Shaina Low, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) communications adviser in Palestine, says the scenes of Palestinians desperately seeking food highlight the risks involved in bypassing coordinated humanitarian distribution systems, Al Jazeera reports.

“What we’re seeing now — people walking tens of kilometres to access distribution sites, the chaos that is unfolding, the way that Palestinians are being corralled to reach aid — it’s just devastating,” Low told Al Jazeera from Amman, Jordan.

“People have been suffering for nearly 20 months of hostilities now and are desperate for any type of food or any type of assistance to help them and their families survive. No one should be subjected to this type of undignified treatment and the danger that it poses for civilians.”

Low added that these distribution sites are being used “to advance Israel’s political and military objectives” to displace Palestinians. In contrast, humanitarian groups such as the NRC and the United Nations deliver assistance directly to people in need, where they are.

“That ensures that vulnerable people … don’t have to go long distances. We make sure that aid reaches people in need and is fit for what their needs are. The boxes that they have been receiving are nowhere near adequate to meet the desperate needs of a population that’s been starved for the past 80-plus days.”