Starving Palestinians storm US aid facility as distribution operation breaks down

Palestinians clamoured for aid and gunfire rang out in chaotic scenes, as a controversial US-Israeli aid distribution scheme turned to shambles.

Journalists in the besiged Gaza Strip said hungry and beleagured residents forced to stand outside a facility holding aid rushed inside because of delays conducting detailed security checks on recepients.

According to Israeli army sources cited by Israeli media, Americans affiliated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had to be rescued once they lost control of the facility.

The Israeli military denied firing on the crowds but gunfire was heard at the scene, possibly as a result of warning shots fired by American mercenaries securing the facility.

There have been no reports of deaths or injuries so far.

The Gaza government media office said: “Today’s events are clear evidence of the occupation’s failure to manage the humanitarian crisis it has deliberately created.

“Establishing ghettos for distributing limited aid is a deliberate policy aimed at sustaining starvation and dismantling society.

“We hold the occupation fully responsible – both legally and morally – for the collapse of food security in Gaza.”

A breakdown in security at an aid distribution center in Rafah, southern Gaza, led to a deadly stampede on Monday, after militants affiliated with an American private security company reportedly lost control of the crowd pic.twitter.com/d1KntpNQsi

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 27, 2025

The chaos comes as starvation looms across Gaza, following an Israeli blockade on all aid that began on 2 March.

Earlier, before the breakdown of order, a group of men carrying large cardboard boxes walk away from the camera along a gravel path flanked by fences – an area resembling a militarised zone.

‘Besides the fact that we reject the principle entirely, even if we wanted to collect the aid, we would have to travel more than 25 kilometres round trip’

– Israa Mushtaha, Gaza resident 

These were the first images released by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), showcasing what it said was the launch of its food aid operations in the Gaza Strip on Monday.

However, Palestinians on the ground and across social media had questioned the authenticity of the operation.

Some criticised it as a “staged” scene to encourage others to engage with the new aid distribution amid growing criticism of the GHF.

The scandal-plagued organisation is a US-Israeli initiative designed to bypass the UN’s infrastructure for aid delivery and distribution in the strip. 

GHF emerged in the public eye earlier this month as Israeli officials began briefing the UN and international NGOs about their new detailed plan to take over – and restrict – aid distribution in the besieged strip.

Senior humanitarian officials and aid organisations have condemned the GHF, arguing that a new mechanism is unnecessary.

Instead, they say Israel must stop obstructing the existing UN-led system and allow aid to flow unimpeded.

Electronic gates

Mohammad Bassam Daher, a television cameraman and multimedia editor, said the men featured in the initial photos were unlikely to be genuine aid recipients, suggesting the images were released for “a particular purpose”.

“By closely examining the photos, translating and analysing them as raw information, it becomes clear they were staged,” Daher told Middle East Eye.

“The type of clothing the young men are wearing does not suggest they’ve come from tents they’ve been living in for nearly 600 days. They’re also wearing branded shoes that are simply not available in Gaza. Furthermore, their faces are deliberately concealed. The photos were taken from multiple angles, yet none of them show the individuals’ faces.”

Daher noted that the images lacked the presence of large crowds, which would be expected at any genuine aid distribution site.

‘They know people are so starved that even if they handed out plain bread, people would still queue for it’

– Israa Mushtaha, Gaza resident 

“No official notice was issued to residents of Gaza City, the central areas, or Khan Younis in the south, informing them to collect aid parcels under their names or ID numbers,” he added.

“Therefore, I believe the individuals shown in these images are either drivers or people involved in securing the aid operation on the Israeli side.”

However, just hours later, new images emerged showing Palestinians queuing for aid after the foundation commenced actual distribution.

The photos showed hundreds of people lined up at one of GHF’s distribution sites near the so-called “Morag Corridor” in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

At the site, people saw signs that read: “You are now in a humanitarian zone. Do not approach the beach or residential buildings.”

Recipients are required to enter through an electronic gate, where they are met by Arabic-speaking individuals wearing vests marked “Security”, before being handed a box, according to those who collected the aid. 

