Turmoil at the center outside the city of Rafah, where the aid had arrived, erupted as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians attempted to reach the food they had long been waiting for.
The center is located in southern Gaza, far from the places where Gazans were evacuated and forcibly relocated, which led many to seek out Rafah. To receive aid, they were also forced to undergo recognition testing, so that Israel could determine whether they were known Hamas members or not.
It was chaos. People panicked, says Ahmed Abu Taha, one of those who came for help, to the news agency AP.
He saw how people tried to storm the center and tore down a fence, he says, describing gunfire and military helicopters in the air. AP's reporter on the scene reports on injured Palestinians being carried away.
Unclear amounts of aid
A few succeeded in getting hold of food boxes containing basic commodities such as sugar, flour, and pasta. But most left empty-handed.
Exactly how much emergency aid has arrived is unclear. The center is run by the controversial aid organization Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has American support and Israeli backing for carrying out support efforts in Gaza.
GHF claims that it "allowed a smaller number" of people to enter the center and that the situation there is under control, reports The Times of Israel. The organization also claims, contrary to the Israeli military, that no shots were fired.
UN: Heart-rending
GHF began deliveries to Gaza on Monday, but representatives of the UN agencies OCHA and UNRWA, which previously accounted for large parts of the support to the civilian population in Gaza, say they do not know if the aid efforts have actually been carried out.
We have seen the images that have emerged from Gaza... and we must honestly say that they are heart-rending, says Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, about Tuesday's events.
Norway's Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Ap) tells Norwegian NTB that the country "strongly dissociates itself" from the current aid plan.
It is a very unfortunate mix of humanitarian effort and war, he says.
