LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A private U.S. group running food distribution sites in Gaza says it has put its operations on hold today. That's after another deadly shooting occurred near its site yesterday, killing 27 Palestinians, according to hospitals and health officials in Gaza.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
As with so much else about this war, there are conflicting accounts of what happened. Israeli military officials say the troops fired warning shots, quote, "near a few individual suspects," but Israel says they did not fire at crowds. Airstrikes continued overnight in Gaza as Israel expands its military campaign and continues to restrict aid into the enclave.
FADEL: With me now is NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Tel Aviv for the latest. Good morning, Hadeel.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: OK. The rollout of this aid distribution has been deadly, and that's not just yesterday. What can you tell us about the operations of this U.S. group?
AL-SHALCHI: Well, nearly every day since the group started operations more than a week ago, Gaza health officials have told us that dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire near sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF. Israel, of course, denies this. But because of this, the United Nations has called aid delivery today in Gaza a, quote, "death trap." Today, GHF said they would take a, quote, "one-day pause" in activity. In a statement, organizers said that the sites need to prepare logistically with the Israeli military to deal with the size of the crowds arriving. They said they didn't expect 15,000 people in one hour to show up yesterday. I mean, it seems that the GHF didn't know how many Palestinians are sheltering close by or how many were willing to walk miles to get the food because of their desperation.
And then yesterday, GHF appointed a U.S. evangelical leader, Reverend Dr. Johnnie Moore, as its executive chairman. You know, before GHF started operating, the head of the group, Jake Wood, resigned. He said that the group was unable to operate according to humanitarian principles. And then the GHF says it is aware that the Israeli military is investigating casualties. But despite Israel's admission troops fired near the site, Reverend Moore posted on social media that the shootings are a lie.
FADEL: So is that assertion true? I mean, what are we hearing from Gaza?
AL-SHALCHI: I mean, first of all, remember that Palestinians have been under a total blockade for nearly three months. So people are very...
FADEL: Right.
AL-SHALCHI: ...Hungry, desperate. They're swarming the GHF sites. It's been chaotic. And we've talked to people who say they storm the sites. They grab however many boxes they can. They also tell us that they leave empty-handed. And there are the shootings. You know, we have heard from doctors in hospitals say that they are receiving victims. For example, we spoke to Ahmed Abu Sweid. He's a doctor volunteering from Australia at Nasser Hospital in Gaza. Here's what he had to say.
AHMED ABU SWEID: The basic supplies they do have are dwindling, and they're consuming them at a rapid rate because of the sheer volume of mass casualty events that come through this hospital.
AL-SHALCHI: So he says that the hospital just can't keep up with the number of people getting shot and injured in those sites or around those sites.
FADEL: And you mentioned that Israel denies shooting into the crowds. What other things have they said about these incidents?
AL-SHALCHI: Well, yesterday, the Israeli foreign minister, the PMO and the Israeli military all held press conferences. Their messages were the same. They say that - they've repeated throughout the week that the multiple deadly shootings are exaggerated and hyped up by the media.
FADEL: NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Tel Aviv. Thank you, Hadeel.
AL-SHALCHI: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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