GENEVA
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Friday issued a scathing condemnation of the new aid distribution system operating in Gaza, warning it has turned into a "killing field" where over 400 desperate people have died in the past month.
"The new aid distribution system has become a killing field," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote in a post on X. "Over 400 starving people reported killed since it started operating just a month ago. They were shot at while trying to access food for themselves and their families."
He was referring to the Israeli attacks that happened near points of its new aid distribution mechanism, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation— a new Israeli plan to coordinate aid distribution in Gaza, which was broadly criticized by UN agencies and humanitarian actors.
Lazzarini said testimonies emerging from the ground indicate that soldiers opened fire "indiscriminately" as crowds gathered for food. "In the chaos, children were separated from their families: disoriented and traumatized," he added.
Blasting the system as incompatible with humanitarian principles, the UNRWA chief said it was "not designed to address hunger and is often justified using the pretext of aid diversion that is yet to be substantiated let alone proven."
"Instead of 'orderly food distribution,' this system brings dehumanization, chaos and death," he said. "This cannot become the new norm."
Calling the current setup an "abomination," Lazzarini urged a return to UN-led humanitarian deliveries, including through UNRWA, and called for an immediate ceasefire and the lifting of the siege to restore the flow of basic supplies such as food, medicine, soap, and fuel.