UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was shocked by the humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, where the last pillars of salvation that keep people alive are about to collapse, said a spokesman for Guterres, quoted by Agence France-Presse.
“The Secretary-General strongly condemns the violence that continues in Gaza, including the shooting, killing and wounding of people trying to get food“, said the spokesman for Guterres – Stephane Dujarric.
At the same time, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, defined the new centers for providing humanitarian aid in Gaza as a “sadistic death trap“, reported DPA.
Lazzarini was referring to the centers of the organization Humanitarian Foundation for Gaza, which is supported by Israel and is a competitor to his agency. The Foundation has recently opened centers for humanitarian aid in the Palestinian enclave. But Palestinian media reports have emerged of Israeli attacks on people waiting in line in front of these centers. The Foundation centers are guarded by private American security companies, DPA recalls.
"Snipers open fire indiscriminately on the crowd, as if they had been given a license to kill. "This is a large-scale manhunt that is being carried out with complete impunity," Lazzarini told Ex.
"This cannot be the new norm. Humanitarian aid is not the work of mercenaries," he added.
The foundation has repeatedly denied reports of Israeli fire on those waiting in line, but the UN says hundreds of people have died around the foundation's humanitarian aid distribution centers since the end of May.
Israel introduced the new aid distribution mechanism, claiming that it would prevent "Hamas" from diverting humanitarian supplies.
Previously, the UN operated around 400 aid distribution points for around 2 million people in Gaza. Now these points are barely functioning, as Israel has almost completely blocked their supply, DPA notes.