Drugs found in flour sent by the US, Gaza authorities claim

The Palestinian Authority said on Friday (June 27) local time that drug pills were found in flour sent by the US in the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip. The Anadolu Agency reported this information. The Gaza government media office said in a statement that the prescription painkiller oxycodone was found in flour bags handed over to Palestinians from an aid distribution center run by the US.

The statement warned that “these pills may have been deliberately ground or mixed with flour, which poses a direct threat to public health.” The media office held Israel fully responsible for this “heinous crime” and said it was a conspiracy to destroy Palestinians from within society by spreading drug addiction among them.

Calling it “part of Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinians,” the statement said, “Israel is using drugs as a ‘soft weapon’, a dirty war tactic against the civilian population.” Israel plans to set up four aid distribution centers in the southern and central parts of Gaza. Israeli media claim that the aim is to evacuate Palestinians from the north to the south.

The plan has been opposed by the international community and the United Nations, as it is seen as an attempt to circumvent the UN aid distribution process. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4,000 injured in Israeli shelling around aid centers and UN food trucks since May 27.

Israel has been continuing its brutal attacks on Gaza since October 2023, ignoring international calls for a ceasefire, which has killed more than 56,300 Palestinians so far, most of them women and children. Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.