Thousands of Palestinians stormed a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in central Gaza as the humanitarian crisis deepens amid ongoing attacks by Israeli forces. The incident took place at the Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah. At least two people reportedly died and several others were injured.
Several videos of the incident also surfaced online. In the visuals, starving crowds could be seen barging into the distribution site and seizing bags of flour and cartons of food. Gunshots could also be heard in the background.
“Hordes of hungry people broke into the WFP’s Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, Central Gaza, in search of food supplies that had been pre-positioned for distribution,” the World Food Programme (WFP) said as quoted by CNN.
Visuals From The Spot:
WFP said that it is working the ascertain the cause of the incident. Notably, Gaza has been pushed to famine due to Israel's 11-week blockade on humanitarian aid. Recently, Israeli forces eased the blockade.
“Humanitarian needs have spiraled out of control after 80 days of complete blockade of all food assistance and other aid into Gaza,” stated the United Nations agency as quoted by CNN.
“WFP has consistently warned of alarming and deteriorating conditions on the ground and the risks imposed by limiting humanitarian aid to hungry people in desperate need of assistance,” it added.
Video of The Incident:
The Al-Ghafari warehouse took place days after chaos broke out at an aide distribution centre backed by controversial US groups. Thousands of desperate Palestinians rushed to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to receive food supplies. However, the crowd barged into the facility tearing down some of the fencing. The situation aggravated after Israeli forces fired warning shots in the air to control the crowd. As per Palestinian health officials, one person was shot dead in the incident and close to 50 people were reportedly injured.
According to the CNN report close to 54,000 people have died since Israel's war against militant group Hamas. Notably, Israel started the military operation after a deadly attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023.
