Gaza aid group opens 2nd distribution center, day after first site swarmed by crowds

The Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said Wednesday it had successfully opened its second aid distribution center in southern Gaza, after the launch of its first site a day earlier descended into chaos when crowds stormed the facility.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said Wednesday that at least one Palestinian was killed and 48 others were wounded the day before when shots were fired on the crowd that swarmed the first site, in Rafah.

The second site is also located in Rafah.

GHF “is continuing its operations today, opening another Safe Distribution Site and distributing aid without incident,” the organization said.

“The situation remains urgent. But every hour, more people are fed,” it added.

According to the foundation, both sites were now fully operational.

GHF said that the newly opened site delivered “all available aid without incident — approximately eight trucks’ worth.”

In total, GHF said it has distributed “approximately 14,550 food boxes,” or 840,262 meals across the two sites. Each box is intended to feed an average of 5.5 people for 3.5 days.

“Operations will continue scaling across all four sites, with plans to build additional sites across Gaza in the weeks ahead,” the foundation said.

On Tuesday, crowds of Palestinians broke through the fences around the first distribution site. An Associated Press journalist heard Israeli tank and gun fire, and saw a military helicopter firing flares.

The Israel Defense Forces said troops only fired warning shots into the air.

It was not yet known whether the death and the injuries were caused by Israeli forces, American private contractors securing the site, or other parties. The foundation said its military contractors had not fired on the crowd but “fell back” before resuming aid operations.

Footage of the event appeared chaotic amid the looting and the gunfire.

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Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Palestinian territories, told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday that 47 people were wounded, mostly by gunfire.

“From the information we have, there are about 47 people who have been injured” in Tuesday’s incident, Sunghay told the UN correspondents’ association.

He added that “most of those injured are due to gunshots” and based on the information he has, “it was shooting from the IDF.”

Sunghay stressed that his office was still assessing and gathering information on the full picture of events.

“The numbers could go up. We are trying to confirm what has happened to [the injured],” in terms of their condition, Sunghay added.

He also expressed concern about whether injured people would have access to medical aid in the devastated Strip.

A medical source in southern Gaza told AFP that after Tuesday’s stampede at the GHF site, “more than 40 injured people arrived at Nasser Hospital, the majority of them wounded by Israeli gunfire,” adding that at least one had died since.

The source added that “a number of other civilians also arrived at the hospital with various bruises.”

IDF spokesman Colonel Olivier Rafowicz told AFP, referring to the wounded civilians, “We are checking information from the UN. At the time we are speaking, we have no information on this matter.”

Israeli soldiers “fired warning shots into the air, in the area outside” the center managed by the GHF, he said, adding that “in no case [did they fire] towards the people.”

Rafowicz added that “Hamas is doing everything to prevent humanitarian aid.”

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18 aid trucks headed to North Gaza were looted in Nuseirat Market. Drivers were beaten, and 4 trucks were destroyed. pic.twitter.com/mzPKEzSwss

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) May 28, 2025

GHF on Wednesday denied that the site had been overrun or destroyed, and said it had “anticipated” coming under pressure “due to acute hunger and Hamas-imposed blockades, which create dangerous conditions outside the gates.”

“As in all emergency response situations, particularly in conflict zones, this type of reaction from stressed beneficiary populations is expected and we remain prepared to continue providing life-saving assistance should disruptions occur,” the group said.

There was reportedly more trouble overnight Tuesday, with footage circulating on social media showing dozens of Gazans taking control of a humanitarian aid truck that arrived in the Nuseirat area in central Gaza and unloading its contents.

According to reports, during the night, looters pillaged 18 trucks carrying aid that had been intended for the northern Gaza Strip, and beat the drivers. Four trucks were said to have been destroyed. It was not immediately clear if the trucks were operating under the GHF. Some aid distribution is still being carried out using previous systems.

Aid organizations had warned of the risk of looting by desperate civilians when aid was resumed.

War in the Palestinian enclave was triggered on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which rules Gaza, led a devastating invasion of southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

The incident in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip came days after the partial easing of a total aid blockade on the Palestinian territory that Israel imposed on March 2, leading to severe shortages of food and medicine.

Israel has said it means for the GHF to take over aid operations, to prevent Hamas from siphoning off supplies that are supposed to go to the general population.

The UN and other international organizations have withheld backing for the GHF, saying it fails to fulfill the principles of humanitarian work, won’t be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, and allows Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population. They have also warned of the risk of friction between Israeli troops and people seeking supplies.

“The new food distribution does not meet the needs,” Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the West Bank and Gaza, said on Wednesday. “There are four centers, most of them in the south, and one that is supposed to operate in central Gaza. We do not consider this humanitarian. Humanitarian means providing aid wherever people are.”

In a conversation with journalists, Whittall also addressed claims that UN-coordinated aid is reaching Hamas, saying that OCHA has “no evidence” of this being the case, and charged that any looting of aid has happened on Israel’s watch.

“We’re referring to aid that is in our possession, after it passes through gangs and reaches our warehouses in the Strip,” he said. “The real looting of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by gangs operating near the Kerem Shalom crossing, under the watch of Israeli forces at the site.”

Meanwhile, a humanitarian official told The Times of Israel anonymously that much of the food entering Gaza through the new mechanism requires at least minimal cooking, with fuel and hot water.

Currently, people in Gaza are gathering firewood to cook, but “it’s a challenge to prepare all the food that’s coming in,” the official said.

Regarding the aid that has been leaking into Gaza’s private sector — that is, reaching local markets and then sold for profit — he explained: “Earlier in the war, some supplies entered outside the UN system. Some ended up in the private sector, some were distributed through channels we’re not familiar with.”

“Today, a large portion of the aid that enters is looted by desperate people — crowds — not the organized looting we saw earlier.”

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, also reiterated his criticism on Wednesday.

“The model of aid distribution proposed by Israel does not align with core humanitarian principles,” Lazzarini said. “We have seen yesterday the shocking images of hungry people pushing against fences, desperate for food. It was chaotic, undignified and unsafe.”

“I believe it is a waste of resources and a distraction from atrocities,” he added, referring to civilian deaths during Israel’s air and ground war in the small coastal enclave. “We already have an aid distribution system that is fit for purpose.”

Israel says its military operations target only Hamas-led terrorists and accuses them of using civilians for cover.

Throughout the war, the UN and other aid groups have conducted a massive operation distributing food, medicine and other supplies to wherever Palestinians are located. Israel says GHF will replace that network.

In Geneva, Sunghay said, “We have raised numerous concerns with this mechanism.”

He said large parts of the Gazan population would not travel all the way to the far south to collect food — while the elderly, sick, disabled and those looking after children would not be able to do so in any case.

There were also concerns within the population that individuals coming to collect aid would be detained or not allowed to return to northern Gaza.

“This has happened in the past when the population has moved from the north to the south: while crossing checkpoints, they have been detained by the IDF,” Sunghay explained.

“For numerous reasons, this is not the viable solution for what we are facing in Gaza.”

Before the break-in at the aid center, GHF said that “approximately 8,000 food boxes have been distributed so far. Each box feeds 5.5 people for 3.5 days, totaling 462,000 meals.” GHF says it has established four hubs, two of which have begun operating. They are guarded by private security contractors and have chain-link fences channeling Palestinians into what resemble military bases, surrounded by large sand berms.

Israeli forces are stationed nearby, in what Israel refers to as the Morag Corridor, a military zone separating the southern city of Rafah, which is now mostly uninhabited, from the rest of the territory.