More than 500 killed around GHF aid distributions: UN
Some 613 people have been killed around aid distributions and convoys in Gaza since late May, including 509 near the US- and Israel-backed GHF's sites, the United Nations said Friday.
An officially private effort, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operations on May 26 after Israel halted supplies into the Gaza Strip for more than two months, sparking famine warnings.
GHF operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations in the Palestinian territory, where the Israeli military is seeking to destroy Hamas.
"We have recorded 613 killings" near GHF distribution points and near humanitarian convoys since the GHF began operations, until noon on June 27, UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing.
"Of the 613 figure that I mentioned, 509 people killed were killed near the GHF distribution."
The others were killed "near UN and non-UN convoys", she said.
Shamdasani said the figures were constantly evolving as the UN human rights office has received "further reports of killings since then that we are working to corroborate".
So far, the figure of "613 is corroborated by us", she said.
Shamdasani said the task was being made more difficult by lack of access to the Gaza Strip.
"We will perhaps never be able to grasp the full scale of what's happening here because of the lack of access," the spokeswoman said.
"It is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points," she continued.
"How many killings? Who is responsible for that? We need an investigation. We need access. We need an independent inquiry, and we need accountability for these killings."
The United Nations and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives and violates basic humanitarian principles.
Based in Delaware in the United States, GHF said Thursday it had handed out more than a million boxes of foodstuffs in Gaza.
GHF's chairman is Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical leader allied to US President Donald Trump.
"We have not had a single violent incident in our distribution sites. We haven't had a violent incident in close proximity to our distribution sites," he told journalists in Brussels on Wednesday.
