US group distributing aid in Gaza reopens sites after deadly shootings

By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Alexander Cornwell

CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -A U.S.- and Israeli-backed organisation distributing aid in Gaza reopened two sites on Thursday, a day after halting work in response to a series of deadly shootings close to its operations.

The U.S.-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said 26 truckloads of desperately needed food were handed out at two sites in southern Gaza's Rafah area.

The GHF, which has been fiercely criticised by humanitarian organisations, including the United Nations, for alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week and had been running three sites earlier this week.

GHF's interim director John Acree said in a statement that the group was looking to open more sites, including in north Gaza, and "ensure safe and more efficient delivery of lifesaving aid".

The U.N. has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling. 

"The failure to provide urgent therapeutic feeding and health services for children places thousands of lives at immediate risk, and could result in unnecessary and continued loss of life," U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher told the Security Council in a note, seen by Reuters.

Meanwhile, Israel announced it had recovered the bodies of two dual-nationality Israeli-American hostages from Gaza. Gadi Hagi and his wife Judy Weinstein-Hagi were killed and taken to Gaza after Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war. Fifty-six hostages remain in captivity, with fewer than half still believed to be alive.

The Israeli military has intensified operations in Gaza since breaking a fragile ceasefire with Hamas in March, taking more territory with the government pushing to wipe out the Islamist militant group.

At least 20 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza on Thursday, including four journalists in a hospital in the enclave’s north, local health authorities said. The military said that it had targeted an Islamic Jihad militant who was operating a command-and-control centre.

The Hamas-run government media office says that 225 journalists in Gaza have been killed since the war began.

The renewed military campaign has further isolated Israel amid mounting international pressure. On Wednesday, a U.S. veto blocked a U.N. Security Council draft resolution, backed by the 14 other members, demanding an "immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire" and full, unrestricted aid access to Gaza.

Under global pressure, Israel allowed limited U.N.-led aid deliveries to resume on May 19. A week later, the relatively unknown GHF started a new aid distribution system that bypasses traditional relief agencies.

SERIES OF SHOOTINGS

The organisation halted distributions on Wednesday and said it was pressing Israeli forces to improve civilian safety beyond the perimeter of its operations after dozens of Palestinians were shot dead near the Rafah site over three consecutive days.

The Israeli military said on Sunday and Monday its soldiers had fired warning shots, while on Tuesday they also fired warning shots before firing towards Palestinians that it said were advancing towards troops. GHF has said that aid was safely handed out from its sites without any incident.

The U.S. organisation, which uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to transport aid to its distribution points inside Gaza, from where it is collected, has said that it has so far distributed 8.48 million meals.

The U.N. and international humanitarian groups refuse to work with the GHF because they say aid distribution is essentially controlled by Israel's military and forces the displacement of Palestinians by limiting distribution points to a few venues in central and southern Gaza. 

Footage released by the GHF this week showed hundreds of Palestinians crowding its site in Rafah, collecting aid from piles of stacked boxes without any clear system of distribution.

Muslims around the world will begin celebrating Eid al Adha from Thursday, a holiday typically marked by slaughtering livestock, but in Gaza food is scarce after nearly two years of war and Israeli siege.

AID DISTRIBUTION 

Israeli opposition lawmaker accused the government on Thursday of arming Palestinian militia perceived to be hostile to Hamas in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said later in a statement that Israel was acting "in various ways" on the recommendation of the security establishment. It did not deny Lieberman's accusation.

Israeli media reported that Israel had transferred weapons to Yasser Abu Shabab, a leader of a large clan in the Rafah area, now under full Israeli army control.

Abu Shabab previously said that he was building up a force to secure aid deliveries into some parts of Gaza.

Hamas security officials told Reuters Abu Shabab was wanted for "collaborating with the occupation against his people". They said Hamas forces had killed at least two dozen of his men before January in what they said were clashes with looters.

Israel has long accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies. On Wednesday, a Palestinian transport company contracted by U.N. agencies suspended operations indefinitely after an armed gang intercepted its aid trucks in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, killing one driver and injuring another.

The war in Gaza has raged since Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in Israel in the October 2023 attack and took 251 hostages back to the enclave, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. 

(Reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi in Cairo, Alexander Cornwell and Crispian Balmer in Jerusalem; additional reporting by Jana Choukeir in Dubai, Emily Rose in Jerusalem, Michelle Nichols in New York and Emma Farge in Geneva; editing by Philippa Fletcher, Sharon Singleton, Mark Heinrich and Tomasz Janowski)