More than 80 killed trying to reach aid in Gaza, health ministry says
The development represents the deadliest day yet for people seeking aid in more than 21 months of war.
Advertisement
And there was new alarm as Israel's military issued evacuation orders for areas of central Gaza, one of the few areas where it has rarely operated with ground troops and where many international organisations attempting to distribute aid are located.
One aid group said several groups' offices were told to evacuate immediately.
Palestinians carried sacks of humanitarian aid unloaded from trucks headed to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)
The largest toll was in northern Gaza, where at least 79 Palestinians were killed while trying to reach aid entering through the Zikim crossing with Israel, according to the health ministry and local hospitals.
The UN World Food Programme said 25 trucks with aid had entered for 'starving communities' when it encountered massive crowds that came under gunfire.
Advertisement
A UN official said Israeli forces opened fire towards the crowds who tried to take food from the convoy. Footage taken by the UN and shared with the Associated Press showed Palestinian men running as the sound of automatic gunfire could be heard.
'Suddenly, tanks surrounded us and trapped us as gunshots and strikes rained down. We were trapped for around two hours,' Ehab Al-Zei, who had been waiting for flour, said.
'I will never go back again. Let us die of hunger, it's better.'
Palestinians reacted after carrying the bodies of those killed while trying to reach aid trucks entering northern Gaza through the Zikim crossing with Israel on Sunday (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)
Nafiz Al-Najjar, who was injured, said tanks and drones targeted people 'randomly' and he saw his cousin and others shot dead.
Advertisement
Israel's military said soldiers had shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who posed a threat, and it was aware of some casualties. But it said the numbers reported by officials in Gaza were far higher than its initial investigation found.
The military said it was attempting to facilitate the entry of aid, and accused Hamas militants of creating chaos and endangering civilians.
More than 150 people were wounded overall, with some in critical condition, hospitals said.
Separately, seven Palestinians were killed while sheltering in tents in Khan Younis in the south, including a five-year-old boy, according to the Kuwait Specialised Field Hospital, which received the casualties.
Advertisement
The killings in northern Gaza did not take place near aid distribution points associated with the recently created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US and Israel-backed group.
Naem Ahmed's family hugged the last bag of WFP wheat flour they received - a small celebration amid desperate conditions.
Everyone in
#Gaza
is hungry.
It's time to flood the Strip with food and reach ALL families, everywhere - safely and without interruption.
pic.twitter.com/9dUovbKz0L
— World Food Programme (@WFP)
July 19, 2025
Witnesses and health workers say hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli fire while trying to access the group's aid distribution sites.
The new evacuation orders cut access between the central city of Deir al-Balah and the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis in the narrow territory. The military also reiterated evacuation orders for northern Gaza.
The United Nations has been in contact with Israeli authorities to clarify whether UN facilities in the southwestern part of Deir al-Balah are included in the evacuation order, according to a UN official.
Advertisement
The official said that in previous instances, UN facilities were spared from evacuation orders.
The latest order covers an area stretching from a previously evacuated area all the way to the Mediterranean coast and will severely hamper movement for aid groups and civilians in Gaza.
The Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) group said in a statement that several humanitarian organisations' offices and guesthouses had been 'ordered to evacuate immediately' and nine clinics, including the MAP one, had been forced to shut down.
Military spokesman Avichay Adraee called for people to head to the Muwasi area, a desolate tent camp on Gaza's southern coast that Israel's military has designated a humanitarian zone.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that expanding Israel's military operations in Gaza would pressure Hamas in negotiations (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
The announcement came as Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks in Qatar, but international mediators say there have been no breakthroughs.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly asserted that expanding Israel's military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas in negotiations.
Earlier this month, Israel's military said it controlled more than 65% of Gaza.
Gaza's population of more than two million Palestinians are in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, now relying largely on the limited aid allowed into the territory. Many people have been displaced multiple times.
Hamas triggered the war when militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty remain in Gaza, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.
Israel's military offensive has killed more than 58,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not say how many militants have been killed but says more than half of the dead have been women and children.
