She walked for hours in hope of getting food. Israeli forces killed her, family says

It was 8 p.m., just after sunset, when Reem Zeidan, 42, left for a help distribution site with two of his eight children, Mervat, 20, and Ahmad, 12. Zeidan wanted to get a bag of flour to make bread. Her 5 -year -old daughter Razan hoped cookies. Zeidan brought a blue backpack to transport everything she could bring home.

The distribution would only open the next morning on June 3, but the walk along a sea road, From Khan Younis, where they were sheltered in a tent, in Rafah, where the help site was, would take hours. The first day when the distribution site opened its doors, Zeidan had arrived at 9 am, too late to recover food. Another day, she turned around when she heard that there were shots near the site.

At that time, there had already been several incidents in which Palestinians were killed when they asked for help from Gaza after the launch of a new distribution program just over a week earlier, led by a group supported by the United States and Israel recently called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

The United Nations, which had previously managed a network of hundreds of aid distribution points in Gaza, but have since been sidelined by Israel, warned that the reduction in aid distribution to the four GHF sites would be chaotic, insufficient and dangerous. Since the start of GHF operations on May 26, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces when he was trying to reach his aid distribution sites, according to the local ministry of health and witnesses.

The Israeli army recognizes participation in many of these incidents, often claiming that soldiers are caughting or against people who seem to be a threat or are in unauthorized areas. The GHF says that attacks occur outside their distribution sites.

Most deadly incidents took place while the Palestinians went to GHF distribution sites, according to Palestinian health authorities and witnesses. At least one incident took place while the Palestinians were waiting to collect food on a United Nations site, the organization said.

Zeidan would soon join the dozens killed as they fought to get food, highlighting the traps of a new aid system in which tens of thousands of Palestinians must travel long distances – often often Through areas controlled by the Israeli army – to have a chance to obtain a fraction of distributed limited aid.

After walking for about five hours, Zeidan, Mervat and Ahmad had reached a seaside area north of Rafah known as “fresh fish”.