Wafaa Shurafa
Deir al-balah, Gaza Strip: At least one Palestinian was killed and 48 others wounded when a crowd was fired upon while they overran a new food aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip, set up by a foundation backed by the United States and Israel, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.
Crowds of Palestinians on Tuesday broke through fences around the distribution site on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), where hundreds of thousands of people had massed. An Associated Press journalist heard Israeli tank and gun fire, and saw a military helicopter firing flares.
It was not yet known whether the death and injuries were caused by Israeli forces, private contractors or others. The foundation said its military contractors had not fired on the crowd but “fell back” before resuming aid operations. Israel said its troops nearby had fired warning shots.
Earlier on Wednesday, the head of the United Nations Human Rights Office for the Palestinian territories, Ajith Sunghay, said, it appeared that Israeli army fire had caused most of the injuries at the aid distribtion centre.
The hub was set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and began operations on Monday, distributing food in southern Gaza after an 11-week Israeli blockade on food and supplies that was enacted to pressure militant group Hamas, and which left Gaza’s population of 2.3 million on the brink of famine.
Hundreds of thousands of people had made their way to centre by Tuesday afternoon and when they overran it, nearby Israeli troops fired what they said were warning shots, sending people fleeing in panic.
The Israeli military said its troops fired the warning shots in the area outside the centre and that “control over the situation was established”.
At least three injured Palestinians were seen by AP being taken from the scene, one of them bleeding from his leg.
The distribution hub outside Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah – which is under full Israeli army control – had been opened the day before by the GHF, which has been slated by Israel to take over aid operations.
Palestinians inspect the damage at school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit by Israeli military strike in Gaza City on Monday.
The UN and other humanitarian organisations have rejected the new system, saying it won’t be able to meet the needs of the population and allows Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population. They have also warned of the risk of friction between Israeli troops and people seeking supplies.
Palestinians have become desperate for food after nearly three months of an Israeli blockade that has pushed Gaza to the brink of famine.
Palestinians at the scene told AP that small numbers of people made their way to the GHF centre on Tuesday morning and received food boxes. As word spread, large numbers of men, women and children walked for several kilometres from the sprawling tent camps along Gaza’s Mediterranean coast. To reach the hub, they had to pass through nearby Israeli military positions.
By the afternoon, hundreds of thousands were massed at the hub. Videos seen by Reuters – some of which could not immediately be verified – showed lines of people walking through a wired-off corridor and into a large open field where aid was stacked. Later, images shared on social media showed large parts of the fence torn down as people jostled their way onto the site.
Two people said each person was searched and had their faces scanned for identification before being allowed to receive the boxes. Crowds swelled and turmoil erupted, with people tearing down fences and grabbing boxes. The staff at the site were forced to flee, they said.
The AP journalist positioned some distance away heard gunfire and rounds of tank fire. Smoke could be seen rising from where one round impacted. He saw a military helicopter overhead firing flares.
“There was no order, the people rushed to take, there was shooting, and we fled,” Hosni Abu Amra, who had been waiting to receive aid, said. “We fled without taking anything that would help us get through this hunger.”
“It was chaos,” Ahmed Abu Taha said, adding he heard gunfire and saw Israeli military aircraft overhead. “People were panicked.”
Crowds were seen running from the site. A few managed to secure aid boxes – containing basic items like sugar, flour, pasta and tahini – but the vast majority left empty-handed. A UN spokesperson called images of the incident “heartbreaking”.
In a statement, GHF said that because of the large number of Palestinians seeking aid, staff at the hub followed the group’s safety protocols and “fell back” to allow them to dissipate, then later resumed operations.
A spokesperson for the group told the AP that no shots were fired from GHF. Speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the group’s rules, the spokesperson said the protocols aimed at “avoiding loss of life, which is exactly what happened”.
In a separate development, Israel carried out airstrikes on Wednesday on the international airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, destroying the last plane belonging to the country’s flagship carrier. The strikes came after Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired several missiles at Israel in recent days, without causing casualties.
The Israeli military said it destroyed aircraft used by the rebels. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded in the strikes.
Israel and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said – without providing evidence – that Hamas, Gaza’s dominant militant group, had tried to block civilians from reaching the aid distribution centre in Rafah.
Hamas denied the accusation. “The real cause of the delay and collapse in the aid distribution process is the tragic chaos caused by the mismanagement of the same company operating under the Israeli occupation’s administration in those buffer zones,” Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, said.
“This has led to thousands of starving people, under the pressure of siege and hunger, storming distribution centres and seizing food, during which Israeli forces opened fire.”
