Thousands of Palestinians are overwhelmed, and at food distribution centers in southern Gaza, driven by hunger nearly three months later, they are unable to obtain fresh supplies.

It was a chaotic scene in the southern city of Rafah on Tuesday, with men, women and children crowding aid centers seeking food to avoid malnutrition and hunger.

Israeli soldiers dispersed the desperate crowd with gunfire as they pulled the fence that they separated from the food box from the fence.

Starting from March 2, Israel imposed a blockade on the war-tor-torn Gaza, which began as part of a military offensive in October 2023 in the Palestinian enclave.

As worries about famine intensify, international pressure on Israel has also increased. Allies, including the UK, France and Canada, warned Israel earlier this month that it could face sanctions if aid restrictions are not lifted.

A few days later, Israel announced that it would allow "minimum" delivery of essential supplies.

But the announcement is controversial, especially because Israel decided to bypass traditional aid distribution networks, such as those operated by the United Nations.

Instead, it utilized the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-backed nonprofit, to lead the effort.

“Even within the Israeli government, there are many questions about how this will work.”

“Now, as you can see here, the private companies that allocate this assistance is completely out of control.”

Israel blames the armed Palestinian group Hamas on the chaos at the aid center, which the group denied.
In a statement released Tuesday, Hamas accused Israel of failing to “manage the humanitarian crisis it intentionally creates.”

Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Vall also reported that there was no evidence that Hamas undermined the distribution of aid. Instead, he pointed to the pure need: more than two million Palestinians live in Gaza.

"These are Gaza people in Gaza, Gaza civilians, trying to get a portion of food, just whatever food is prepared for the children," he said.

Vall added that the motivation behind the centralized aid allocation in southern Gaza has also raised suspicion.

"They said the reason (Israel officials) did this, and the reason they set up these distribution points in the south is that they want to encourage people (even forcing them) to flee the North," Vall explained.

He said the fear remains that moving southward Palestinians could be the "first phase" of the complete removal of Gaza's population.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 54,056 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, with humanitarian aid organizations and UN experts comparing to genocide.

Here are some scenarios of aid distribution efforts on Tuesday.