Israeli soldiers opened fire on Tuesday morning near crowds of Palestinians walking towards a new food distribution site in southern Gaza, the Israeli military said. The Red Cross and Gaza health ministry said at least 27 people had been killed.

It was the second such large-scale shooting by Israeli forces in three days near the same aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, where thousands of desperate and hungry Palestinians are coming early each day in hopes of securing a food handout. Israeli soldiers opened fire on Sunday near an approach to the same food distribution site, and Palestinian officials said they killed at least 23 people.

The shootings, which the military said occurred roughly about 457 metres from the food distribution site, were the latest chaos surrounding a contentious new Israeli-backed system for food distribution sites in Gaza, where American private contractors oversee the handout of cardboard boxes of aid.

The Israeli-American initiative has only announced four aid distribution points — compared with 400 under the previous UN-coordinated aid distribution system. And on most days, most of the four sites have not been operational.

The UN has criticised the new system, saying that it endangers civilians by forcing them to walk for kilometres to get food on a risky passage through Israeli military lines. And it has argued that the positioning of the Israel-backed distribution points, which are all in the enclave’s south, could facilitate an Israeli plan to displace the population of northern Gaza. A UN memo circulated before the initiative launched warned of “overcrowded distribution sites” and that Israeli forces or US contractors might “use force to control crowds”. The memo also cautioned about the potential for “organised and opportunistic looting” near the hubs.

Many of those problems have been in evidence in the week since the system began operations. And much is riding on the new aid initiative: Aid agencies say Gaza faces the threat of widespread starvation in the wake of the 80-day Israeli blockade on food deliveries.

In the latest violence on Tuesday, the Israeli military said the troops fired near “a few” people who had strayed from the designated route to the site and who did not respond to warning shots. The statement called them “suspects” and said they had “posed a threat” to soldiers. But a military spokeswoman declined to explain the nature of the perceived threat.

Last month, UK, France and Canada said in a statement that the latest Israeli threats to mount an offensive against Hamas, as well as its blockade on aid to Gaza, were “wholly disproportionate”.

New York Times News Service