At least four Palestinians were killed after thousands of starving Gazans stormed a UN World Food Programme warehouse in Deir al-Balah in search of food.
Two people were crushed in the chaos and two were fatally shot, although it was not yet clear who had fired the bullets.
A Red Cross field hospital said it was treating women and children with gunshot wounds. Video footage captured crowds ripping apart the warehouse and scrambling for flour and supplies.
The UN World Food Programme said the humanitarian situation in Gaza had spiralled out of control after almost three months of Israeli blockade, with only limited aid allowed in recently.
“Hordes of hungry people broke into WFP’s al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, in search of food supplies that were pre-positioned for distribution,” the WFP said, describing the situation as “alarming and deteriorating”.
“Humanitarian needs have spiralled out of control after 80 days of complete blockade of all food assistance and other aid into Gaza. Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve.”
After 11 weeks under complete siege and a continuing Israeli blockade, hunger in Gaza has reached critical levels. Medics and aid workers have reported widespread malnutrition, with UN-run bakeries shutting down due to a lack of cooking gas and food prices soaring beyond reach.
Most people are struggling to find enough to eat as the humanitarian crisis deepens. The WFP noted that it had “consistently warned of alarming and deteriorating conditions on the ground and the risks imposed by limiting humanitarian aid to hungry people in desperate need of assistance”.
Israel started allowing limited aid into Gaza last week after the launch of a controversial private aid group backed by the US and Israel known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Bypassing the UN and using US security contractors, the group has set up distribution centres claiming to prevent aid theft by Hamas, an allegation the Palestinian militant group denies.
The UN has criticised the group as unworkable and unethical.
Palestinian health officials reported that Israeli troops had opened fire at a food distribution site set up by the controversial group in southern Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least three civilians and injuring 48 as large crowds gathered. The foundation dismissed the information as “totally false”. The UN didn’t confirm any deaths in the chaos, but said at least 47 Palestinians had suffered injuries, mostly from gunfire, during the aid distribution.
