‘I felt a bullet': Palestinians recount deadly shooting near new Gaza aid site

Straits Times

13 hours ago

Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution centre of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah on June 5, 2025. PHOTO: REUTERS
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip – Hungry and desperate, they raced to secure just one box of food. After nearly three months without any aid entering the Gaza Strip, Palestinians had learned that an Israeli-backed aid site would open in Rafah.
Israel promised an orderly system that would improve on the United Nations' efforts to distribute much-needed food to Palestinians in Gaza. Almost from the beginning, things went horribly wrong.
On the night of May 31, Mr Mohammed Abdulal, 30, travelled 18 miles (29km) and joined thousands of people aggressively pushing their way forward, trying to reach the aid site.
Israeli forces formed a wide perimeter around the site, which was overseen by US private security contractors.
Suddenly, he heard a hail of gunfire, forcing people to flee in every direction, their terrified screams filling the night sky. A bullet ripped through Mr Abdulal's face, leaving him writhing in pain.
'I only took two steps before I felt a bullet tear into my right cheek and neck,' he said. 'I started shouting: 'People, I'm wounded. Help me.''
The rollout of the new aid effort over the past week by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an effort conceived in Israel and endorsed by the United States, was supposed to help Palestinians get aid while keeping it out of the hands of Hamas.
Instead, the effort, criticised by multiple aid groups and the United Nations, has devolved into scenes of chaos and death.
The New York Times spoke to eight witnesses who described how attempting to reach the sites had become a life-threatening endeavour.
The exact details of the deadly incidents remain murky.
The Israeli military has acknowledged firing 'warning shots' toward Palestinians but has not taken responsibility for killing them.
Multiple witnesses blamed Israeli forces for the deadly fire, which Gaza health officials say killed dozens of Palestinians trying to secure aid.
The procedures for getting the new aid have often been unclear for Palestinians facing widespread hunger after Israel blocked food from entering Gaza.
Many have sought to beat the huge crowds flooding the distribution sites by arriving as early as possible, often after walking long distances.
While the UN relied on hundreds of distribution sites across Gaza, the Israeli-backed effort has only four, creating a bottleneck.
Some Palestinians have tried to advance in the line by taking shortcuts to the aid sites outside the officially marked path, but people both on and off that path appeared to have come under fire, according to three of the witnesses.
And people arriving early have been told to come back later by Israeli drones, but many have ignored those calls, worried that they will lose their spot in line, the witnesses said.
Mr Mohammad Saqar, 43, said he had braved the shooting on June 1 by crouching low to the ground to avoid getting shot at, even as people were struck nearby.
When he finally reached the site, he described a mad scramble as crowds rushed to grab the cardboard boxes of aid strewed in piles on the ground.
'It's like a race for food,' Mr Saqar said. 'Those who win the race get the aid.'
Two days later, on June 3, a similar scene unfolded.
Amid the crowd, Mr Walid Abdeen, 16, was shot in his upper body when gunfire erupted as he and thousands of other people approached the aid site. He suffered damage to his spleen and kidneys.
'We want food,' he said, struggling to speak after undergoing emergency surgery. 'I had to try to help my family.'
Despite the violence, Israeli officials have argued that the new system enables food to reach Palestinians without benefiting Hamas.
In contrast, many Palestinians say the United Nations – which governed the aid distribution process for most of the war – was far more humane with its approach, despite its imperfections.
The UN and other prominent aid groups have boycotted the new distribution system, accusing Israel of using aid as a part of its military strategy.
'The people are desperate and hungry,' Mr Abdulal said. 'That's why they came.'
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is spearheading the latest aid effort, has sought to downplay the significance of the shootings, saying it has provided more than 100,000 cardboard boxes of food 'without a single incident.'
But the group temporarily shut down all its sites on June 4, in an apparent acknowledgment that it had faced challenges in distributing aid, before reopening them the following day.
The Israeli military has offered mixed messages.
It has both denied shooting civilians in the vicinity of the distribution site and acknowledged firing warning shots toward 'suspects' who were approaching soldiers nearby.
It was still unclear whether there were other sources of gunfire in the area.
Asked who shot the Palestinians on June 1, a military spokesperson referred to an earlier statement that did not answer the question.
A UN briefing paper circulated before the foundation's initiative was launched last week warned of 'overcrowded distribution sites' and said that Israeli forces or American contractors might 'use force to control crowds.'
The memo also cautioned about the potential for 'organised and opportunistic looting' near the hubs.
Mr Jalal al-Homs, 35, said he left a tent in southern Gaza where his family was sheltering around 1.30am on June 1.
Accompanied by his brother, he walked for two hours through darkness to Rafah, where he joined throngs of people trying to secure food.
Israeli military vehicles, he said, could be seen in the distance, and drones could be heard hovering in the sky.
It was Mr al-Homs' fourth attempt this week to get a box, he said. On previous trips, he said, all the aid had been taken by the time he made it into the distribution site.
Mr Al-Homs said people were trying to push their way to the front of the crowd before the shooting began around 4.30am. 'It felt like it came from all over,' he said.
His brother was shot in the leg, he said, and taken to a hospital, where he underwent surgery.
Despite the danger, Mr al-Homs said, he had few options other than returning to the distribution site so that he could feed his two sons and two daughters.
'This system isn't just at all – it requires me risking my life for food,' he said. NYTIMES
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.