June 12 (UPI) — At least five Palestinians working for the Israel-U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation were killed and several injured after Hamas gunmen allegedly opened fire on a bus bringing them to one of its distribution hubs in southern Gaza.
GHF said the workers were among at least two dozen aboard the bus Wednesday night when they were killed west of the town of Khan Younis and that it feared others had been abducted.
“We are still gathering facts, but what we know is devastating: there are at least five fatalities, multiple injuries, and fear that some of our team members may have been taken hostage,” GHF said in a statement.
“We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,” it said, adding that GHF personnel and civilians receiving aid had been repeatedly threatened in recent days.
Israel Defense Forces said the incident vindicated its warnings that Hamas was intent on maintaining its stranglehold on the distribution of aid in the territory.
“We warned the world however we could: Hamas will stop at nothing to maintain control and prevent the effective delivery of aid. After their numerous attempts at spreading misinformation regarding the centers, intimidating the workers, and instigating violence next to the centers, Hamas chose murder and violence,” the IDF said on X.
The new system of distributing Gaza humanitarian assistance that bypasses the United Nations and international aid NGO’s has been plagued by problems since it began operating May 26.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry claimed 223 people have been killed and more than 1,500 injured trying to get to GHF’s three designated hubs where food parcels are handed out daily, many of them shot by IDF troops. Israel denies opening fire on civilians, saying Hamas, which was intent on stopping people from accessing aid, was responsible.
On Wednesday, a hospital in Khan Younis claimed Israeli forces opened fire near one of the food distribution centers in Rafah, killing 14 people, while 25 were killed near a convoy of aid trucks and another GHF hub in the Netzarim corridor — a central Israeli military buffer zone that dissects Gaza into two halves — according to two Gaza City hospitals.
The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency again blamed Israeli forces, saying they opened fire but other reports said people were run over by trucks and that drivers and civilians were shot by unidentified Palestinian gunmen.
The IDF acknowledged firing toward suspects it said were moving toward its positions but insisted that only warning shots were discharged.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the latest incident but on Sunday warned its forces had “full authority and mandate to strike decisively against any entity or individual collaborating with the enemy’s plans or with any rogue, criminal, or traitorous elements that violate the law and the traditions of our people.”
“All agents, thieves, and armed criminal gangs are considered legitimate targets for the resistance and its security apparatus,” said the group, which is designated as a terror organisation by the United States, European Union, Britain and most Western countries.
GHF’s Facebook page announced Thursday that two of its three hubs, in the Tal Sultan neighborhood of Rafah and the “Saudi” district, were closed. It was unclear whether they had been closed after aid parcels had been handed out for the day, or had never opened in the first place.
On Wednesday evening, GHF posted a notice on the site, saying both sites would open to distribute boxes of aid at 12 noon, providing detailed instructions on how to get to the sites and urging people to avoid approaching or gathering outside the compounds ahead of time.
The new aid distribution system was put in place amid fears of a looming famine in Gaza after Israel imposed an aid blockade in March, saying it was necessary to prevent aid being brought in by the U.N. and international aid charities from being stolen by Hamas.
