In Gaza, 'They're Prepared to Die for a Bagful of Rice'

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1. Foreseeable flaws in Gaza aid project led to shooting of Palestinians

Full article at link

https://wapo.st/4lO1UBj


"JERUSALEM — The repeated fatal shootings of Palestinians seeking food at distribution centers in Gaza since late May are an outcome of the aid project’s flawed design, which drew enormous crowds and brought them in proximity to Israeli troops, who opened fire on multiple occasions, according to experts in humanitarian aid programs, witness testimony and visual evidence.

Shortly before the centers opened, the United Nations warned in a briefing paper that the model — developed by a group of former U.S. intelligence and defense officials and business executives working in close consultation with Israel — could lead to violence sparked by overcrowding. “Israeli forces or private military security companies may use force to control crowds,” the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

... Since the American-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) opened the first of four distribution centers in late May in areas controlled by the Israeli military, Palestinians have been shot in the vicinity of the sites nearly every day, killing more than 400 people and wounding thousands, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Post found that this violence was in part the result of ignoring long-established norms for aid distribution in Gaza and the predictable consequence of dynamics baked into a program that repeatedly culminated, witnesses said, in Israeli forces firing toward crowds..."