Sawt Falasteen - Thousands rush into new aid distribution centre in south Gaza

The incident in Rafah came days after the partial easing of a total aid blockade on the territory that Israel imposed on March 2, leading to severe shortages of food and medicine.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later acknowledged a "loss of control momentarily" at the centre, but a senior military official said the distribution was nonetheless "a success".

According to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), normal operations resumed following the incident.

Ayman Abu Zaid, a displaced Gazan, told AFP he was standing in line at the centre when "suddenly a large number of people started pushing and entering randomly".

"It was because of the lack of aid and the delay in distribution, so they tried to get in to take whatever they could," he said.

At one point, "the Israeli forces started shooting, and the sound was very frightening, and people began to scatter, but some still kept trying to take the aid despite the danger", he added.

The Israeli military later said its "troops fired warning shots in the area outside the compound".

"Control over the situation was established, food distribution operations are expected to continue as planned, and the safety of IDF (military) troops was not compromised," it said.

GHF said in a statement that there was a point at which the "volume of people at the SDS (distribution centre) was such that the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate".

"Normal operations have resumed," it added.

AFP footage showed crowds of people streaming out of the area on Tuesday carrying supplies, including in boxes marked "GHF".

- '462,000 meals' -

GHF also blamed "blockades imposed by Hamas" for creating delays of several hours at one of its centres.

In a statement of its own, Hamas's government media office said Israel's new efforts to distribute aid in Gaza had "failed miserably".

"This failure occurred after thousands of hungry people, who have been besieged by the occupation and deprived of food and medicine for about 90 days, rushed toward these areas in a tragic and painful scene," the statement said.

In its statement on Tuesday, the GHF said around "8,000 food boxes have been distributed so far... totalling 462,000 meals". It previously said it had commenced operations the day before.

A senior Israeli military official told AFP that "today's distribution of aid by American providers was a success", saying Hamas had sought to frighten civilians into staying away, but Gazans turned out to collect thousands of aid packages nonetheless.

Israel has facilitated GHF's efforts to distribute aid in Gaza, saying it aims to keep supplies out of Hamas's hands.

"We worked out a plan with our American friends to have controlled distribution sites where an American company would distribute the food to Palestinian families," Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

"There was some loss of control momentarily. Happily, we brought it back under control."

- 'Heartbreaking' scenes -

GHF has faced accusations of helping Israel fulfil its military objectives while excluding Palestinians, bypassing the UN system, and failing to adhere to humanitarian principles.

A spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres called Tuesday's scenes "heartbreaking to say the least".

"As the Secretary General noted last week, we and our partners have a detailed, principled, operationally sound plan supported by Member States to get aid to a desperate population," Stephane Dujarric said.

Registered in Geneva in February, GHF has no known offices or representatives in the unofficial capital of the humanitarian world.

Its former executive director, Jake Wood, announced his resignation on Sunday, saying it was impossible to do his job in line with humanitarian principles.

Some humanitarian workers have argued that the designation of secure distribution sites contravenes the principle of humanity because it would force already displaced people to move again in order to stay alive.

Critics have also questioned who determined the location of the distribution points -- especially in light of Israel's plans for the "conquest" of Gaza.

The United Nations has ruled out involvement in GHF's plan, with a spokesman saying that it "does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence".

In an article published on May 24, The New York Times, citing unnamed Israeli officials, reported that a new US-backed aid plan for Gaza had been "conceived and largely developed by Israelis as a way to undermine Hamas".

O.Salim--SF-PST