GHF uses armed private contractors to guard the hubs and the transportation of supplies. The hub is also close to Israeli military positions in the Morag Corridor, a band of territory across the breadth of Gaza that divides Rafah from the rest of the territory.
GHF has set up four hubs around Gaza to distribute food, two of which began operating on Monday – both of them in the Rafah area.
By late afternoon on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), GHF said it had distributed about 8000 food boxes, equivalent to about 462,000 meals.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein wrote on X that 8000 “food packages” were delivered to Palestinians on Tuesday, the first day of what he described as an American initiative.

Some of the recipients showed the content of the packages, which included some rice, flour, canned beans, pasta, olive oil, biscuits and sugar.
Palestinians open a box containing food and humanitarian aid.
Palestinians open a box containing food and humanitarian aid.Credit: AP
The UN and other humanitarian groups have refused to participate in GHF’s system, saying it violates humanitarian principles. They say it can be used by Israel to forcibly displace the population by requiring them to move near the few distribution hubs or else face starvation – a violation of international law. They have also opposed the use of facial recognition to vet recipients.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the turmoil at the Rafah centre, saying, “There was some loss of control momentarily … happily we brought it under control.”
He repeated that Israel planned to move Gaza’s entire population to a “sterile zone” at the southern end of the territory while troops fight Hamas elsewhere.
Israel has said the new system is necessary because it claims Hamas has been siphoning off supplies that reach Gaza. The UN has denied that any significant diversion takes place.
A U.S.-backed group that is slated to take over aid distribution in Gaza says it plans to launch operations imminently despite opposition from the U.N.
Throughout the war, the UN and other aid groups have conducted a massive operation distributing food, medicine and other supplies to wherever Palestinians are located. Israel says GHF will replace that network, but the past week has allowed a trickle of aid to enter Gaza for the UN to distribute.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency in charge of co-ordinating aid, said on Tuesday that 400 trucks of supplies, mainly food, were waiting on the Gaza side of the main crossing from Israel, but that the UN had not collected them. It said Israel had extended the times for collection and expanded the routes that the UN could use inside Gaza.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office OCHA, told reporters in Geneva that agencies struggle to pick up the supplies “because of the insecure routes that are being assigned to us by the Israeli authorities to use”.
He said the amount of aid allowed the past week was “vastly insufficient.”

More than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s air and ground war, Gaza health authorities say. The war was launched following a cross-border Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that killed some 1200 people and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
AP, Reuters
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Letter the Australian
https://todayspaper.theaustralian.com.au/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=a01c38e1-2b5f-4d82-80eb-d181cd0a3783&share=true

Cause of Gaza crisis
Anthony Albanese must have conveniently forgotten who instigated the ongoing Gaza crisis. It was not Israel that started this conflagration, it was the slaughter of 1200 innocents at a musical festival by Hamas.
Hamas then took around 250 more innocents hostage and submitted them to unspeakable atrocities.
Most of the essential supplies being sent into Gaza have been stolen by Hamas, yet Albanese and his government continue to vilify Israel
Surely their attitude would not be to avoid offending the large number of Muslim constituents in their electorates?
Peter Jacobsen, New Farm, Qld
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Albanese says ‘we follow our own path’ after UK, France and Canada threaten Israel with sanctions over Gaza
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/28/anthony-albanese-downplays-prospect-of-imposing-sanctions-on-israel-over-gaza-ntwnfb

Labor MP Ed Husic and former Labor foreign ministers Gareth Evans and Bob Carr reiterate support for targeted sanctions
Josh Butler and Andrew Messenger
Anthony Albanese has appeared to downplay the prospect of Australia imposing sanctions on Israel over its actions in blockading aid into Gaza, saying his government would “follow our own path” despite allies like the UK threatening further actions against Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration.
The prime minister shrugged off calls by a pro-Palestine group within Labor for targeted sanctions on Israel, saying he was focusing on “peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians” rather than “soundbites”. But the Labor MP and former cabinet minister Ed Husic again said his government should consider sanctions against those directing operations against Gaza, while the former Labor foreign ministers Gareth Evans and Bob Carr also endorsed sanctions.
“If we do have our friends move, we should be ready to work with them,” Husic told ABC TV on Wednesday.
The UK, France and Canada threatened to step up “concrete actions” against Israel in a joint statement last Monday – including “targeted sanctions” – after the country’s military intensified military strikes on besieged Gaza despite aid agencies warning the Palestinian population is being plunged further into malnutrition and closer to famine. For nearly three months, Israel has blocked food, fuel, medicine and all other supplies from entering Gaza, worsening a humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians.
