The meeting of an Israeli plan supported through the United States to the distribution of aid in Gaza was plunged into chaos on Tuesday. Dozens were demolished through Israeli shots, while crowds have left food distribution.
Michel Martin, host:
Today marks the 600th of the Israel War in Gaza, introduced in reaction to the October 7 attack. Since the war, tens of thousands of other people have been killed, adding many others in Israeli air movements in recent days.
Steve Inskeep, Host:
Yesterday, yesterday, Israel implemented a new plan supported through the United States for the distribution of help to Gaza. Hungry crowds have invaded a place where food was destined to be distributed. Israel says it was a warning, while witnesses say that other people have been sacrificed there. In a few minutes, we will listen to a former Israeli prime minister who now says that his country commits war crimes. We start with the most recent news.
Martin: Register for us now to tell us what happened and more about this new plan is the NPR Aya Batrawy correspondent in Dubai. Hi, Aya. Thanks for registering again.
Aya Batrawy, byline: Thank you, Michel.
MARTIN: Could you start telling us what happened in Gaza in this distribution yesterday?
Batrawy: Yes. There are those two surrounding spaces that have been created for paintings up to several kilometers and choose food plots. And therefore, it occurs after 3 months of, almost 3 months of general blockade through Israel, without foods that enter the territory and the mavens saying that a lot of thousands of other people now face the famine. So, what happened on the first day of this new distribution formula supported through the United States is that thousands of other hungry people have invaded one of those surrounding spaces where American marketing specialists were preparing food boxes. Witnesses say that marketing specialists fled and that the crowd simply took everything they could, even the scrap. The businessmen, in a statement, said they collapsed according to the protocol. Witnesses say that an Israeli helicopter opened the chimney in the region, dispersing the crowd. Israel says that his troops have triggered a warning. Hospital officials told NPR that another 50 people were injured and were killed after shooting.
Martin: Was there a formula in position before the crowd that replicates this site?
Batrawy: Well, in a statement, Hamas says that this incident reflects Israel’s failure to handle the humanitarian crisis that has created intentionally. Israel says that its purpose is to maintain Hamas’ help. But we talked with witnesses in the box of this scene, who said there was no projection at all. Everyone can simply take food boxes. Abu Mahmoud Abaza (pH), who on the site to get food, spoke on the scene and says it chaotic.
Abu Mahmoud Abaza: (spoken language in English).
Batrawy: He says: “There was no distribution formula. It was chaos. ” He says: “No one asked identifiers or anything. ” He says: “People are hungry and there will have to be a more important way to obtain food. ” Once again, unlike the way in which the UN distributes food or used to distribute food in Gaza centers, with identifiers and lists of needy families, this formula had none of this. There were no projections or lists or clarity about who makes a decision that obtains assistance and who does not.
Martin: And what does Israel have of all this?
Batrawy: Well, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the system. He says it works.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Very hard for Hamas to steal it, especially because we guard this position. Well, we tried the first one. We’re going to put many today. There was some loss of control momentarily. Happily, we brought it back under control. We’re going to put many more of these.
BATRAWY: But one thing to note, too, Michel, is that he says the aim is not just to keep aid from Hamas but to push the entire population south. And Israel says from there, people can be relocated out of Gaza.
MARTIN: And so what do we know about the situation now? Are people getting food?
BATRAWY: Most people in Gaza are living off just one meal a day. It’s mostly just lentil soup. Aid groups are being blocked by Israel from bringing aid in at scale, and these aid organizations, like the U.N. and others, are refusing to take part in this new plan, saying it’s politicizing aid. The Trump administration, though, says it supports the plan and says the U.N. and other aid groups are wrong to criticize it. They say 8,000 boxes of food were distributed yesterday, although it’s unclear how much of that was actually just taken in the mayhem. You know, each box feeds around five to six people for just 3 1/2 days, but again, people have to walk for miles south to get this food. No food also has reached Gaza City. None of these distribution sites are in the north. And so, you know, you have several trucks of food just yesterday night carrying food intended for Gaza City for the first time in months taken by hungry crowds in central Gaza right off the trucks.
MARTIN: That is NPR’s Aya Batrawy. Aya, thank you.
BATRAWY: Thank you, Michel.