170 aid groups want US-based Gaza food program closed over ‘routine’ killings

Around 170 charities and humanitarian groups are calling to shut out a U.S. and Israeli-backed food distribution group in Gaza

In a joint statement Monday, the groups accuse Israeli and other armed forces of routinely opening fire on Gazans seeking aid from sites this group runs

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is an American organization based in Delaware. The sites they run in Gaza are protected by Israeli forces, and the U.S. has approved direct funding for the GHF

The call to kick the group out of Gaza comes from some of the world's largest humanitarian organizations

including Oxfam, Amnesty International, and Save the Children. They claim more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 4,000 wounded in less than four weeks

while trying to access or distribute food in Gaza. The coalition argues the aid organization's lack of planning and inadequate food supply is causing 2 million hungry people to traverse through dangerous areas

Those areas include active war zones to reach these sites. They say Gazans are forced to fight for limited food in chaotic enclosures

The group say these areas have become sites of repeated massacres and blatant disregard for international humanitarian law There were hundreds of aid distribution sites run by various organizations before Israel started blocking aid in March Now those humanitarian

sites have been replaced by just four GHF-run distribution centers, according to the coalition

calling to replace GHF. There are almost daily reports of Israeli forces firing at those seeking

aid. The UN Secretary General argues the GHF centers are inherently unsafe. Israel Defense

forces strongly refute these claims, as does the GHF. GHF says as of Tuesday, it's delivered more

than 54 million meals, including 2 million meals on Tuesday alone. Israel says it chose GHF because

it can protect against looting from Hamas, but announced Monday it would look into reports of

people being hurt at distribution centers and install fencing as well as signage at the sites

Israel also accuses Hamas militants of shooting at those seeking aid at these sites and then

falsely blaming the IDF to disrupt aid distribution in Gaza. However, the Israeli military has

acknowledged involvement in a number of incidents near food aid centers. They say troops have fired

warning shots or fired at people who threatened them. GHF and the IDF say these attacks occurred

outside of humanitarian areas. For more on this story, download the Shader News app or visit

san.com. For Shader News, I'm Kaylee Carey