Zionists butcher 130 in Gaza amid ethnic cleansing, starvation
At least 67 were killed as truckloads of aid arrived in the north, while six others were reported shot near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier. The UN World Food Program said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid 'encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire' near Gaza City, soon after it crossed from the Zionist entity and cleared checkpoints.
The Zionist military said soldiers had fired warning shots 'to remove an immediate threat posed to them' as thousands gathered near Gaza City. Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with the authorities blaming Zionist fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials flock in huge numbers to aid centers. The UN said earlier this month that nearly 800 aid-seekers had been killed since late May, including on the routes of aid convoys. In Gaza City, Qasem Abu Khater, 36, told AFP he had rushed to try to get a bag of flour but instead found a desperate crowd of thousands and 'deadly overcrowding and pushing'.
'The tanks were firing shells randomly at us and (Zionist) sniper soldiers were shooting as if they were hunting animals in a forest,' he added. 'Dozens of people were martyred right before my eyes and no one could save anyone.'
Civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the death toll was 67 and expected to rise while the WFP condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as 'completely unacceptable'. '(Zionist) forces' gunfire' was responsible for the deaths in the south, he added. The Zionist military campaign has killed 58,895 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly civilians.
GAZA: An injured boy reacts as he sits on the ground by other men who were all wounded while queueing for aid, at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 20, 2025. - AFP
Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday expressed his regret to Pope Leo XIV after what he described as a 'stray' munition killed three people sheltering at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City. At the end of the Angelus prayer on Sunday, the pope slammed the 'barbarity' of the Gaza war and called for peace, days after the Zionist strike on the territory's only Catholic church.
The strike was part of the 'ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza', he added. 'I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations.' The Catholic Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, held mass at the Gaza church on Sunday after travelling to the devastated territory in a rare visit on Friday.
Most of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war and there have been repeated evacuation calls across large parts of the coastal enclave. On Sunday morning, the Zionist military ordered residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area to move south immediately. The Zionist entity was 'expanding its activities' against Hamas around Deir el-Balah, 'where it has not operated before', the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
Dozens of families began leaving their homes, carrying some of their belongings. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans have been sheltering in the Deir al-Balah area. The announcement prompted concern from families of Zionist captives that the Zionist offensive could harm their loved ones.
Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of war and there are fears of accelerating starvation. Palestinian health officials said hundreds of people could soon die as hospitals were inundated with patients suffering from dizziness and exhaustion due to the scarcity of food and a collapse in aid deliveries. 'We warn that hundreds of people whose bodies have wasted away are at risk of imminent death due to hunger,' said the health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas.
Gaza residents said it was becoming impossible to find essential food such as flour. The health ministry said at least 71 children had died of malnutrition during the war, and 60,000 others were suffering from symptoms of malnutrition. Later on Sunday, it said 18 people have died of hunger in the past 24 hours. Food prices have increased well beyond what most of the population of more than two million can afford.
Several people who spoke to Reuters via chat apps said they either had one meal or no meal in the past 24 hours. 'As a father, I wake up in the early morning to look for food, for even a loaf of bread for my five children, but all in vain,' said Ziad, a nurse. 'People who didn't die of bombs will die of hunger. We want an end to this war now, a truce, even for two months,' he told Reuters.
Others said they felt dizzy walking in the streets and that many fainted as they walked. Fathers leave tents to avoid questions by their children about what to eat. UNRWA, the UN refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, demanded the Zionist entity allow more aid trucks into Gaza, saying it had enough food for the entire population for over three months which was not allowed in. Some Palestinians suggested the move on Deir al-Balah might be an attempt to put pressure on Hamas to make more concessions in long-running ceasefire negotiations. – Agencies
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