Israeli troops opened fire near thousands of hungry Palestinians in Al Mawasi on Tuesday as a logistics group, chosen by Israel and the United States to deliver food into Gaza, lost control of its distribution centre on its very first day of operations.

Chaos erupted when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) opened two of its four distribution points in Gaza, only to be overwhelmed by desperate Palestinians who surged past barricades in search of food. At least three Palestinians were killed, nearly 50 injured, and seven reported missing, according to a statement issued late on Tuesday by Gaza’s government media office, which described the incident as a “massacre.”

In a speech on Tuesday evening, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged a “momentary loss of control” during the food distribution. Israeli forces claimed they had fired “warning shots” near the aid distribution point but denied reports of gunfire directed from the air.

Later on Tuesday, the GHF announced it had distributed approximately 8,000 food boxes, equating to around 462,000 meals.

The United Nations and other international aid organisations have boycotted the foundation, arguing that its involvement undermines the principle that humanitarian aid must be distributed independently of the parties to a conflict and solely based on need.

Hamas criticised Israel’s plan to distribute aid in so-called “buffer zones” as a catastrophic failure and accused Israel of deliberately exacerbating the humanitarian crisis by enforcing a policy of starvation, siege, and bombardment.

Meanwhile, at least 18 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in Israeli shelling across several areas of the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera.