Kneecap Releases Powerful Film on Gaza Ahead of Glastonbury Performance
UNRWA chief says new Gaza aid system ‘has become a killing field’
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Friday issued a scathing condemnation of the new aid distribution system operating in Gaza, warning it has turned into a “killing field” where over 400 desperate people have died in the past month, Anadolu reports.
“The new aid distribution system has become a killing field,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote in a post on X. “Over 400 starving people reported killed since it started operating just a month ago. They were shot at while trying to access food for themselves and their families.”
He was referring to the Israeli attacks that happened near points of its new aid distribution mechanism, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation— a new Israeli plan to coordinate aid distribution in Gaza, which was broadly criticized by UN agencies and humanitarian actors.
READ: UN chief says ‘search for food must never be a death sentence’ for Palestinians in Gaza
Lazzarini said testimonies emerging from the ground indicate that soldiers opened fire “indiscriminately” as crowds gathered for food. “In the chaos, children were separated from their families: disoriented and traumatized,” he added.
Blasting the system as incompatible with humanitarian principles, the UNRWA chief said it was “not designed to address hunger and is often justified using the pretext of aid diversion that is yet to be substantiated let alone proven.”
“Instead of ‘orderly food distribution,’ this system brings dehumanization, chaos and death,” he said. “This cannot become the new norm.”
Calling the current setup an “abomination,” Lazzarini urged a return to UN-led humanitarian deliveries, including through UNRWA, and called for an immediate ceasefire and the lifting of the siege to restore the flow of basic supplies such as food, medicine, soap, and fuel.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Netanyahu stops Gaza aid after Smotrich threatens to quit government
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a halt to aid deliveries to northern Gaza after far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to quit the coalition, citing unverified claims that Hamas was looting humanitarian supplies.
Smotrich reportedly made the ultimatum during a cabinet meeting, referencing a widely circulated video on social media showing armed men atop aid trucks. Although the footage was quickly seized upon by pro-government figures including former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Israel’s own military has been unable to confirm that the gunmen were affiliated with Hamas.
Haaretz cited media outlets in the Gaza Strip who reported that the gunmen are not Hamas operatives, but security guards sent by tribal leaders to protect aid truck convoys from looting. The aid documented in the video reached its destination – the UN warehouses in the Gaza Strip – and was distributed to residents
Despite this, Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant ordered the army to submit a “plan of action” within 48 hours to prevent what they described as Hamas “taking control of the humanitarian aid entering northern Gaza and stealing it from civilians.”
Israel has continually blamed Hamas for the looting of aid and used it as a justification to bypass UN aid distribution mechanisms to install the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Observers have stressed that the worsening aid crisis has been driven not by Hamas but by criminal gangs—some empowered by Israel itself. Among them is the militia led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a figure named in UN documents for systematically looting aid. His group has been armed and supported by Israel in an apparent effort to establish a post-Hamas order in the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli security source, quoted in Yedioth Ahronoth, warned that the plan is failing. Abu Shabab’s group, active near Rafah, has struggled to assert control or fulfil Israel’s expectations, and internal divisions have complicated their operations.
In a public statement, the Abu Shabab militia paradoxically demanded an “immediate solution” to the problem of aid theft—despite being implicated in it. The group offered vague promises about a new distribution mechanism but gave no details.
Israel’s reliance on criminal gangs and tribal militias to manage aid distribution has failed to bring order. Although the US-funded GHF remains the main agency overseeing aid deliveries, the presence of armed groups has contributed to worsening insecurity.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, over 500 Palestinians have been killed in the past month during Israeli shooting at food distribution centres, as crowds gathered in desperation.
On Wednesday, 74 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, 33 of them while waiting for food. The total Palestinian death toll since October 7 now exceeds 56,000.
Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is deepening, with mass starvation looming. In June alone, over 1,600 children were hospitalised for severe malnutrition.
READ: Israel’s Netanyahu requests two-week break from corruption trial citing “regional developments”
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Sharing this video …
Thoughts of the day 27 June 2025
UK Prime Minister and Likud party leader Keir Starmer obfuscates and hides his active participation in Israel’s Gaza genocide. While I currently have a relatively powerful platform, others will take my place if that changes and by the next election electors will be far better informed of Keir Starmer and the Labour party’s active participation in genocide.
.
