Gaza [Gaza City], July 12: The U.N. rights office said on Friday it had recorded at least 798 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and near convoys run by other relief groups.
The GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a U.N.-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians trying to reach the GHF's aid hubs in zones where Israeli forces operate, the United Nations has called its aid model "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
"(From May 27) up until the seventh of July, we've recorded 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys," U.N. rights office (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing in Geneva.
The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, told Reuters the U.N. figures were "false and misleading".
It denies that deadly incidents have occurred at its sites.
"The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid site have been linked to U.N. convoys," a GHF spokesperson said.
"Ultimately, the solution is more aid. If the U.N. (and) other humanitarian groups would collaborate with us, we could end or significantly reduce these violent incidents."
The Israeli army told Reuters in a statement that it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimise friction between Palestinians and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