The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Ark of the Covenant mystery blown wide open as 'biblical relic' is discovered
Archaeologists have uncovered ruins in Israel they believe once housed the Ark of the Covenant, a sacred, gold-covered chest described in the Bible. According to scripture, Moses placed the Ten Commandments inside the Ark, which was kept in the Tabernacle, a portable sanctuary built shortly after the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt, traditionally dated by some scholars to around 1445 BC. While the fate of the Ark remains a mystery, it vanishes from the biblical record before the Babylonian sack of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Now, a team working at the ancient biblical site of Shiloh has unearthed a stone structure that appears to match the dimensions and orientation of the Tabernacle described in the Bible. Dr Scott Stripling, director of the Tel Shiloh dig, said: 'We've uncovered a monumental building from the Iron I period that matches the biblical dimensions of the Tabernacle. The structure is oriented east-west and divided in a 2:1 ratio, just as described in scripture.' Adding to the discovery, excavators have found over 100,000 animal bones, mostly from sheep, goats, and cattle, and predominantly from the right side of the animals, aligning with Leviticus 7, which states that the right side was reserved for priestly offerings. 'This isn't a coincidence,' Dr Stripling told The Christian Broadcasting Network. 'The evidence of sacrificial rituals here is overwhelming, and it matches the biblical account to a degree that's hard to ignore.' Pottery found among the bones dates back to the same period, reinforcing the site's connection to the Tabernacle era, which the Bible says lasted nearly 400 years before the Temple was built in Jerusalem. Shiloh, located in the hill country of Ephraim, is described in the Bible as Israel's first major religious center. It was here, according to the Bible, that Eli the high priest presided over the Tabernacle during a critical moment in Israel's history. In 1 Samuel 4, the Israelites, locked in war with the Philistines, bring the Ark to the battlefield in hopes of securing divine favor. The plan disastrously backfires when the Philistines capture the Ark, and Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are killed. When a messenger brings word of the defeat back to Shiloh, he finds Eli, 98 years old and nearly blind, anxiously waiting by the city gate. Upon hearing the Ark has been taken, Eli falls backward from his seat, breaks his neck and dies. Scripture emphasizes the significance of the moment, noting, 'He had judged Israel for forty years.' Dr Stripling now believes his team may have uncovered the very gate where Eli died, CBN reported. According to scripture, Moses placed the Ten Commandments inside the Ark , which was kept in the Tabernacle, a portable sanctuary built shortly after the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt , traditionally dated by some scholars to around 1445 BC The newly uncovered building at the site also features a massive interior wall, dividing the space into two areas. According to Exodus 26, the Tabernacle's inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place, or Holy of Holies, was separated from the outer room by a veil. This inner room housed the Ark of the Covenant, and was believed to be the earthly dwelling place of God's presence. Leviticus 16:2 warns of the sanctity of the space, stating:'The Lord said to Moses, 'Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die.' This aligns with later references in 2 Samuel 6, which describe the Ark as so holy that touching it, or even looking inside, could result in death. Mishandling the Ark was seen as a direct offense to God's presence.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Everything we do is under siege': small fundraisers try to provide lifeline in Gaza
Every day, new images come from Gaza that depict the most unimaginable horrors: hunger, despair and murder. It's rare to see a glimmer of hope in this unrelenting suffering, but last week a video posted by Stephanie Shih, of fresh vegetables being purchased from one of the few remaining family farms in the Gaza Strip, provided one. Sadly, the prices were astronomical – sometimes as much as $40 for a few eggplants. Since Israel has stopped almost all food and aid getting into Gaza, prices of what little food has been grown, stockpiled or looted have soared. The fresh vegetables could be purchased thanks to a mutual aid fund run by Shih, an artist based out of New York. Shih has raised over $600,000 since March 2024 from a fund she runs from her Instagram and word of mouth. Half of the money goes to a photojournalist in Gaza with a history of community work, who helps organise distributions of cooked food, produce, water, tents, cloth and cash. 