Bus carrying more than two dozen Palestinians attacked by Hamas, says the organization.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the organization supported by the United States and Israel created to supplant the United Nations help work, accused Hamas fighters of having killed eight of its staff and injuring several others in an attack on a bus on the road to a food distribution center.
The bus, carrying more than two dozen Palestinians working with the organization, was “brutally attacked” on Wednesday evening while going to a distribution center west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the foundation said in a statement.
“For the moment, we can confirm at least eight deaths, multiple injuries, and we fear that some of the members of our team have been taken hostage,” said GHF on Thursday.
The acting director of GHF, John Acree, said that his organization had planned to close his centers on Thursday after the bus attack, but had chosen to stay open.
“We decided that the best response to Hamas’ loose murderers was to continue to deliver food to the inhabitants of Gaza who count on us,” he said in a statement.
Hamas, which governs Gaza, has not immediately commented on complaints.
The GHF, led by Johnnie Moore, an evangelical Christian who advised the presidential campaign of US President Donald Trump, has been swarmed in controversy since the start of operations on May 27.
UN and help groups have boycotted the foundations to fear that it will not respect the basic humanitarian standards and are not independent of Israel.
Many Israeli attacks against the Palestinians took place near the foundation distribution sites in Rafah and in the Netzarim corridor.
On Wednesday, 57 people were killed and more than 363 injured when they were trying to access the aid on the sites, the Gaza Ministry of Health said.
More than 220 Palestinians have been killed while they have been asking for help since the start of operations, according to the Gaza health authorities.
In his statement, the Foundation, which reported on Saturday that it had not been able to distribute the aid due to the threats of Hamas, said that the attack on his team “had not occurred in the void”.
“For days, Hamas openly threatened our team, our humanitarian workers and civilians who receive the help of us. These threats have been met with silence,” said the foundation.
“Tonight, the world must see this for what it is: an attack on humanity,” added the foundation. “We call on the international community to immediately condemn Hamas for this uninsured attack and a continuous threat against our people simply trying to feed the Palestinian people.”
