Chaos erupts on first day of US-backed aid distribution in Gaza after weeks of hunger

Videos from a distribution site showed large crowds storming the facilities, tearing down some of the fencing and appearing to climb over barriers designed to control the flow of aid recipients.

Thousands of Palestinians overran a newly established aid site in southern Gaza on Tuesday that is part of a controversial new Israeli- and US-approved aid distribution mechanism that began on Tuesday after months of blockade. Videos from the distribution site in Tel al-Sultan, run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), showed large crowds storming the facilities, tearing down some of the fencing and appearing to climb over barriers designed to control the flow of the crowd. A diplomatic official called the chaos at the site “a surprise to no one.” An 11-week Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid has pushed the enclave’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians towards famine and into a deepening humanitarian crisis, with the first resumption of humanitarian aid trickling into the besieged enclave last week. The GHF acknowledged the pandemonium, saying “the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate. This was done in accordance with GHF protocol to avoid casualties.” A security source said American security contractors on the ground did not fire any shots and that operations would resume at the site on Wednesday. The Israel Defense Forces said their troops fired warning shots in the area outside the compound and that the situation was brought under control. They denied carrying out aerial fire toward the site.