The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on Wednesday said it had “credible reason” to believe that armed men affiliated with the Hamas terrorist group were responsible for an incident earlier in the day in which 20 Palestinians in Gaza were trampled to death at one of its food distribution centers.
“We are heartbroken to confirm that 20 people died this morning in a tragic incident in [the southern city of] Khan Yunis,” said GHF.
“Our current understanding is that 19 of the victims were trampled and one was stabbed amid a chaotic and dangerous surge, driven by agitators in the crowd,” the statement continued. “We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd—armed and affiliated with Hamas—deliberately fomented the unrest.”
GHF reported that, for the first time since the start of its operations in late May, its personnel had identified multiple firearms in the crowd of aid seekers, one of which was confiscated. During the incident, an American staff member was also threatened at gunpoint.
The organization added that the incident followed a “troubling pattern” that had emerged in recent days.
“False messages about aid site openings, including at SDS4 (Wadi Gaza) and the long-closed SDS1 (Tal Sultan), have circulated widely on Telegram and other platforms, fueling confusion, driving crowds to closed sites, and inciting disorder,” the agency said.
GHF issued a warning late on Tuesday night to ignore this misinformation and to refer only to its official channels.
Last week, the Washington Free Beacon reported that U.S. State Department documents confirm that Hamas is targeting GHF personnel through a campaign of bounties and violence.
A June 30 cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem states that the terrorist group has “formally placed bounties” on U.S. and Palestinian workers of GHF, a joint U.S.-Israeli aid effort to replace the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
The bounties imperil “Palestinian workers and the U.S. security contractors helping to protect the GHF distribution sites,” the cable, marked “sensitive but unclassified,” reads, according to the Free Beacon’s report.
GHF on Tuesday said that it had delivered almost 1.3 million meals to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip the previous day, bringing the total amount to more than 74 million meals distributed since it began operations in May.
Distribution at all sites ran “smoothly” and ensured “the protection of all civilians present,” the organization said, adding that it had received “an overwhelming response from organizations and individuals” to collaborate on providing assistance.
GHF also denied claims made in a July 11 statement from the U.N. human-rights office regarding the body’s “concerns” about the number of “casualties of Palestinians seeking aid, tying them to GHF sites.”
