- The Guardian
- Issue #2158
Israel and US-backed food distribution centres in Gaza are sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanisation” that must be shut down, a medical NGO working on the ground has said.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has documented horrors witnessed at two of its clinics located near sites run by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in a new report. Testimonies and medical data point to “both targeted and indiscriminate violence” by Israeli forces and private US contractors at the sites.
Between 7 June and 24 July 2025 1,380 casualties, including 28 dead, were received at MSF’s Al-Mawasi and Al-Attar clinics.
Seventy-one children were treated for gunshot wounds.
MSF general director Raquel Ayora said: “In MSF’s nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians. The GHF distribution sites masquerading as ‘aid’ have morphed into a laboratory of cruelty.”
Mohammed Riad Tabasi, a patient at the Al-Mawasi clinic, said: “We’re being slaughtered. I’ve been injured maybe 10 times. I saw it with my own eyes, about 20 corpses around me. All of them shot in the head, in the stomach.”
GHF replaced UN-coordinated aid delivery in May. Under the scheme, what had been 400 aid distribution points operating during the temporary ceasefire were reduced to just four.
All of these are in areas under full Israeli military control and “secured” by private US armed contractors. GHF announces when sites will be open for distributions on social media, which it often does in the middle of the night, with less than 30 minutes’ notice.
Describing one journey, Omar, 23, said: “At around 3am, heavy gunfire started. “There was gunfire from the quadcopter, from the Apache helicopter, from tanks, from naval boats and from the soldiers themselves. There were a lot of injuries.
“A bullet struck my leg. At first, I thought my leg was gone. I was wearing jeans and a belt. I took off the belt and tied it around my leg. We remained trapped in the area until 5am.
“There were many young guys with me. One of them tried to get me out. He got shot in the head and died on my chest.”
One medical co-ordinator said: “People are being shot like animals. They’re not armed. They’re not soldiers. They’re civilians carrying plastic bags, hoping to bring home some flour or pasta.”
PARASITE OF THE WEEK: is Hungry Jacks. The Queensland government’s yearly snapshot of tree cover data shows the sunshine state remains the deforestation capital of Australia, with agriculture again the biggest driver.
The latest SLATS (Statewide Landcover and Tree Study) shows an increase in the destruction of forest and woodland from August 2022 to August 2023, compared to the previous year, with 332,015 hectares of woody vegetation cleared.
The Australian Conservation Foundation’s Nathaniel Pelle, noted: “Almost half of the bulldozing occurred in the Great Barrier Reef catchment area, which means it will be resulting in increased sediment and nutrient runoff that damages coral reefs.
“Around 86% of the clearing of habitat, for native animals like koalas, is to expand pasture for livestock and we know from previous analysis that the vast bulk of Queensland bulldozing is for beef,” he said.
Major beef buyer Hungry Jack’s, which also supplies Burger King restaurants globally with beef from Queensland, claims to be committed to eliminating deforestation from its supply chains, while McDonald’s commitment will allow forest destruction until 2030.
“Fast food giants like Hungry Jack’s, which demand cheap beef, share the substantial responsibility for this continued forest destruction”, said Pelle. Deforestation for agriculture is expected to be a major topic at this year’s climate conference to be hosted in Brazil.
