‘People were frightened’: Palestinians describe Gaza aid centre pandemonium

Published
0

Ahmed Abu Taha, who was among the thousands of people seeking food in Rafa, described to Al Jazeera the moment a crowd stormed into the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centre by breaking fences.

He heard gunfire and saw Israeli military aircraft overhead. “It was chaos. People were panicked.”

Another Palestinian, Saleh Abu Najjar, said he heard a tank firing from a distance. “The situation was very dangerous and people were frightened,” Al Jazeera quoted him as saying.

In a statement, the GHF said that because of the large number of Palestinians seeking aid, staff at the hub followed safety protocols and “fell back”.

 Palestinians rush to get aid boxes, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on May 27, 2025, in this screengrab from a video. Reuters TV/via Reuters
Palestinians rush to get aid boxes, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on May 27, 2025, in this screengrab from a video. Reuters TV/via Reuters

Opinion

Editorial

Risks ahead
Updated 02 Oct, 2026

Risks ahead

To think that the government would rather push out an elected government than grant a single prisoner some facilities does not square up rationally.
Exit from Iraq
02 Oct, 2026

Exit from Iraq

AMERICAN and British troops have once again shipped out of Iraq. On Wednesday, the foreign forces left the Arab...
Lahore’s ozone warning
02 Oct, 2026

Lahore’s ozone warning

LAHORE has received another warning that its air pollution crisis cannot be treated as a problem that begins with...
Fixing bond markets
Updated 01 Oct, 2026

Fixing bond markets

Pension funds, insurance companies, mutual funds, retail investors, and eventually, foreign investors must become bigger participants in the market.
Call centre rackets
01 Oct, 2026

Call centre rackets

A NUMBER of recent raids conducted by the authorities in different cities point to the growing threat fraudulent ...
Homeward bound
01 Oct, 2026

Homeward bound

FIVE months after Somali pirates captured an oil tanker carrying a 19-member multinational crew, Somali maritime...