‘They didn’t need to persuade anyone’

The parcels reportedly contains basic food items, including rice, salt, wheat flour, beans, canned goods, pasta, and cooking oil.

“When they started talking about the new Israeli mechanism, and how it’s largely opposed by the United Nations and Palestinians, we assumed the first round of aid distribution would be designed to generate interest in collecting the parcels,” Israa Mushtaha, a resident of Gaza City, told Middle East Eye.

She said she initially expected the parcels to contain items such as cheese or meat – foods that have been absent from Gaza for months – to draw large crowds. This, she suggested, would allow the Israeli authorities to photograph the scene and promote the narrative that they were facilitating aid access.

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“But it turns out they didn’t need to persuade anyone,” she said. 

“They’re distributing very limited aid, but they know people are so starved that even if they handed out plain bread, people would still queue for it.”

Israel sealed off Gaza’s borders on 2 March, blocking the entry of all international aid and goods, including basic food items, hygiene supplies, and fuel.

On 1 April, all 25 bakeries supported by the World Food Programme (WFP) across the Gaza Strip shut down due to the lack of wheat flour and fuel.

Mushtaha says her family will not go to collect the food parcel.

“Besides the fact that we reject the principle entirely, even if we wanted to collect the aid, we would have to travel more than 25 kilometres round trip,” she told MEE.

“With the fuel shortage and Israel’s ban on cars crossing Rashid Street from Gaza to the southern areas, transportation is nearly impossible. The trip just isn’t worth it.”

Residents noted that while the parcels included items that had disappeared from Gaza’s markets due to the complete border closure – such as wheat flour – they still lacked essentials for children, most of whom suffer from malnutrition, including milk and nutritional supplements.

‘Sustaining a state of hunger’

GHF is an Israeli-backed organisation established in early 2025 to manage a new model of humanitarian aid distribution in the Gaza Strip.

It was incorporated in Switzerland in February 2025, with a US-based counterpart also registered.

The organisation presented itself as an independent and neutral body, aiming to deliver aid directly to Palestinian civilians through a network of four secure distribution sites in southern and central Gaza.

According to GHF, the aid distribution sites are managed by private US security and logistics firms, including UG Solutions and Safe Reach Solutions (SRS), that would be responsible for securing distribution hubs and overseeing vehicle checkpoints.

Both SRS and UG Solutions have faced scrutiny regarding their legitimacy and transparency. Critics, including Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, have suggested that these entities might be “shell companies” designed to obscure Israeli government involvement and funding in the aid process.

‘We cannot tell those who have been starved and have nothing to eat not to go. Hunger is stronger than awareness’

– Anas Madhoun, Gaza resident 

In Gaza, local businessmen and logistics companies “firmly rejected” participating in the distribution mechanism.

In an official letter addressed to GHF’s partner, Safe Reach Solutions (SRS), the Gaza-based company Skills and Quality Group stated it would not take part in the project, citing “serious concerns about the nature of the initiative and the absence of clarity as to whether it is genuinely humanitarian”.

“Out of our moral and national responsibility, we therefore refuse to participate in any initiative that could, directly or indirectly, be used to harm the Palestinian cause or pave the way for its erasure,” the letter read.

In another statement, the al-Khuzundar family in Palestine publicly disavowed its member, Mohammad Mohsen al-Khuzundar after his name was linked to a US company involved with GHF.

The family condemned his role in what they called an “inhumane scheme” to tighten Israel’s siege on Gaza under the guise of humanitarian zones, and declared this involvement as complicity in “engineered starvation” and the stripping of Palestinian dignity.

“Many of the people who went to collect the aid would normally reject such a mechanism imposed by the Israeli occupation on principle,” Anas Madhoun, a resident of Gaza City, told MEE.

“But the occupation has deliberately pushed them to this point, leaving them with no other option, either submit or die of hunger.”

The 29-year-old said that the Israeli mechanism has “clear motives” to project an image that “the occupation is distributing humanitarian aid” to avoid criticism. 

“We are aware and understand the policy which is essentially about sustaining the state of hunger and keeping people dependent on a weekly food parcel,” he added.

“But we cannot tell those who have been starved and have nothing to eat not to go. Hunger is stronger than awareness.”