'He's able to leverage his longstanding relationships with local vendors to get decent deals on what little product is available in the markets, which is then distributed for free to families who cannot afford it,' Shih said. The funds enabled him to buy the vegetables and pass them on to other families. The other half of the money is given to around 30 families in Gaza that Shih has developed close relationships with since 2024. Shih is one of a number of individuals and groups based in the US who have set up uncertified and unofficial mutual aid funds for people in Gaza. The funds solicit donations from all over the world. Some are working with Palestinians in Gaza to organise complex distribution networks, others are simply wiring money directly to trusted individuals in Gaza to distribute. Just this week, Reviving Gaza, a mutual aid group founded by three displaced Gazan siblings, posted videos of 1,500 loaves of fresh bread being baked with flour secured by their group. This kind of distribution is often uneven and not nearly enough to sustain the population of Gaza. The amount they can raise is also limited by personal networks and social media followers. Yet for people living under the most unimaginably horrific conditions, these donations can be a lifeline. Since the beginning of the war, aid has been severely restricted – only a small number of aid trucks are allowed into Gaza and what's allowed in is heavily controlled by Israel. But things got considerably worse in March, when Israel enacted a total blockade on all food, aid and medicine into Gaza. The small amount of aid still being distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a USand Israeli-backed group, comes with great risk: Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians at its food distribution sites since May. Earlier this month more than 100 charities wrote an open letter to say that they were seeing Palestinians, including their own colleagues, wasting away as famine grips Gaza. The letter blamed Israeli restrictions on, and 'massacres' at, aid distribution points. Israel's foreign ministry says it is now allowing in about 70 aid trucks a day – well below the 500 to 600 trucks the UN says are needed and that entered daily during a six-week ceasefire earlier this year. 'On a given day when a NGO has to shut down highly visible operations because of military threats, fundraisers like ours can still operate,' says Shih. 'But those NGOs could be up the very next day serving more people than our small team could handle. NGOs have more money and resources but are also bound by international bureaucracy and political tensions. Mutual aid groups are more nimble, have less overhead and are able to distribute moderate amounts of aid quickly.' While some mutual aid funds are being run by individuals like Shih, others are small collectives that focus on certain kinds of aid – like Water is Life, which sources water from wells in northern Gaza and, with the help of donations, pays for trucks to distribute it around the strip. Mutual Aid Funds says that in the past few weeks interest and donations have soared as more images of starvation and Israeli violence reach western media. Grassroots Gaza is a fund run by a large number of Palestinians who now live abroad. 'Donations are a lifeline in these catastrophic times,' said their cofounding member, who asked not to be named. 'For example, we've been sending clean water trucks to al-Naser in north Gaza for months. And we chose this area precisely because it's a residential neighborhood, not a camp or UN school, and is often overlooked by large NGOs and international aid initiatives.' Notably, these funds use existing networks and wire transfers to get money to Gaza, avoiding platforms like GoFundMe which has frozen or returned millions of dollars raised on its platform meant to reach Gaza. But once money reaches Gaza, some brokers are charging 40% fees to get cash. These fees are a big part of the reason people can't afford food. Many merchants used to accept digital transfers, but no longer. Virtual money is losing value because it has to be converted to cash at some point. Food prices are changing constantly, but Tamar Glezerman, who fundraises via Venmo with the help of a friend in Gaza, says prices last week were 1,100 shekels ($324) for 10kg of flour, 200 shekels ($59) for Canned sardines and 54 shekels ($15) for wet wipes. That's not to say mutual aid groups can account that every dollar they raise is spent in the most effective way. Grassroots Gaza acknowledges the emergence of 'black markets, skyrocketing prices, and exploitative merchants' but says that it is not the fault of those sending money and 'is directly linked to and engineered by the ongoing genocidal war'. Many financial operators also saddle huge surcharges on money being sent to Gaza. 'Everything we do is carried out and organized under siege, bombardment, starvation, and abandonment by the international community and neighboring countries. Nothing about this moment is perfect, and yet we continue to provide rooted in care, accountability, and love to our people,' said the group's spokesperson. Yesterday, as she was about to send more money, Shih got a heartbreaking reply from one of the families she regularly donates to: 'I think there is no need for that. We will not be able to use this money for anything. The situation is very bad and the prices are very high. This is the last thing I ever expected to say in my life.' Shih says she will continue to send funds to the family, but the only way to help every Palestinian in Gaza is with an immediate ceasefire and open borders. 'If there was enough food to feed the people of Gaza, there would be no black market. Flour didn't cost 120 shekels a kilo before the genocide. Israel is manufacturing the starvation of Gaza and then pointing to people's desperation as proof of their depravity, but the depravity is Israel's alone.'
