‘Unacceptable’ – UN Says Nearly 800 Palestinians Killed at GHF Aid Sites
“We raised concerns about atrocity crimes having been committed and the risk of further atrocity crimes being committed.”
The UN Human Rights Office (OCHR) said on Friday it had recorded 798 killings of Palestinians, mostly due to gunshots, near aid distribution points run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
“Up until the 7th of July, we’ve recorded 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the GHF sites and 183, presumably on the routes of aid convoys,” OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said at a press conference in Geneva.
“This is nearly 800 people who have been killed while trying to access aid. Mostly the injuries are gunshot injuries,” Shamdasani stressed.
#Gaza: Up until 7 July, we have recorded 798 killings of those trying to access aid.
People must be able to access essential supplies such as food and medicine in a safe and dignified manner. pic.twitter.com/AjAoeBAKa1
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) July 11, 2025
‘Atrocity Crimes’
Since the US and Israeli-backed GHF began operating from aid sites on May 27, it has faced criticism from the UN as well as other humanitarian organizations, condemning it as “death traps” for the starving Palestinian population.
“Where people are lining up, for essential supplies such as food and medicine and where they are being attacked, as my colleagues have said, they have a choice between being shot or being fed. This is unacceptable. And it’s continuing,” Shamdasani stated.
After the so called GHF took over aid delivery in Gaza they replaced over 400 distribution aid sites with just four. Now they’re reducing that to One site for 2 million people keeping Palestinians on the brink of starvation pic.twitter.com/e8mXvjhex1
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 11, 2025
She also raised concern about the overall death toll in Gaza, saying “a large proportion are women and children.”
“We raised concerns about atrocity crimes having been committed and the risk of further atrocity crimes being committed,” Shamdansai emphasized.
For its part, the Government Media Office in Gaza said on Thursday that the number of people killed at aid distribution centers had risen to 773, with 5,101 injured and 41 missing, all of them civilians starving under the Israeli blockade.
‘Graveyard of Starving’ – UNRWA
Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said Gaza “has become the graveyard of children starving people.”
He stated on X: “No way out. Their choice is between 2 deaths: starvation or being shoot at. The most cruel machiavellian scheme to kill, in total impunity.”
🛑 800 starving people killed: shot at while trying to get little food in #Gaza.
➡️ During the ceasefire, the UN provided at scale dignified assistance. The trend of deepening starvation was reversed.
🛑 Today, there are -at best- four very far distribution points in…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 11, 2025
“Inaction silence are complicities,” Lazzarini noted, adding “Inaction will bring more chaos. Time to act is overdue.”
He pointed out that there are currently “at best” four “very far distribution points in comparison to 400 when the UN was in charge.”
“A functioning system was replaced with a deadly scam to force the displacement of people+ deepen the collective punishment of the Palestinians in Gaza,” Lazzarini stressed.
Unsubstantiated Allegations
Lazzarini said lifesaving supplies are expiring on at least 6,000 UNRWA trucks packed with food, medicines and other basics “waiting for the green light to enter Gaza for the past months.”
The UNRWA chief also stated that allegations that aid was “diverted to Hamas” have not been “raised in official meetings, never proven never substantiated.”
EU Says No Reports of Hamas Stealing Aid, Describes GHF as ‘Tool of Conflict’
Thirty years ago, he added, “we reiterated ‘never again’ in Srebrenica. Let’s not fail once again.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres previously affirmed that the UN will not participate in any aid distribution plan in Gaza that “fails to respect international law and humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.”
Staggering Death Toll
Since Israel’s reneging on the ceasefire on March 18, it has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip through a bloody and ongoing aerial bombardment.
On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 57,000, wounding more than 137,000, with over 14,000 still missing.
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation ‘Responsible’ for Aid Point ‘Death Traps’
Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.
Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.
(The Palestine Chronicle)