Israeli troops on Tuesday opened fire near thousands of hungry Palestinians as a logistics group chosen by Israel to ship food into Gaza lost control of its distribution centre.
A woman wears a distressed expression as she holds her palm to her chin with a food pan hanging from her fingers by its handle
‘The world does not care if we all die’: hunger and despair in the ruins of Gaza City
Albanese on Monday levelled his strongest criticism yet at Israel over its actions in Gaza, branding the weeks-long blockade “an outrage” and Israel’s explanations “untenable”. But when asked on Wednesday whether Australia would join the joint position moving toward sanctions, as called for by the Labor Friends of Palestine group, he questioned what that would mean.
“We follow our own path, and Australia determines our own foreign policy, and we have been very consistent the whole way through. What people don’t say when they put forward ideas like this, is what that means,” Albanese told a press conference in Brisbane.
“Unlike some of those countries, we don’t provide military assets to Israel or to that region. So we are in different circumstances. But we make it clear, as we have consistently: we want to see a ceasefire, we want to see hostages released, we say Hamas has no role in the future, but we want to see humanitarian aid delivered to people in Gaza.”
Asked whether Israel would agree to those actions without facing sanctions, Albanese responded: “What are the sanctions you are suggesting?”
“That’s the point. You are not sure. And that’s not a criticism of you [the reporter], it’s just a reflection of the reality. Soundbites can make a difference. What really makes a difference though … What we are interested in is substance,” he said.
“What we want is peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians. We have made it clear that we support a two-state solution.”
A woman and a boy look for food on a pile of rubbish in Gaza City.
A woman and a boy look for food on a pile of rubbish in Gaza City. Photograph: Jehad Alshrafi/AP
Labor Friends of Palestine told Guardian Australia there was a “surge in anger and frustration among Labor members” that the government hadn’t done more.
Peter Moss, a member of the group, said Labor branches and conferences nationwide had passed many motions since 7 October 2023 calling for sanctions and other actions against Israel, and called on Albanese to heed the wishes of party members.
“It is disappointing for thousands of Labor members to see those views, expressed through the party’s democratic structures, dismissed by the Prime Minister as ‘soundbites’,” he said.
“We are calling on the government to impose targeted sanctions on those Israeli individuals and entities who have planned, promoted and continue to commit grave breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza.
“Labor members aren’t asking the government to follow anybody. We’re asking the Prime Minister to lead – by implementing long-standing ALP policy [on Palestinian recognition] and meeting Australia’s international law obligations.”
Australia will attend a UN conference in mid-June on the recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Australia last week joined 22 other nations in condemning Israel over its decision to allow only limited aid into Gaza, adding voice to a joint statement also signed by the UK, Canada and New Zealand.
Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, said in general Australia had capacity to level “a range” of sanctions, either autonomously or in concert with other nations. But he added that a consideration of any measures was whether they would be meaningful.
“Our economic and trade relationship with Israel isn’t as extensive as with other countries, so it’s unlikely any trade or economic sanction would have harmful impacts on the target state – but they could possibly be seen as symbolic,” he said.
Rothwell suggested that, in general terms, targeted sanctions could include placing restrictions on military-to-military cooperation or relationships. He said any form of sanctions would likely be more effective in conjunction with allies.
“There’s increasing evidence there’s a movement toward that,” Rothwell said.
Evans, speaking to the Nine newspapers, said Australia should immediately recognise Palestinian statehood and said enacting sanctions on Israel would “send a powerful message”.
Pro Palestine rally on the front lawns of Parliament House
‘Surge in anger’ as grassroots Labor members urge Albanese to impose sanctions on Israel over Gaza blockade
Carr urged the government to put more pressure on Israel, including by recognising Palestine. In an interview on the ABC on Wednesday afternoon, he also backed sanctions against Netanyahu and other Israeli ministers.
Husic said there would be options for Australia to join the governments of the UK, France and Canada in any future sanctions regime.
“I think it would be wise to have targeted sanctions, looking at individuals who have been directing the operations in Gaza and clearly ignoring, violating international humanitarian law,” Husic told the ABC.
“They can be members of the Netanyahu government, members of the Israeli defence force. That is one option that able to be pressure on the Israeli government, working in concert with other countries, to free up humanitarian aid and particularly target assistance medical supplies in particular to help especially infants and children.”
