Israel blames Hamas for not allowing food and aid to reach the Gaza Strip. UN agencies blame Israel for killing 1,054 Palestinians since 27 May as they sought food from sites demarcated for distribution by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The UN also said 766 more were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites and 288 while trying to reach aid convoys up to Monday, 21 July.
The GHF uses private security contractors to distribute aid from sites in Israeli military zones. Israel and the US have defended this system of distribution and asserted that this was necessary to prevent Hamas from stealing the food.
Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) briefed Israeli media to claim that soldiers had been firing on aid-seekers because of the unmanageable surge of people and the fear that armed Hamas fighters could be among them. It seemed that they suggested that it was genuine fear that was driving the IDF from killing aid-seekers.
Not only has the UN rubbished such claims, stating that there is no evidence offered by Israel of Hamas systematically diverting aid for itself, but video evidence has shown that Israeli forces were using drones to hunt and murder aid-seekers, including a child and a woman, as they searched for food and water in Gaza City.