Thousands of Palestinians rushed into the centre run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) yesterday, AFP journalists reported, as Israel implemented a new distribution system that bypasses the UN.

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

“From the information we have, there are about 47 people who have been injured” in yesterday’s incident, Ajith Sunghay, the head of UN human rights office in the Palestinian territories, told the UN correspondents’ association in Geneva.

He added that “most of those injured are due to gunshots” and based on the information he has, “it was shooting from the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)”.

Sunghay stressed that his office was still assessing and gathering information on the full picture of events.

“The numbers could go up. We are trying to confirm what has happened to them,” in terms of how seriously people were injured, Sunghay added.

The Israeli military said its “troops fired warning shots in the area outside the compound” yesterday, and that it had re-established “control over the situation”.

The UN and international aid agencies have said they will not cooperate with the GHF, amid accusations it is working with Israel without any Palestinian involvement.

Sunghay said: “We have raised numerous concerns with this mechanism.

“What we saw yesterday is a very clear example of the dangers of distributing food under the circumstances which the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is doing”.