By dpa (TNS)

TEL AVIV, Israel — Palestinians have stormed a new food distribution center in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media reports on Tuesday.

The Israeli news portal ynet reported that the chaos forced employees of a U.S. group to withdraw and that shots were fired from Israeli helicopters.

There were initially no reports of possible injuries in the incident in the city of Rafah. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the reports.

The newly established Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said: ‘At one moment in the late afternoon, the volume of people at the SDS [Secure Distribution Site] was such that the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate. This was done in accordance with GHF protocol to avoid casualties.’

It added that normal operations have since resumed.

The foundation, which is supported by Israel and the United States, said approximately 8,000 food boxes have been distributed. Each box feeds 5.5 people for 3.5 days, meaning a total of 462,000 meals have been distributed so far.

Many people in the embattled coastal strip are in a desperate situation after a months-long blockade of aid supplies by Israel, which has only recently been eased slightly.

New humanitarian agency The Israeli government wants the GHF, established a few months ago, to be responsible for distributing aid supplies in the future. It has said the mechanism is designed to prevent the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas from intercepting supplies and profiting from them.

Israel plans to use the four GHF distribution centres in the south and centre of the Gaza Strip to bypass U.N. aid organizations and other international aid agencies.

The Interior Ministry in Gaza, controlled by Hamas, has called on the population to boycott the new distribution mechanism.

Continued criticism of Israeli offensive Top international officials stepped up their criticism of Israel’s expanded military operation in Gaza on Tuesday, as casualties mount from the intensified attacks on the largely destroyed Palestinian territory.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the escalation ‘cannot be justified’ under international law, while the U.N.’s top human rights official said the attacks on the Gaza Strip violated ‘fundamental principles of humanity.’

Von der Leyen said that ‘the European Commission has always supported – and will continue to support – Israel’s right to security and self-defence, but this escalation and disproportionate use of force against civilians cannot be justified under humanitarian and international law.’

‘The expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza targeting civilian infrastructure, among them a school that served as a shelter for displaced Palestinian families, killing civilians, including children, is abhorrent,’ she said, after a call with King Abdullah II of Jordan.

The European Union calls on Israel ‘to put an immediate halt on the current escalation,’ she said, and on Hamas to release the remaining hostages.

Von der Leyen also urged Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza.

‘Israel needs to immediately restore aid delivery in line with humanitarian principles, with the participation of the U.N. and other international humanitarian partners,’ she said.

Israel not respecting ‘principles of humanity’ U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said that Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip are no longer covered by the principle of self-defense under international law.

Israel says that it is determined to completely remove the threat posed by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by the E.U. and the United States.

The army recently said it was pursuing its war against Hamas by expanding the war zone and calling on the residents of most places in the southern Gaza Strip to leave the region.

We are talking about ‘an expulsion that is highly, highly questionable,’ Turk said on Austrian radio, referring to the effect of the war on the civilian population.

‘What we have witnessed in recent months has nothing to do with respect for the fundamental principles of humanity,’ said Turk, who holds the title of U.N. high commissioner for human rights. ‘You can’t really find any more words to describe what is happening.’

The war in Gaza has claimed more than 53,000 Palestinian lives, according to the Hamasrun authorities in Gaza.

It was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other groups on Oct. 7, 2023. About 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.

Fears for displaced Gazans According to international aid organizations, almost 180,000 Gazans have been displaced over 10 days from May 15-25 as a result of the expanded Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

This figure was published by the International Organization for Migration (IoM) in Geneva as part of the Global Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster platform, which coordinates aid for internally displaced persons worldwide.

The platform said it ‘unequivocally condemns attacks on displacement sites.’

‘Direct attacks on sites have become common,’ the statement said.

Since the end of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in March, a total of around 616,000 people have been internally displaced in the Gaza Strip, according to the group.

About 80% of the coastal area is closed off or under evacuation orders, it said.

Palestinian media reports and health authorities in Gaza indicate a rapidly mounting death toll from the Israeli attacks. In the most recent incidents, at least 19 people were killed in an Israeli attack in northern Gaza, local media reported on Monday. At least 38 people were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip within one day, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Sunday.