Over 30 killed near aid site in Gaza
A Palestinian, wounded in an Israeli strike, receives treatment in the Intensive Care Unit at Nasser Hospital, according to ministry of health, following an Israeli strike, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 1, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Hatem Khaled
More than 30 Palestinians were killed and dozens more injured on Sunday in southern Gaza near a humanitarian aid distribution site run by a U.S. company, according to local health officials.
Witnesses said the Israeli military had opened fire as Palestinians gathered to collect food in Rafah.
The military denied it had fired towards civilians. It also later released what it said was drone footage that showed gunmen firing on people trying to collect looted humanitarian aid in Khan Younis, a nearby city in the south of the enclave.
The footage was undated and only one person armed with a rifle was clearly visible. The military did not identify the alleged gunmen and Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.
The U.S. company running aid distribution sites in Rafah and Netzarim said that it had distributed aid without incident.
Reuters could not independently verify what took place.
The head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, wrote on X that international medics in Gaza had reported there were "mass casualties including scores of injured & killed among starving civilians due to gunshots".
A series of incidents have underscored the insecurity around aid delivery to Gaza, following the easing of an almost three-month Israeli blockade last month.
"There are martyrs and injuries. Many injuries. It is a tragic situation in this place. I advise them that nobody goes to aid delivery points. Enough,' paramedic Abu Tareq said at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said paramedics had recovered the bodies of 23 Palestinians and evacuated another 23 injured people from the aid collection site area in Rafah.
Local health authorities said at least 31 bodies had so far arrived at Nasser Hospital.
The U.S.-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates the aid distribution site in Rafah, denied anyone was killed or injured near its site and said that all of its distribution had taken place without incident. It accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of fabricating "fake reports".
GFH released undated footage that it said showed that aid was distributed at one site without incident. Reuters could not independently verify the footage, which appeared to show dozens of people gathering around piles of boxes.
INITIAL INQUIRY
Israel's military said in a statement that findings from an initial inquiry indicated soldiers had not fired on civilians while they were near or within the aid distribution site.
GHF is a U.S.-based entity backed by the U.S. and Israeli governments that began providing aid in Gaza last month, bypassing traditional aid groups.
The group has been widely criticized by the international community, with U.N. officials saying its aid plans would only foment forced relocation of Palestinians in Gaza and more violence.
Residents and medics said Israeli soldiers fired from the ground at a crane nearby that overlooks the area, and a tank had opened fire at thousands of people who were en route to get aid from the site in Rafah. Reuters footage showed ambulance vehicles carrying injured people to Nasser Hospital.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office accused Israel of using aid as a weapon, "employed to exploit starving civilians and forcibly gather them at exposed killing zones, which are managed and monitored by the Israeli military".
Israel denies that people in Gaza are starving because of its actions, saying it is facilitating aid deliveries and pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
U.S. President Donald Trump said last month that a lot of people in Gaza were "starving".
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza. Hamas denies looting supplies and has executed a number of suspected looters.
Reda Abu Jazar said her brother was killed as he waited to collect food near the Rafah aid distribution centre. "Let them stop these massacres, stop this genocide. They are killing us," she said, as Palestinian men gathered for funeral prayers.
UNRWA's Lazzarini said in his statement on X that "aid distribution has become a death trap" and adding that aid distribution should be "only through the United Nations including UNRWA".
The Red Crescent also reported that 14 Palestinians were injured on Sunday near a separate site in central Gaza, also operated by GHF.
CEASEFIRE TALKS FALTER
Israel and Hamas meanwhile traded blame for the faltering of a new Arab and U.S. mediation bid to secure a temporary ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli jails.
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal, but Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff rejected the group's response as "totally unacceptable".
Egypt and Qatar said on Sunday they are continuing efforts to converge views and overcome disagreements to reach a ceasefire.
Dozens of Palestinians marched on Sunday at the funeral of a Gaza doctor, Hamdi Al-Najjar, who was critically injured in late May in an airstrike that killed all but one of his 10 children. Najjar died late on Saturday.
