UN aid teams plead for access amid reports Gazans shot collecting food

Unverified footage from Rafah where the privately-run but Israeli military-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is based showed scenes of panic with crowds of people rushing in different directions, while others carried away boxes of supplies.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, said that it had received information that at least 47 people had been hurt on Tuesday trying to collect aid.

Those numbers could increase as information on the incident is still being gathered, said Ajith Sunghay, Head of OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, speaking to journalists in Geneva on Wednesday.

“From January to March 2024, our office has documented 26 incidents where the Israel Defense Forces fired shots while people were collecting humanitarian aid, causing casualties at Al Kuwaiti roundabout and Al Naburasi roundabout,” Mr. Sunghay told UN News.

Renewed appeal for aid access

Meanwhile, UN aid teams have continued to appeal to Israel for access to Gaza to deliver and distribute thousands of tonnes of food, medicine and other basic items waiting just outside Gaza.

Jens Laerke from the UN agency OCHA insisted that the its staff have “everything needed to get aid to civilians safely: the people, the networks and the trust” of Gazans.

“Right now, nearly 180,000 pallets of food and other life-saving aid stand ready to enter Gaza, the hungriest place on earth,” he told UN News.

“The supplies have already been paid for by the world’s donors. It is cleared for customs, approved and ready to move. We can get the aid in – immediately, at scale and for as long as necessary.”

50,000 kids killed or injured

In a related development, UNICEF announced that the war in Gaza has killed or injured more than 50,000 children in less than 600 days.

UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram said that since the ceasefire ended on 18 March, approximately 1,300 children have been killed and 3,700 injured alone.

That number is enough children to fill more than 1,600 classrooms, Ms. Ingram told UN News: “Every one of these children is in life. A child with a family, with hopes for the future,” she said. “And yet we continue to count their deaths and live stream their suffering to the world. This must end immediately. 

She added: “The children of Gaza desperately need protection from these ongoing bombardments, as well as food, water, medicine and other basic supplies that they need to survive. The blockade must end. Aid must flow freely and at scale, and more than anything else, we need a ceasefire we need collective action to stop these atrocities and to protect children.”

The UNICEF official’s comments follow an attack on a home last weekend that reportedly killed nine out of 10 siblings of one family, the Al-Najars; all the victims were 12 years old or younger.