Humanitarian aid specialists had warned of what was to come. The new food aid distribution system mandated by Israel, announced on May 5 and launched in chaotic fashion on Tuesday, May 27, proved as inefficient as it was dehumanizing. Before that, Israel had imposed a total blockade on the Gaza Strip for more than two months, from March 2 to May 19, when only a handful of trucks were allowed into the enclave. The plan was developed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an organization created in January in Switzerland under the auspices of the United States and Israel to rethink food delivery in Gaza. Israeli authorities have maintained that aid delivered by international humanitarian organizations is systematically diverted by Hamas. Humanitarian convoys have been regularly attacked by armed looters in the enclave in recent months, sometimes under the watch of Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli military on Tuesday presented aerial footage of a newly constructed site in Rafah, at the farthest corner of the Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border, in an area under full Israeli control. The site was named "SDS1," or Secure Distribution Site 1, and was set up in the shape of a triangle. The first side, the access path, was caged by high barriers, forcing Palestinians into five queues and blocking them with metal gates. The second side, the distribution area, was lined with tables stacked with relief food boxes. Behind the tables, thick, sand-filled wire mesh structures sheltered armed personnel from Safe Reach Solutions, the American security company contracted to guard the site. The third side formed the exit path.

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