The Israeli military has confirmed it conducted an air strike on Khan Younis that day, but said it was targeting suspects in a structure that was close to Israeli soldiers.
The military is looking into claims that "uninvolved civilians" were killed, it said, adding that the military had evacuated civilians from the area before the operation began.
Israel began its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken as hostages into Gaza.
Israel's campaign has devastated much of Gaza, killing more than 54,000 Palestinians and destroying most buildings. Much of the population now lives in shelters in makeshift camps.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
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Yomiuri Shimbun
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- Yomiuri Shimbun
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Yomiuri Shimbun
2 days ago
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Gaza Officials Say Israeli Forces Killed 27 Heading to Aid Site. Israel Says It Fired near Suspects
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Japan Today
2 days ago
- Japan Today
At least 27 Palestinians killed near Gaza aid site; U.N. demands investigation
By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Crispian Balmer At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire near a food distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said, in a third day running of chaos and bloodshed to blight the aid operation. The Israeli military said its forces had opened fire on a group of people who had left designated access routes near the distribution centre in Rafah and approached their positions. It added it was still investigating what had happened. The deaths came hours after Israel said three of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, as its forces pushed ahead with a months-long offensive against Hamas militants that has laid waste to much of the enclave. Reuters could not independently verify the reports in northern and southern Gaza. A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross told Reuters that its field hospital in Rafah had received 184 casualties, adding that 19 of those were declared dead upon arrival, and eight died of their wounds shortly after. Video showed injured people, including at least one woman, being rushed to a medical centre on carts drawn by donkeys, before being transferred onto stretchers or into ambulances. The United Nations human rights office in Geneva said on Tuesday the impediment of access to food relief for civilians in Gaza might constitute a war crime and described attacks on people trying to access food aid as "unconscionable". The head of the U.N. agency, Volker Turk, urged a prompt and impartial investigation into the killings. "Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law, and a war crime," he said in a statement. The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched its first distribution sites last week in an effort to alleviate widespread hunger amongst Gaza's war-battered population, most of whom have been forced to abandon their homes to flee fighting. The Foundation's operation, which bypasses traditional aid groups, has come under fierce criticism from the United Nations and established charities which say it does not follow humanitarian principles. The private group, which is endorsed by Israel, said it had distributed 21 truckloads of food early on Tuesday and stressed that the reported violence had not happened within its site. "This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site and control. We recognize the difficult nature of the situation and advise all civilians to remain in the safe corridor when traveling to our distribution sites." Palestinians who collected food boxes on Tuesday described scenes of pandemonium, with no-one overseeing the handover of supplies or checking IDs, as the crowds jostled for provisions. "It is complete chaos and humiliation, and people have no choice but to keep coming because there is no food in Gaza," said one Palestinian, who declined to be named, adding that he was lucky to have survived the shootings outside the aid centre. MASS EVACUATIONS There have been reports of repeated killings over the past three days near Rafah as crowds gather before dawn. On Sunday, Palestinian and international officials said at least 31 people were killed and dozens more injured. On Monday, three Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli fire. The Israeli military has denied targeting civilians and called reports of deaths during Sunday's distribution "fabrications" by Hamas. On Tuesday, it said IDF forces had identified "a number of suspects" moving towards them while deviating from the access routes. "The forces fired evasive shots, and after they did not move away, additional shots were fired near the individual suspects who were advancing towards the forces," it said. The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to residents of several districts in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip late on Monday, warning that the army would act forcefully against militants operating in those areas. The military told residents to head west towards the Mawasi humanitarian area. Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the enclave, and that most of its 2.3 million population has become internally displaced. The territory's health ministry said on Tuesday that the new evacuation orders could halt work at the Nasser Hospital, the largest, still-functioning medical facility in the south, endangering the lives of those being treated there. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 assault in which Hamas-led gunmen killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies. In the subsequent fighting, more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed, local health authorities say. Meanwhile, recent efforts to secure a ceasefire appear to have stalled. Israel has said it accepts a U.S.-backed temporary truce to release hostages, while Hamas wants a permanent end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
