Gaza’s tribal leaders on Friday condemned aid distribution centers run by Israel and the United States, calling them degrading and blaming them for worsening Palestinians’ suffering in the blockaded enclave.
Husni Salman al-Mughni, head of the Supreme Authority for Tribal Affairs, told reporters in Gaza City that the system "offers cartons of aid in exchange for dozens of Palestinian lives each day.”
"Our children are left naked and starving in the streets, with no food, water, or electricity,” he said. "We are watching a slow death unfold daily while the world stands by in silence.”
His remarks came as U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff toured an aid center in Rafah run by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a program Palestinians say is being used to pressure them into displacement.
Al-Mughni invited Witkoff to "walk through Gaza and see the devastation and famine left by Israel, the tents, the elderly, women, and children wasting away under the burning summer sun without shelter or basic necessities.”
He stressed that most of the aid does not reach those in need. "It is the strong and corrupt, coordinating with the occupation, who seize it. The elderly and vulnerable cannot even reach the distribution points,” he said.
"This degrading system is unacceptable,” he continued. "We demand the right to live with dignity, to rebuild our homeland, and to secure true human rights, not conditional aid wrapped in humiliation.”
The tribal leader warned that the humanitarian disaster is worsening by the day. "Despite claims of aid deliveries, hunger remains unrelieved,” he said. "Our children continue to die slowly in full view of the world.”
He urged "all people of conscience” to witness the suffering firsthand and pressed for an international outcry against what he described as the daily slaughter of Gaza’s population.
The Gaza Health Ministry reported Wednesday that 154 Palestinians, including 89 children, have died from starvation and malnutrition since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023. It also said Israeli fire on Palestinians waiting for aid since the new system started on May 27 has killed 1,383 people and wounded more than 9,200 others.
Last week, the U.N.’s World Food Program warned that one-third of Gaza’s population had gone several days without eating, highlighting the scale of the catastrophe.
Rejecting international calls for a cease-fire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 60,200 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
