IDF says roads to Gaza aid centres are 'combat zones' as sites close for day

Aid distribution centres in Gaza will be closed for a day on Wednesday, as the Israeli military warned roads leading to the sites will be considered "combat zones".

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial US and Israel-backed aid network which began operating last week, said it was closing its sites for "update, organization and efficiency improvements works".

In a separate update, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that people would be "prohibited" from entering the distribution centres or travelling on roads leading to them.

Early on Tuesday, at least 27 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire close to a distribution centre, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence Agency.

It was the third deadly incident in as many days to occur on a route to a GHF site.

The IDF said that its troops fired shots after identifying suspects who moved towards them "deviating from the designated access routes".

In the wake of Tuesday's incident, the director of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Atef Al-Hout, said the injured were arriving with gunshot wounds after Israeli forces had opened fire on "crowds of civilians waiting for aid in western Rafa".

Hamas-run Civil Defence Agency spokesman Mahmoud Basal said civilians were fired upon by tanks, quadcopter drones and helicopters near an aid site.

A foreign medic working in the area described the scene as "total carnage" and said they had been inundated with casualties.

In a statement, the IDF said its troops were "not preventing the arrival of Gazan civilians to the humanitarian aid distribution sites."

GHF said it would start distributing aid again on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the aid group said it had asked Israeli military to "guide foot traffic" near military boundaries to reduce "confusion or escalation" risks, according to Reuters news agency.

GHF added that it was also working to develop clearer guidance for civilians and enhance training to their safety.

"Our top priority remains ensuring the safety and dignity of civilians receiving aid."

UN Secretary General António Guterres called for an "immediate and independent" investigation into the events.

Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for Guterres, told the BBC that the closure of aid centres showed "a lack of clarity of who the GHF is" and a "lack of ability".

"We're seeing armed men around these distribution points. No one knows who they are, who they're able for," he said.

It comes as the UN warns that more than two million people are at risk of starvation in Gaza, after a total Israeli ban on shipments of food and other aid that lasted 11 weeks.

The GHF aims to replace the UN-led aid distribution network in Gaza, following repeated claims from Israel that the UN did not prevent supplies from being hijacked by Hamas, which the UN denies.

Under the new distribution system, Gazans are required to collect supplies from a small number of centres in areas under Israeli military control and staffed by armed American contractors.

Critics say the model has left people needing to walk long distances to the sites and transport boxes weighing 20kg back to their homes or shelters.

Stéphane Dujarric described the GHF as "a demonstration of how not to do humanitarian aid" as it "puts people's lives at risk" by forcing them to make long trips to get food in a militarised zone.

He called the strategy "unacceptable" and echoed the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), Philippe Lazzarini, who said that aid distribution had "become a death trap".

The UN and other humanitarian organisations have accused the GHF of failing to uphold humanitarian principles.

Also on Tuesday, Reverend Dr Johnnie Moore - a Christian evangelical pastor and prominent er of US President Donald Trump - was announced as the new head of GHF.

He was appointed to replace its first chief Jake Wood, a former US marine who stood down and criticised the GHF model.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas' cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 54,470 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 4,201 since Israel resumed its offensive on 18 March, according to the territory's health ministry.