AP PHOTOS: Starving civilians caught in the chaos of food distribution in Gaza

By ABDEL KAREEM HANA and MARIAM DAGGA
Associated Press

The residents of the Gaza Strip are facing severe shortages of food in the besieged coastal region that has been in the middle of a grinding war for more than 600 days.

As hunger grows, hundreds of Palestinians stormed a United Nations warehouse on Wednesday in search of food.

A day earlier, a crowd was fired upon while overrunning an aid distribution site set up by a new foundation backed by Israel and the United States.

In the chaos that followed the new food aid system in Gaza opening its first distribution hubs, Palestinians carrying bags of flour from the World Food Program warehouse in Zawaida, Central Gaza Strip, showed what they had managed to acquire.

In Rafah, in southern Gaza Strip, Palestinians opened boxes containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed organization approved by Israel.

In Khan Younis, Israeli tanks were seen taking up positions next to an humanitarian aid packages distribution center. Palestinians carried an injured man after he was shot at the center run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Until last week, Israel kept food and other supplies from entering Gaza for nearly three months as it pressures Hamas over their 19-month war.

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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.