Key points
- Deaths have been recorded due to stampede of citizens at aid distribution points: Gaza Health Ministry
- GHF acknowledged that 20 people had been killed at its distribution point in Khan Younis
- GHF has been engulfed in criticism for setting up sites that UN describes as “death traps”
ISLAMABAD: Gaza’s Health Ministry has said that at least 21 Palestinians have been killed, including 15 from a stampede and suffocation due to tear gas being fired at Palestinians seeking food, at one of the GHF distribution hubs in Khan Younis, Al Jazeera reported.
“For the first time, deaths have been recorded due to suffocation and the intense stampede of citizens at aid distribution centers,” Al Jazeera reported the ministry as saying.
“Deliberately”
Health Ministry accused the Israeli army and the US of “deliberately” committing “massacres against the starving people in a systematic manner”.
The ministry issued the statement following the US- and Israel-backed GHF acknowledged this morning that 20 people had been killed at its distribution point in Khan Younis.
“Death traps”
Al Jazeera reported that since it began distributing aid in late May, the GHF has been engulfed in criticism for setting up sites that the UN describes as “death traps”.
AFP reported that on Tuesday, the UN said it had recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food, including 674 “in the vicinity of GHF sites”, since late May.
Last week, UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters that “most of the injuries are gunshot injuries”.
