Gaza aid sites branded ‘human slaughterhouses' under deadly Israeli fire

Al Jazeera

2 days ago

At least 13 Palestinians have been killed and more than 150 injured after Israeli troops and American security contractors opened fire on crowds waiting for food near two aid distribution sites in Gaza, one east of Rafah and another near the Wadi Gaza Bridge.
Sunday's killings are the latest in a series of attacks on civilians seeking food at aid centres operated by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-led initiative backed by Israel in Israeli-controlled zones.
More than 130 people have now been killed and more than 700 wounded by Israeli troops while desperately trying to access meagre food parcels for their hungry families from the aid sites since the GHF programme began on May 27.
At least nine people are still missing.
In a statement, Gaza's Government Media Office condemned the distribution sites as 'human slaughterhouses', accusing Israeli forces of luring desperate civilians to their deaths.
'These are war crimes and crimes against humanity,' the statement said, urging an independent international probe and an immediate suspension of GHF's delivery model.
The drive backed by Israel and the United States has faced growing criticism from human rights organisations and the United Nations for violating basic humanitarian standards and bypassing organisations that have decades of experience distributing aid to the entire population of the besieged enclave.
The latest bloodshed reportedly began around 6am local time (03:00 GMT), as hundreds of Palestinians stalked by starvation gathered near the aid point in the al-Alam area of Rafah.
Witnesses said people had started forming queues as early as 4:30am, desperate to get food before the site became overwhelmed.
'After about an hour and a half, hundreds moved toward the site, and the army opened fire,' said witness Abdallah Nour al-Din.
The Israeli military later said its troops opened fire on individuals who 'continued advancing in a way that endangered the soldiers', and claimed the area had been designated an 'active combat zone' at night. However, survivors insist the shooting took place after sunrise.
'This is a trap for us, not aid,' said Adham Dahman, speaking to the Associated Press from Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza with a bloodied bandage on his chin. He said a tank fired towards the crowd, and people were left scrambling for cover.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that 13 wounded individuals and one person who was dead on arrival came to its clinic in the al-Mawasi area of southern Khan Younis today.
MSF said the injured and dead were 'carried in donkey carts, on bicycles, or on foot'.
The wounded were all men between the ages of 17 and 30. The victims said they were shot in the Shakoush area while travelling to a food distribution site in Saudi village.
Footage from outside the hospital showed mourning families weeping over blood-soaked shrouds, as emergency workers rushed to treat the wounded.
UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese called the GHF operation 'humanitarian camouflage' and 'an essential tactic of this genocide'.
In a post on social media, Albanese blamed 'the moral and political corruption of the world' for enabling the destruction of Gaza.
Al Jazeera's correspondent Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said the GHF's delivery model has proven woefully inadequate. 'Today's deadly attacks in the south show that the GHF is insufficient in the way it's running aid delivery,' he said.
'In the north, living conditions are becoming even more difficult. People are not just spending hours searching for water and food — they are spending the entire day. By the end of it, many are completely exhausted and dehydrated, simply because they could not find anything.'
An unnamed GHF official claimed there has been no violence in or around its aid distribution sites, all three of which delivered food on Sunday, according to The Associated Press.
The violence comes as Gaza's Health Ministry reports that the total death toll from Israel's ongoing war has reached 54,880, with more than 126,000 injured since October 7, 2023. Since Israel ended a ceasefire on March 18, 4,603 Palestinians have been killed and more than 14,000 injured.
In just the last 24 hours, Israeli strikes have killed at least 108 people and wounded nearly 400 more across the besieged enclave, the ministry said.
Hospitals are overwhelmed and on the brink of collapse, the ministry said.
Rafah's Red Cross Field Hospital has declared 12 mass casualty emergencies in just two weeks, with more than 900 wounded arriving during that period — 41 of them already dead. Most of those treated had been trying to reach food distribution sites when they were shot or injured.
A spokesman at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah warned that fuel supplies for Gaza's health facilities may run out within 48 hours, leaving patients without care. 'The hospital's artificial kidney department is out of service due to the occupation's attacks,' he told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, the director of al-Shifa Hospital told Al Jazeera that the lives of 300 kidney failure patients hang in the balance. 'We are facing a real disaster in the hospital if electricity is not provided,' he warned.