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‘Surge in anger’ as grassroots Labor members urge Albanese to impose sanctions on Israel over Gaza blockade
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/28/gaza-israel-sanctions-grassroots-labor-members-urge-albanese-ntwnfb

Local branches to debate motion calling for sanctions after targeting of schools and killing of aid workers and journalists in Gaza
Josh Butler and Dan Jervis-Bardy
Pressure is building within Labor’s grassroots membership for the government to impose sanctions on Israel over its blockade of much-needed food and aid into Gaza, with a key internal pro-Palestine group reporting “a surge in anger and frustration” among members that Australia has not voiced stronger condemnations.
Rank-and-file members in local ALP branches will debate a motion, drafted by the Labor Friends of Palestine group, calling on the Albanese government to sanction individuals and groups involved in forced displacement of Palestinians, targeting of hospitals and schools, and the killing of aid workers and journalists.
“There is a deep frustration that Australia has failed to move beyond words and take effective action under international law to protect the Palestinian people and hold Israel accountable,” said Peter Moss of Labor Friends of Palestine.
“We are seeing a surge in anger and frustration among Labor members and the broader community. Labor Friends of Palestine is signing up a stream of new members horrified by the genocide. There are many Labor voters and supporters who cannot accept Australia’s failure to act effectively under international law to stop the starvation.”
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, on Monday levelled his strongest criticism yet at Israel over its actions in Gaza, branding a weeks-long blockade of aid “an outrage” and calling the Israeli government’s “excuses” for stopping critical food and medical supplies “completely untenable”. He said he had last week told Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, of Australia’s deep concern.
Labor MP and former cabinet minister Ed Husic told ABC radio on Tuesday Australia must “progress from talk to action”, including ramping up aid into Gaza, as well as call in Israel’s ambassador. He also praised the “strength” of Albanese’s comments.
Husic said the government should be “actively considering” targeted sanctions against Israel, a step he said was “probably under consideration”, and join international efforts from allied countries to “exert maximum international pressure to stop this blockade”.
Australia last week joined 22 other nations in condemning Israel over its decision to allow only limited aid into Gaza, adding voice to a joint statement also signed by the UK, Canada and New Zealand. The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, also condemned recent “abhorrent and outrageous” comments made by Netanyahu government members and said the Israeli government “cannot allow the suffering” in Gaza to continue.
But Australia had not foreshadowed further targeted sanctions, as the UK, France and Canada did in a joint statement threatening to step up “concrete actions”.
At an event at Parliament House on Tuesday night with British Australian doctor Mohammed Mustafa who has recently returned from a medical mission in Gaza, independent senator David Pocock urged the government to do more.
“If the horror unfolding in Gaza is not our country’s red line for stronger action, then I don’t know what is,” Pocock told the event.
Mustafa also called for more action. “You don’t have to be a major player to feed children. You don’t have to be a major player to heal children,” Mustafa said, referencing quotes from government ministers that Australia was “not a major player” in the Middle East.
“We need healers in the Middle East, and Australia can be the healer. It can lead the world,” he told the event.
Alex Ryvchin, CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, was critical of Husic’s comments, calling for more attention to the release of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.
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Dr Mohammed Mustafa said Australia ‘can be the healer’ in Gaza and called for more action from the federal government. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
“It is easy to talk about sanctioning Israel and hauling in the ambassador, even though Prime Minister Albanese confirmed he already raised the issue with Israel’s President Herzog … Mr Husic should join us in calling for the immediate and unconditional surrender of Hamas to bring permanent relief to the people of Gaza,” he said.
Australia will attend a UN conference in mid-June on the recognition of Palestinian statehood. It is understood the government is awaiting further information before settling on whether Wong or another representative attends.
The government would not speculate on further sanctions. But government sources noted Albanese’s conversation with Herzog, and Wong’s meeting with Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar, where concerns were raised.
The UK has spoken out against the ‘monstrous’ human catastrophe in Gaza. Why won’t Australia do more?
Moss welcomed Albanese’s statement on Monday, but also called for more tangible responses, including supporting a humanitarian aid convoy into Gaza.
“At a minimum, Australia should immediately support the statement from the United Kingdom, France and Canada and prepare sanctions targeted at Israeli officials responsible for using starvation as a weapon of war,” he said.
A motion to be debated at numerous Labor branches, drafted by Labor Friends of Palestine, notes the government’s endorsement of joint statements but says members are “disappointed” the government did not join France, Canada and the UK in proposing stronger action.
The motion, which has not yet been passed by any branches, also calls for Labor to “redouble” efforts to bring about a ceasefire.