ISTANBUL

Two American aid workers were injured Saturday when grenades were thrown at an Israel- and US-backed food distribution site in southern Gaza, local media and aid groups reported.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said on X that the incident occurred at an aid distribution site in Khan Younis, where two American staff members sustained non-fatal injuries.

According to Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, the Israeli army has opened an investigation to determine “whether the injuries were caused by hostile activity.”

The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the attack was “a hostile act suspected to have been carried out by Hamas gunmen by throwing a hand grenade.” The Palestinian group has not issued a statement responding to the claims.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a highly controversial Israel-backed US mechanism operating in the Gaza Strip since May 27, where at least 613 aid-seeking Palestinians were reportedly killed at or near its aid-distribution sites by the Israeli army within two months, according to the spokesperson of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Ravina Shamdasani.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and over 170 NGOs, including Oxfam, Amnesty International, and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), signed a joint statement that calls for an end to “the deadly Israeli distribution scheme, including the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” and a return to UN-led coordination mechanisms.

Despite international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a genocidal war on Gaza, killing more than 57,300 Palestinians, most of them women and children, since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.