Israel Kills Dozens of Palestinians at Aid Site in Gaza
The US-backed organization denied the incident, while the Israeli army said it only fired warning shots at suspects, amid growing controversary over aid distribution process in the war-torn enclave. Shooting Palestinians
At dawn on Saturday, the Israeli troops opened gunfire at Palestinians heading to an aid distribution site in Khan Younis, killing at least 36 people, according to Gaza's Health Ministry and Nasser Hospital.
The Israeli military said it fired warning shots at suspects moving near its forces, at a time when the distribution site was not active. It said it was investigating the incident.
However, an eyewitness told Reuters that there were no warnings before the shooting. 'We thought they came out to organize us so we can get aid, suddenly (I) saw the jeeps coming from one side, and the tanks from the other and started shooting at us,' Gaza resident Mohamed al-Khalidi said. GHF Response
The GHF denied any incidents or fatalities on Saturday, adding that it warned people not to head to its sites in the dark. 'We have repeatedly warned aid seekers not to travel to our sites overnight and early morning hours,' the GHF said.
'The reported (Israeli military) activity resulting in fatalities occurred hours before our sites opened and our understanding is most of the casualties occurred several kilometers away from the nearest GHF site,' it said in a statement.
The GHF has sparked worldwide anger over its aid distribution mechanism that caused mounting death toll near distribution sites. The Israeli and US-backed organization works with private American contractors to get aid supplies into Gaza. Global Condemnation
The GHF model bypasses the UN-led system as Israel claims that Hamas loots aid shipments, an accusation the Palestinian movement denies. Under the GHF operation system, Palestinian aid seekers are required to travel to distribution sites each week to get one package per family.
However, the UN and other international organizations have criticized the GHF operation model, refusing to cooperate with the organization amid fears it aims to force the displacement of Palestinians and saying there is no evidence that Hamas steals aid. Moreover, the UN has called the GHF model 'unsafe' and a 'breach of humanitarian impartiality standards.'
Earlier in July, Amnesty International accused Israel and the GHF of using starvation tactics as a weapon of war against Palestinians as part of the Israeli ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip. It also said that Israel has turned aid seeking into a 'booby trap for desperate starved Palestinians' by preventing UN and other key humanitarian organizations from distributing certain aid items and by maintaining the GHF 'militarized aid scheme.' Rising Deaths
Shooting incidents near GHF distribution sites have been on the rise in recent weeks. On July 15, 2025, the UN Rights Office said that since May 27, 2025, at least 875 people in Gaza while seeking aid; 674 of them near the GHF sites. The remaining 201 were killed while seeking aid on the routes of aid convoys or near aid convoys run by the UN or its partners.
Furthermore, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, voiced deep concerns over civilian deaths near aid sites amid the spread of deadly malnutrition among children.
In the light of this, the UNRWA Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, said: 'Our teams on the ground – UNRWA teams and other United Nations teams – have spoken to survivors of these killings, these starving children included, who were shot at while on their way to pick up very little food.'
Touma warned that babies are dying as a result of acute malnutrition caused by Israel's blockade on aid entry into Gaza. 'We've been banned from bringing any humanitarian assistance into Gaza for more than four months now,' she said, pointing to a 'significant increase' in child malnutrition since the Israeli blockade began on 2 March.
The Israeli war on Gaza has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians and wounded over 138,000 since October 7, 2023, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
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