Tragedy at Gaza Aid Site After New Flag System Implemented

Twenty one people have been killed following a crush at an aid distribution site in Gaza, according to local health officials. Footage shows young men being rushed to the nearby Nasser hospital in the immediate aftermath of the incident on Wednesday morning. At least 17 of the victims died from suffocation, according to one of the hospital's doctors, Dr Muhammad Saqr.

The crush is the latest in a string of incidents that have plagued the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israel- and US-backed organisation tasked with delivering aid in Gaza. It comes one day after GHF implemented a new system at the site whereby red and green flags are used to tell Palestinians whether the aid centre is open, rather than posts on social media.

Analysis by Sky News shows that GHF stopped announcing the timings of aid site openings more than a week before the new system was put in place. Of the 13 aid distributions since 6 July, only one was announced by GHF.

The flag system was implemented following widespread criticism of GHF's protocols after numerous reports of fatal mass shootings near its aid sites. The footage below was taken on Tuesday at the site where the crush occurred, known as Secure Distribution Site 3 (SDS3). It shows a red flag above the site following an aid distribution.

\"The new system doesn't tell you when to go,\" says Ahmed Dhair, who was present at the crush this morning. \"To see the flag, you have to go very, very close to the centre.\" Another person says that everyone goes early to the aid centre. \"If they follow the flags, they will not have time to reach the centre.\"

Sky News spoke to five Palestinians who were present at the stampede. Their accounts suggest that the crush was the result of systemic failures of communication and crowd control by GHF.

Decision to approach Father-of-four Ahmed, 36, told Sky News that \"thousands\" of people had been waiting nearby for the site, SDS3, to open. Three eyewitnesses, including Ahmed, said that the crowd began to approach the aid site at around 6am after seeing the withdrawal of IDF vehicles.

Alaa, aged 39, says that people ran towards the aid centre only to find that it was still closed. Outside the centre, he says, was a 10-metre wide passageway enclosed by barbed wire on either side. All five eyewitnesses who spoke to Sky News said that GHF employees then attempted to disperse the crowd using gunfire and either gas or pepper spray - resulting in a stampede.

GHF had not announced any site openings for Wednesday, raising questions over why so many people attempted to access SDS3 this morning. Witnesses said they attended because GHF has repeatedly failed to announce site openings in advance.

Chaos of the system A Palestinian former employee of GHF told Sky News that he had quit the organisation last month because of its failure to improve its systems. \"The reason I left the organisation is because they did not take into account the suggestion of doing pre-registration like other organisations so that there is a fair and honest system for the crowds,\" he says.

A GHF spokesperson said: \"Today's incident is part of a larger pattern of Hamas trying to undermine and ultimately end GHF.\" A total of 674 people have been killed while trying to collect food from GHF sites, according to the UN. These numbers do not include the latest casualties from Wednesday's incident.

Sky News analysis has found that deaths across the Gaza Strip as a whole increase significantly on days when more GHF sites are open. \"We have no more beds to put patients on - we're putting patients on the ground,\" says Dr Muhammad Saqr at Nasser hospital.

According to the source: Sky News.