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Everything we do is under siege': small fundraisers try to provide lifeline in Gaza
Every day, new images come from Gaza that depict the most unimaginable horrors: hunger, despair and murder. It's rare to see a glimmer of hope in this unrelenting suffering, but last week a video posted by Stephanie Shih, of fresh vegetables being purchased from one of the few remaining family farms in the Gaza Strip, provided one. Sadly, the prices were astronomical – sometimes as much as $40 for a few eggplants. Since Israel has stopped almost all food and aid getting into Gaza, prices of what little food has been grown, stockpiled or looted have soared. The fresh vegetables could be purchased thanks to a mutual aid fund run by Shih, an artist based out of New York. Shih has raised over $600,000 since March 2024 from a fund she runs from her Instagram and word of mouth. Half of the money goes to a photojournalist in Gaza with a history of community work, who helps organise distributions of cooked food, produce, water, tents, cloth and cash. 'He's able to leverage his longstanding relationships with local vendors to get decent deals on what little product is available in the markets, which is then distributed for free to families who cannot afford it,' Shih said. The funds enabled him to buy the vegetables and pass them on to other families. The other half of the money is given to around 30 families in Gaza that Shih has developed close relationships with since 2024. Shih is one of a number of individuals and groups based in the US who have set up uncertified and unofficial mutual aid funds for people in Gaza. The funds solicit donations from all over the world. Some are working with Palestinians in Gaza to organise complex distribution networks, others are simply wiring money directly to trusted individuals in Gaza to distribute. Just this week, Reviving Gaza, a mutual aid group founded by three displaced Gazan siblings, posted videos of 1,500 loaves of fresh bread being baked with flour secured by their group. This kind of distribution is often uneven and not nearly enough to sustain the population of Gaza. The amount they can raise is also limited by personal networks and social media followers. Yet for people living under the most unimaginably horrific conditions, these donations can be a lifeline. Since the beginning of the war, aid has been severely restricted – only a small number of aid trucks are allowed into Gaza and what's allowed in is heavily controlled by Israel. But things got considerably worse in March, when Israel enacted a total blockade on all food, aid and medicine into Gaza. The small amount of aid still being distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a USand Israeli-backed group, comes with great risk: Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians at its food distribution sites since May. Earlier this month more than 100 charities wrote an open letter to say that they were seeing Palestinians, including their own colleagues, wasting away as famine grips Gaza. The letter blamed Israeli restrictions on, and 'massacres' at, aid distribution points. Israel's foreign ministry says it is now allowing in about 70 aid trucks a day – well below the 500 to 600 trucks the UN says are needed and that entered daily during a six-week ceasefire earlier this year. 'On a given day when a NGO has to shut down highly visible operations because of military threats, fundraisers like ours can still operate,' says Shih. 'But those NGOs could be up the very next day serving more people than our small team could handle. NGOs have more money and resources but are also bound by international bureaucracy and political tensions. Mutual aid groups are more nimble, have less overhead and are able to distribute moderate amounts of aid quickly.' While some mutual aid funds are being run by individuals like Shih, others are small collectives that focus on certain kinds of aid – like Water is Life, which sources water from wells in northern Gaza and, with the help of donations, pays for trucks to distribute it around the strip. Mutual Aid Funds says that in the past few weeks interest and donations have soared as more images of starvation and Israeli violence reach western media. Grassroots Gaza is a fund run by a large number of Palestinians who now live abroad. 'Donations are a lifeline in these catastrophic times,' said their cofounding member, who asked not to be named. 'For example, we've been sending clean water trucks to al-Naser in north Gaza for months. And we chose this area precisely because it's a residential neighborhood, not a camp or UN school, and is often overlooked by large NGOs and international aid initiatives.' Notably, these funds use existing networks and wire transfers to get money to Gaza, avoiding platforms like GoFundMe which has frozen or returned millions of dollars raised on its platform meant to reach Gaza. But once money reaches Gaza, some brokers are charging 40% fees to get cash. These fees are a big part of the reason people can't afford food. Many merchants used to accept digital transfers, but no longer. Virtual money is losing value because it has to be converted to cash at some point. Food prices are changing constantly, but Tamar Glezerman, who fundraises via Venmo with the help of a friend in Gaza, says prices last week were 1,100 shekels ($324) for 10kg of flour, 200 shekels ($59) for Canned sardines and 54 shekels ($15) for wet wipes. That's not to say mutual aid groups can account that every dollar they raise is spent in the most effective way. Grassroots Gaza acknowledges the emergence of 'black markets, skyrocketing prices, and exploitative merchants' but says that it is not the fault of those sending money and 'is directly linked to and engineered by the ongoing genocidal war'. Many financial operators also saddle huge surcharges on money being sent to Gaza. 'Everything we do is carried out and organized under siege, bombardment, starvation, and abandonment by the international community and neighboring countries. Nothing about this moment is perfect, and yet we continue to provide rooted in care, accountability, and love to our people,' said the group's spokesperson. Yesterday, as she was about to send more money, Shih got a heartbreaking reply from one of the families she regularly donates to: 'I think there is no need for that. We will not be able to use this money for anything. The situation is very bad and the prices are very high. This is the last thing I ever expected to say in my life.' Shih says she will continue to send funds to the family, but the only way to help every Palestinian in Gaza is with an immediate ceasefire and open borders. 'If there was enough food to feed the people of Gaza, there would be no black market. Flour didn't cost 120 shekels a kilo before the genocide. Israel is manufacturing the starvation of Gaza and then pointing to people's desperation as proof of their depravity, but the depravity is Israel's alone.'
