A flawed attempt at delivering Gaza aid led to a wave of deaths

Gazan authorities say more than 100 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access aid

- Anat Peled, Karolina Jeznach & Suha Ma'ayeh

Israeli army officers and American military contractors looked on from their joint operations center late last month with concern. A new attempt to hand out food and other aid to thousands of hungry people in Gaza had just launched, and it was about to be overwhelmed.

A crowd surged through the newly constructed gates at the site in Rafah. Chaos and looting quickly followed.

Some 40 American contractors working for a private security company retreated. Outside the distribution center, Israeli troops opened fire to warn off the crowds.

It was the beginning of a cycle of dysfunction and violence that would play out repeatedly over the following days, derailing the latest attempt to get food into the hands of the people who most need it.

The events of May 27 exposed how the Israeli military and the new nongovernment group it is working with, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, were unprepared to deal with wide-scale hunger and desperation in the enclave after a year and a half of war.

An Israeli military official said the American contractors made a mistake by withdrawing and allowing the Rafah site to be destroyed. It hasn't reopened since.

A spokesperson from Safe Reach Solutions, a private U.S. company contracted by GHF to secure the aid, said that the retreat followed a protocol designed to safeguard lives. SRS is responsible for securing the aid sites, while the military secures the surrounding area, where the shootings have taken place.

Both sides have complained privately of coordination problems. Two weeks on, the organizers still haven't fully figured out how to make the initiative work.

At least five times last week, Israeli forces fired toward Gazans as they were heading to distribution sites, saying some people had deviated from an approved route and continued to approach troops. Gazan authorities say more than 100 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access aid.