UN chief says US-backed Gaza aid operation unsafe

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that hungry people in Gaza seeking food must not face a “death sentence” as controversy swirls around a new USand Israeli-backed distribution system.

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“People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence,” Guterres told reporters, without explicitly naming the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, whose operations have led to near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people desperate to get food.

“Any operation that channels desperate civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. It is killing people,” Guterres added.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies.

GHF has denied that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points.

Starting in March, Israel blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza for more than two months, leading to warnings of that the entire population of the occupied Palestinian territory is at risk of famine.

The United Nations says Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is illegal under international law.

The densely populated Gaza Strip has been largely flattened by Israeli bombing since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas.