UN chief says US-backed Gaza aid operation is unsafe, killing people

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says that the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is “inherently unsafe,” giving a blunt assessment: “It is killing people.”

The small number of sites located in militarized zones has forced Gazans to walk long distances while crossing IDF lines to pick up aid. On a near-daily basis, the IDF has acknowledged opening fire on Gazans it claims had strayed off pre-approved access routes or used them at the wrong times. A Haaretz report from earlier today revealed that troops have been ordered to deliberately use live fire against hungry Gazans, even though they don’t pose a threat.

Guterres also says UN-led humanitarian efforts are being “strangled,” aid workers themselves are starving, and Israel, “as the occupying power,” is required to agree to and facilitate aid deliveries into and throughout the Palestinian enclave.

“People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence,” Guterres tells reporters.