Food distribution system for Palestinians ‘like hunger games’, says archbishop

The Archbishop of Jerusalem has likened the “horrifying” food distribution system for Palestinians to “hunger games” and criticised discussions of “ethnic cleansing” between the Israeli and US governments.

Archbishop Hosam Naoum spoke at the Church of England’s General Synod on Tuesday, in which he urged Church leaders to support a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine and call for a permanent ceasefire.

The Anglican bishop, who is chief pastor of 28 parishes across Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, addressed the final day of the latest gathering of the Church’s parliament, sitting in York.

He said that in Palestine “medical supplies are in short supply; food distribution system is horrifying, with three sites open one hour a day for two million people – it looks for me like hunger games”.

It is not clear if he was referring to the dystopian film series The Hunger Games.

“Unacceptable”

The archbishop said it had been reported last month by an Israeli news organisation that “more than 500 have been killed by (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers”.

He called on Israel to urgently adhere to the Geneva Convention “as its current practices are unacceptable”.

The archbishop said there should be: “No bombing of hospitals, lifting of siege, restoration of humanitarian supplies including food and medicine under UN supervision, no targeting of civilians, especially emergency workers and medical staff.

“Release of all hostages and captives.

“Permanent ceasefire needed… rebuilding of Gaza.

“No ethnic cleansing that is presently being discussed by Israeli and US governments.

“Until all of this is achieved and established, every other part of our lives and our ministries is covered in a shroud of death.”

Calling for the recognition of a Palestinian state, the archbishop concluded: “We are not politicians; however, we need to speak out in the face of injustices and be prophetic for the sake of our people.

Stampede at food distribution centre

At least 20 Palestinians have been killed at a food distribution centre run by an Israeli-backed American organisation in the Gaza Strip, mostly from being trampled, the group said.

They were the first deaths reported at one of the group’s sites although hundreds have been killed by Israeli forces on the roads leading to them, according to witnesses and health officials.

Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 41 others, including 11 children, according to hospital officials.

The Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) accused the Hamas militant group of fomenting unrest at the food distribution centre, leading to a “dangerous surge”, but it provided no evidence to support the claim.

Witnesses said GHF guards threw stun grenades and used pepper spray on people pressing to get into the site before it opened, causing a panic in the narrow, fenced-in entrance.

Since the group’s operations began in late May, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in shootings by Israeli soldiers while on roads heading to the sites.

GHF’s four sites are all in military-controlled zones, and the Israeli military has said its troops have only fired warning shots to control crowds.

Crisis

Gaza’s more than two million Palestinians are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, and the territory is teetering on the edge of famine, according to food security experts.

GHF said it believed that 19 of the dead died from trampling at its food distribution centre between the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah and one was killed by a stabbing in the crowd.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 17 people suffocated at the site and three others were shot.

It was not clear if the shootings took place during the crush or earlier on the road to the centre. The witnesses did not report shots fired at the centre but said Israeli troops fired toward the crowds as they headed to it.

Witnesses said that thousands of Palestinians arrived at the site early in the morning, and the American contractors guarding it did not open the gates. It was not clear if it was before the site’s opening time or if it was not operating at all, since schedules often change.

The crowd surged forward at the turnstiles in the fenced-in entranceway, said one survivor, Ahmed Abu Amra.

“The Americans were calling out on the loudspeakers, ‘go back, go back.’ But no one could turn around because it was so crowded,” he said. “Everyone was on top of each other. We tried to pull out the people who were underneath, but we couldn’t. The Americans were throwing stun grenades at us.”

Other witnesses said the contractors used pepper spray as well. The Health Ministry said tear gas was used, but GHF denied that and said its contractors deployed “limited use of pepper spray”.

“Everyone suffocated from people crushing on top of each other,” said Omar al-Najjar, a Rafah resident, as he and other men carried a wounded man on a stretcher. He said the chaos at the sites is forcing Palestinians to “march towards death”.

GHF said it believed elements in the crowd “armed and affiliated with Hamas” fomented the unrest. It said that its contractors identified men with firearms in the crowd and confiscated one.

Distribution at the GHF sites has often been chaotic. Boxes of food are left stacked on the ground inside the centre and, once opened, crowds charge in to grab whatever they can, according to witnesses and videos released by GHF itself.

In videos obtained recently by The Associated Press from an American contractor working with GHF, contractors are seen using tear gas and stun grenades to keep crowds back behind metal fences or to force them to disperse. Gunshots can also be heard.

The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday that 875 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food since May. Of those, 674 were killed while en route to GHF food sites. The rest were reportedly killed while waiting for aid trucks entering Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 22 people in Gaza City, including 11 children and three women, and 19 others in Khan Younis. The Israeli military said it has struck more than 120 targets in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, including Hamas military infrastructure of tunnels and weapons storage facilities.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday that hospitals have received a total of 94 bodies over the past 24 hours, with another 252 wounded.