Over 500 injured as aid-seekers near Zikim crossing encircled by Israeli soldiers, armed gangs

Mada

6 days ago

Israeli forces opened fire on thousands of aid-seekers in the Sudaniya area in northwestern Gaza on Wednesday as they were attempting to collect vital aid from the few trucks that had been allowed through the Zikim crossing.
'Soldiers fired at us from the north, gunboats from the west and quadcopters from above, while armed gangs attacked us from every direction,' Ahmed Zakkout, an eyewitness, described the situation to Mada Masr.
The incident is the latest in a series of fatal attacks by Israeli forces on aid-seekers gathering near the meager number of aid trucks that have entered Gaza this week.
The only other aid available in Gaza is delivered to distribution points belonging to the Gaza Humanitarian Front (GHF), where over 1,000 people have already been killed in similar attacks on aid-seekers.
As starvation worsens in the strip under Israel's policies, conditions surrounding aid deliveries have worsened, with armed groups such as those described by Zakkout increasingly attacking large crowds of civilians at aid distribution sites and seizing the scarce supplies.
Eyewitness Mohamed Abu Leila headed to the Sudaniya area, where aid trucks had been stationed, and decided to risk his life and move closer to get some food and flour for his family.
He said that when aid trucks began to enter through the Zikim crossing and reach the point where they usually stop in Sudaniya, people rushed toward the convoy. This is when Israeli forces began to fire at them, Abu Leila added.
'I was at the back of the crowds and, luckily, I wasn't able to reach the aid trucks as soon as they entered the area. Otherwise, I would have been among the martyrs,' he said.
Dropping to the floor as soon as gunfire started, Abu Leila recounted seeing dozens of martyrs fall, 'while some people managed to climb onto the trucks and steal bags of flour and boxes of food parcels.'
Zakkout was also among the thousands who headed to Sudaniya on Wednesday morning in the hope of securing some food for his family amid the fifth month of siege and starvation in the strip.
As he approached, he was met by thousands of civilians fleeing from the heavy gunfire by Israeli troops stationed north of the Sudaniya area.
'I decided to go back and not risk going further,' Zakkout said. 'The shooting was intense and even targeted people who were running away with nothing.'
The Gaza Government Media Office announced on Thursday that 58 people were killed and 579 were injured in the latest 'Zikim massacre.'
Since the Israeli military announced its daily ' tactical ' combat pauses to allow a limited number of aid trucks through Gaza's border crossings in the south and north, none of the trucks have reached the distribution warehouses where humanitarian organizations would usually deliver them to civilians.
Instead, sources told Mada Masr that Israel has blocked the passage of the few trucks being permitted to enter and attacked guards securing the trucks, leaving the convoys exposed to theft and looting. In many incidents, Israeli soldiers also opened fire on civilians gathering around the trucks — just as Abu Leila said took place again on Wednesday.
The Israeli military isn't alone in attacking the crowds. Zakkout, who was watching from a distance, recounted that, as people were targeted from all sides, armed groups also launched attacks on civilians.
'People were fleeing, with some trying to carry flour bags and aid boxes even though they were injured. I saw one of the injured fall in front of me as he was carrying a bag of flour, but when I tried to help him, an armed group approached and ordered me to stay away from him, took the bag of flour, and left him on the floor,' Zakkout recalled.
Abu Leila also saw the armed groups attacking aid-seekers at gunpoint and knifepoint as Israeli troops fired at the gathering civilians.
'Those who had managed to take bags of flour tried to creep south when the shooting stopped,' he said. 'Soon after, gangs began to move to Sudaniya's east and stole their bags of flour and aid boxes.'
Armed groups have sprung up in the strip as social cohesion has been eroded after months of starvation propelled by Israel's frequent border closures since October 2023 and near-total siege since March.
Palestinian eyewitnesses and officials said that the groups are acting in coordination with Israeli forces, who were said to have avoided firing at similar gangs present at two recent aid convoy shootings.
Zakkout, who was stopped and threatened by the armed groups on Wednesday, echoes this claim.
He said that it was obvious that the groups were working under the Israeli military's supervision given that they moved within its sight and carried firearms but were never targeted.
He added that the armed gangs came on Wednesday from an area in eastern Sudaniya that is controlled by the Israeli military, which he accuses of being complicit in what is happening: allowing trucks to enter, then sending armed gangs to loot them and rob any civilians trying to secure food for their families.
Aid is now a matter of life or death for the hundreds of thousands in Gaza, around one in three of whom are currently eating only every few days, the World Food Programme said last week, adding that only a massive scale-up in food aid distribution can remedy the situation.
'I wasn't carrying anything, yet the armed gangs stopped me and threatened to kill me if I didn't hand over my money and belongings, but I wasn't carrying anything, so they let me go,' said Zakkout. 'They stabbed those who refused immediately.'
Abu Leila also estimated that the armed gangs' attacks have worsened the death toll among aid-seekers at Zikim.
'Some people carried some of those killed and injured to the hospitals, but dozens of bodies remain strewn near the trucks with no one able to reach them.'
Shifa Medical Complex Director Mohamed Abu Salmiya told Mada Masr that the hospital has admitted dozens of those injured, most of whom suffered upper-body injuries. Al-Shifa hospital alone received 50 bodies and 300 injured people from the Zikim attack on Wednesday, the government media office said.
But with few medical supplies, the hospital was unable to provide care to many, according to Abu Salmiya.