Twenty killed in ‘crowd surge’ at Gaza aid site, GHF aid group says

Bbc News

#Israel #Gaza #BBCNews Twenty people trying to get food have been killed "amid a chaotic and dangerous surge" at an aid distribution centre in southern Gaza, the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) says.  Nineteen people were trampled to death and one was stabbed in the "tragic incident" at the GHF's site in the Khan Younis area, a statement said, adding that it believed the surge was "driven by agitators in the crowd" who were affiliated to Hamas.  It was not immediately possible to verify this. report. However, Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis earlier said it had received the bodies of 10 people who were killed due to "suffocation” after an aid site was closed by the GHF's US private security contractors.  Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/1rbfUog  For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news   #Israel #Gaza #BBCNews

Transcript

00:00We begin with some breaking news. The controversial U.S. and Israeli-backed

00:04Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has confirmed that 20 people were killed at one of its

00:09aid distribution sites earlier today. The GHF says most of the dead were trampled in a chaotic

00:16and dangerous surge at its site in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. It blames what it calls agitators

00:23in the crowd. Despite multiple reports of killings at GHF distribution points,

00:27this appears to be the first time the GHF has acknowledged an incident happening at one of

00:33its sites. Meanwhile, Gaza's health officials say 11 more people have been registered dead

00:39in different hospitals across the strip after Israeli military raids on several areas

00:44in the early morning hours. Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Israel says he's asked the

00:49Israeli government to aggressively investigate the killing by Jewish settlers of an American

00:55Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. Mike Huckabee insisted there must be accountability

01:00for what he called a criminal and terrorist attack. The 21-year-old man Saif Musalat from Florida

01:08was beaten to death last Friday in the town of Sinjil. The U.N. says there's been an increase

01:14in deadly attacks on Palestinians by settlers and Israeli security forces in the occupied West

01:21Bank. Well, let's go live to Jerusalem now and speak to our correspondents there, Yolande Nell.

01:26So, Yolande, this news breaking in the last hour or so from Gaza by the GHF. What can you tell us?

01:35So, the GHF put out a statement. It's unusual for it to be our main source of information,

01:41actually confirming deaths at one of its sites amid these controversial operations that have been going

01:47on in Gaza since late May. What we understand, most of those killed apparently trampled to death,

01:5519 of them, the GHF said. Another has been stabbed. And it is blaming what it calls agitators among the

02:02crowd and saying it has credible reason to believe that these were affiliated with Hamas, as many of

02:08them were armed. And it's also talking about misleading social media information that there's been

02:14in recent days, which it says has caused crowds to gather at closed sites. Now, of course,

02:21one of the reasons why the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is controversial is because it only

02:26operates in Israeli military zones. And we have had the U.N. saying that since it began its operations,

02:33more than 670 people have been killed close to these GHF sites. Another 200 killed close to other

02:43incoming aid convoys, with witnesses saying that in most cases, it's Israeli forces who are opening

02:49fire. And of course, the GHF was set up originally with Israel and the U.S. backing it, they said,

02:57to bypass Hamas, to reduce the control that Hamas has in Gaza. The U.N. from the outset refused to

03:05cooperate with the GHF, saying that the way in which it operates is unethical. It doesn't accord with

03:11humanitarian principles. And Yolande, looking at the situation in the occupied West Bank,

03:17the U.S. ambassador, Mike Huckabee, calling for accountability over the killing of an American

03:23Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. How likely is the Israeli government to react to this?

03:32I mean, this is getting a lot of media attention because it's well known, of course,

03:37in Israel that the ambassador, Mike Huckabee, is a long-time supporter of Israeli settlements

03:45in the West Bank. And he hasn't really been seen commenting publicly on this recent surge

03:53in violence by extremist settlers that there has been. Initially, it was said that it was quite

03:59muted the official U.S. response to the killing of Seyf Musallat at the hands of settlers on Friday.

04:07And there was also a Palestinian friend of this young man who was just 20, who was killed as well

04:15in this incident in Sinjal, which is just north of Ramallah. The family of Seyf Musallat,

04:21who lived in Florida, was over-visiting family during the summer, said that he was trying to

04:26protect the family's land from settlers trying to steal it. They have been calling for an

04:31investigation by the U.S. State Department. It's thought that is unlikely to happen because

04:36the U.S. wants to show that it has faith in Israel's legal system so far, though there have

04:42been no arrests for people suspected of murdering these two Palestinian men.

04:48Yoland, thank you. That's our Middle East correspondent Yoland now in Jerusalem there.

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