CAIRO: Thousands of Palestinians stormed sites in southern Gaza where aid was being distributed on Tuesday by a foundation backed by the US and Israel, with desperation for food overcoming concern about biometric and other checks Israel said it would employ.

By late afternoon, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said it had distributed about 8,000 food boxes, equivalent to 462,000 meals, after an almost three-month-old Israeli blockade of the devastated enclave.

In Rafah, which is under full Israeli army control, thousands of people, including women and children, some on foot or in donkey carts, flocked towards one of the distribution sites to receive food packages.

Videos 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.

Private relief agency’s closeness to US and Israel’s endorsement of its distribution method have raised doubts about its neutrality

Hamas denies 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 administration in those buffer zones,” Ismail Al Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, said.

The Israel military said its troops fired warning shots in the area outside the compound and that control was re-established.

A UN spokesperson called images of the incident “heartbreaking”.

Israel’s foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein wrote on X that 8,000 “food packages” were delivered to Pale­stinians on Tuesday, the first day of what he described as an American initiative.

Screening procedures

Although the aid was available on Monday, Palestinians appeared to have heeded warnings, including from Hamas, about biometric screening procedures employed at the foundation’s aid distribution sites.

“As much as I want to go because I am hungry and my children are hungry, I am afraid,” said Abu Ahmed, 55. “I am so scared because they said the company belongs to Israel and is a mercenary, and also because the resistance (Hamas) said not to go,” he said in a message on WhatsApp.

The Israeli military said four aid sites have been established in recent weeks across the enclave, and that two of them in the area of Rafah began operations on Tuesday and “are distributing food packages to thousands of families in Gaza Strip”.

Israeli officials said one of the advantages of the new aid system is the opportunity to screen recipients to exclude anyone found to be connected with Hamas.

Humanitarian groups briefed on GHF’s plans say anyone accessing aid will have to submit to facial recognition technology that many Palestinians fear will end up in Israeli hands to be used to track and potentially target them.

Aid groups boycott GHF

The United Nations and other international aid groups have boycotted the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which they say undermines the principle that aid should be distributed independently of the parties to a conflict, based on need.

“Humanitarian assistance must not be politicised or militarised,” said Christian Cardon, chief spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters the UN has a sound plan “to get aid to a desperate population” and that Israel was allowing it to deliver relief, but with a lot of obstacles.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2025