Asia Pacific Report
Eight people were reported killed and others wounded when the Israeli army bombed the home of journalist Osama al-Arbid in the as-Saftawi area of northern Gaza today, Al Jazeera Arabic reports.
Al-Arbid reportedly survived the strike, with dramatic video showing him being pulled from the rubble of the house.
Medical sources said that at least 15 people in total had been killed by Israeli attacks since the early hours of today across the Strip.
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Large crowds gathered in chaotic scenes in southern Rafah as the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) opened its first aid distribution point, with thousands of Palestinians storming past barricades in desperation for food after a three-month blockade.
Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd during the chaos, with Gaza’s Government Media Office saying Israel’s military killed three people and wounded 46.
A spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said the images and videos from the aid points set up by GHF were “heartbreaking, to say the least”.
The UN and other aid groups have condemned the GHF’s aid distribution model, saying it does not abide by humanitarian principles and could displace people further from their homes.
People go missing in chaos
Amid the buzz of Israeli military helicopters overhead and gunfire rattling in the background, several people also went missing in the ensuing stampede, officials in Gaza said.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said Israeli forces around the area “opened live fire on starving civilians who were lured to these locations under the pretence of receiving aid”.
The Israeli military said its soldiers had fired “warning shots” in the area outside the distribution site and that control was re-established.
Gaza had been under total Israeli blockade for close to three months, since March 2.
Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Vall reported there was no evidence that Hamas had disrupted the aid distribution, as claimed by Israeli-sourced reports. He instead pointed to the sheer need — more than two million Palestinians live in Gaza.
“These are the people of Gaza, the civilians of Gaza, trying to get just a piece of food — just any piece of food for their children, for themselves,” he said.
More than 54,000 killed
Aid officials said that moving Palestinians southwards could be a “preliminary phase for the complete ousting” of Gaza’s population.
Last Sunday, hours before the GHF was due to begin delivering food, Jake Wood, the head of the controversial aid organisation, resigned saying he did not believe it was possible for the organisation to operate independently or adhere to strict humanitarian principles, reports Middle East Eye.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 54,056 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war in October 2023, which humanitarian aid groups and United Nations experts have described as a genocide.
Yemen’s Houthis claimed responsibility for two missile attacks on Israel, saying they came in response to the storming of occupied East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound a day earlier by Israeli settlers.
