Gaza aid sites closed as Israel declares ‘combat zones’

Gaza aid distribution centres will be closed for the day on Wednesday, and the Israeli military warned that roads leading to them had been designated as “combat zones”.

The move comes after Palestinian health officials and witnesses said Israeli forces fired on people heading towards an aid distribution site on Tuesday, killing at least 27 people, in the third such incident in three days.

Palestinians carry bags filled with food and humanitarian aid provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Khan Younis.Credit: AP

The Israeli army said it fired “near a few individual suspects” who left the designated route, approached its forces and ignored warning shots, and said it was looking into reports of casualties. It has previously denied firing on civilians or blocking them from reaching the aid sites.

The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said its distribution centres would be closed for a day for “update, organisation, and efficiency improvement work”.

“Please do not go to the site and follow general instructions. Operations will resume on Thursday”, the group said in a post on Facebook.

The GHF has also announced its new executive chairman as an American Christian leader who previously backed US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the US to take over Gaza.

Reverend Dr Johnnie Moore, a former evangelical adviser to Trump, replaces previous GHF chief Jake Wood, who resigned last week saying the organisation could not fulfil the principles of “humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence”.

In a statement posted on X, Moore said the group “believes that serving the people of Gaza with dignity and compassion must be the top priority”.

“The old way of doing things just won’t get it done,” he said.

The GHF sites were set up inside Israeli military zones under a system the group says is designed to circumvent Hamas, which has been accused of siphoning off and stockpiling aid.

The group has said there has been no violence in or around their sites but has acknowledged that the IDF was investigating whether civilians were wounded “after moving beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone”.

The United Nations has rejected the GHF operation, saying it doesn’t address Gaza’s mounting hunger crisis and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon. Near-daily shootings have unfolded since the new aid plan started operating.

The IDF said it fired warning shots at suspects who approached its forces on Sunday and Monday, when health officials and witnesses said 34 people were killed.

The UN Security Council is also set to vote on Thursday (AEST) on a demand for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and humanitarian access across Gaza, which is experiencing severe food shortages after Israel blockaded the territory for 11 weeks.

“It is unacceptable. Civilians are risking – and in several instances losing – their lives just trying to get food,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said, describing the GHF’s aid distribution model as “a recipe for disaster”.

Smoke rises over the ruins of destroyed buildings in northern Gaza on Tuesday.Credit: AP

At least 27 people were killed on Tuesday, according to Zaher al-Waheidi, the head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department.

Hisham Mhanna, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said its Rafah field hospital had received 184 wounded people, 19 of whom were declared dead on arrival and eight more who later died of their wounds.

The 27 dead were transferred to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Yasser Abu Lubda, a 50-year-old displaced Palestinian from Rafah, said the shooting on Tuesday started at about 4am in the city’s Flag Roundabout area, about one kilometre from one of the GHF distribution sites. He said he saw several people killed or wounded.

The entire area is an Israeli military zone that journalists have no access to outside army-approved embeds.

‘Indiscriminate’ shooting

Neima Aaraj, a woman from Khan Younis, gave a similar account, saying the shooting by Israeli forces was “indiscriminate”. She said she managed to reach the hub but returned empty-handed.

“There was no aid there,” she said.

Palestinians mourn during the funeral of Reem al-Akhras, who was killed while heading to an aid distribution hub, in Khan Younis on Tuesday.Credit: AP

Rasha Nahal, another witness, described “gunfire from all directions”. She said she counted more than a dozen dead and several wounded along the road. She said she also found no aid when she arrived at the distribution hub, and that Israeli forces “fired at us as we were returning”.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that a leading US management consulting firm hired to help design the GHF program and run its business operations withdrew its team operating on the ground in Tel Aviv.

A spokesperson for the firm, Boston Consulting Group, said the company had terminated its contract with the GHF and placed one of the senior partners leading the project on leave, pending an internal review.

Three people closely connected to both the GHF and BCG told the Post it would be difficult for the foundation to continue to function without the consultants who helped create it.

In its first weeks of operation, the GHF has also struggled with the ongoing refusal of the United Nations and humanitarian partners to support it.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people hostage in the October 7, 2023 attack into Israel that ignited the war. They are still holding 58 hostages, a third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The ministry is led by medical professionals but reports to the Hamas-run government.

Its toll is seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts, though Israel has challenged its numbers.

Israel says it has killed some 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

About 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the October 7 attack, including more than 400 during the fighting inside Gaza.

AP, Reuters

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