ISTANBUL

Several Palestinians were injured by Israeli army fire when starving Gazans rushed into a US-backed aid distribution facility in the southern city of Rafah on Tuesday, local authorities said.

“The Israeli occupation’s plan for aid distribution in the so-called buffer zone has failed disastrously,” Gaza’s government media office said in a statement.

It said Israeli forces opened fire after thousands of starving Palestinians rushed into the aid distribution facility.

The statement asserted: “What happened today is irrefutable evidence of the occupation’s failure to manage the humanitarian crisis it deliberately created through a policy of starvation, siege, and bombardment.”

The office stated: “Establishing buffer-zone ghettos to distribute limited aid under the threat of death, gunfire, and hunger does not reflect a genuine intention to address the crisis, but rather embodies a systematic political engineering aimed at prolonging starvation and dismantling Palestinian society.”

The media office held Israel fully responsible for the collapse of food access in Gaza, condemning its use of aid as “a weapon of war and a tool of blackmail,” and its continued prevention of aid entry through crossings and international organizations.

It called on the United Nations and the Security Council “to act urgently to stop the crime, open the crossings without restrictions, and enable humanitarian organizations to carry out their missions independently of the occupation’s interference and agendas.”

The office also demanded that independent international investigation committees be dispatched to document the crime of starvation and bring Israeli leaders to justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said American workers affiliated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation were evacuated from Rafah after the storming.

The newspaper Israel Hayom further reported that the Israeli army deployed forces to the distribution site after the US workers evacuated.

Israel has kept Gaza crossings closed to food, medical, and humanitarian aid since March 2, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis in the enclave, according to government, human rights, and international reports.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing over 54,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 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 crimes against defenseless civilians in the enclave.