CRIES of grief echoed across southern Gaza’s Nasser Hospital on Monday as dozens mourned Hossam Wafi, a father of six killed while attempting to get food to feed his family.
According to the Palestinian territory’s civil defence agency, Wafi was among 31 people killed by Israeli fire the previous day while trying to reach a food distribution site.
His mother, Nahla Wafi, saidd that her son “went to get food for his daughters – and came back dead,” adding that she lost two sons and a nephew on Sunday.
She recounted how Hossam, his brother, and nephew were seeking flour at a newly established distribution centre in Rafah when, as she put it, “the drone came down on them.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed that its field hospital in Rafah received 179 cases on Sunday, including 21 pronounced dead on arrival.
The ICRC noted that all wounded individuals trying to reach an aid distribution site, mostly suffering from gunshot or shrapnel wounds.
This comes amid growing international condemnation of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the UN has warned of widespread famine.
A witness observed thousands gathered at the Al-Alam junction between 2 and 4 am (2300 GMT and 0100 GMT) hoping to access the distribution centre.
Hossam Wafi’s uncle, Ali Wafi, expressed anger that his nephew was killed while seeking aid, lamenting that people “go there and get bombed – airstrikes, tanks, shelling – all for a piece of bread.”
He said his nephew’s sole intention was to feed his children.
The deaths in Rafah were one of two fatal incidents reported by Gaza’s civil defence agency on Sunday near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US and Israeli-backed organisation running the distribution centres
The UN views the GHF as contravening humanitarian principles and serving Israeli military objectives.
There have been several other reports of chaotic scenes and warning shots fired at these distribution sites.
The UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA) released a video showing a GHF distribution site in central Gaza’s Netzarim corridor, depicting crowds corralled by metal fences, with English-speaking security guards in armoured vehicles overseeing the distribution of aid packages, some bearing the “GHF” logo.
Hossam Wafi’s uncle Ali expressed a desire for safe aid access, noting that people take risks to survive.
-BTS Media
