Dozens Of Palestinians Massacred At US-Israel Backed Food Distribution Sites
Jerusalem: Dozens of Palestinians were killed and hundreds more injured yesterday, 1 June, as they waited for food at the newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centres in Rafah and close to the Netzarim Corridor, according to the Ministry of Health. Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams joined the mass casualty response in Nasser hospital, Khan Younis. Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers on the ground.
'Today's events have shown once again that this new system of aid delivery is dehumanising, dangerous and severely ineffective. It has resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians that could have been prevented. Humanitarian aid must be provided only by humanitarian organisations who have the competence and determination to do it safely and effectively,' states Claire Manera, MSF emergency coordinator.
MSF teams at Nasser hospital treated patients with serious injuries today. Some patients in critical condition are still undergoing surgery. But with the blood banks almost empty, medical staff themselves have had to donate blood.
'The hospital corridors were filled with patients, but unlike what I have witnessed before, where most of the patients were women and children, today it was mainly men. They lay in their beds in the hallways because the rooms are already packed with injured people. They had visible gunshot wounds in their limbs, and their clothes were soaked with blood,' says Nour Alsaqa, MSF communications officer. 'They looked shattered and distraught after trying to secure food for their children, returning instead injured and empty handed. Outside, there was shouting, sirens, a constant rush of new arrivals to the emergency room. Amid the chaos, we received confirmation that a colleague's brother had been killed while attempting to collect aid from the distribution centre,' she adds. Mansour Sami Abdi, a father of four, described the chaos: "People fought over five pallets. They told us to take food—then they fired from every direction. I ran 200 metres before realising I'd been shot. This isn't aid. It's a lie. Are we supposed to go get food for our kids and die?"
'I was shot at 3:10am. As we were trapped, I bled constantly until 5:00am. There were many other men with me. One of them tried to get me out. He was shot in the head and died on my chest. We had gone there for nothing but food — just to survive, like everyone else,' says Mohammad Daghmeh, 24, a displaced person in Al-Qarara, Khan Younis.
This is the second time this new system of aid distribution has led to bloodshed. On 27 May, the first afternoon of distribution in Rafah, Israeli forces shot dozens of people as wholly insufficient amounts of basic lifesaving supplies were distributed amid chaos.
As a result of the total siege that was imposed by the Israeli authorities on 2 March, 100 per cent of Gaza is now at risk of famine, according to the United Nations. Since 19 May, the few hundred food trucks brought in – an insufficient fraction of what is needed – have spread despair among the 2 million plus people who have been largely deprived of food, water, and medication for three months now. Totally or partially blocking humanitarian aid to enter Gaza has aggravated the situation of all Gazans.
MSF reinforces that, along with displacement orders and bombing campaigns that kill civilians, weaponising aid in this manner may constitute crimes against humanity. Only a lasting ceasefire and the immediate opening of Gaza's borders for humanitarian aid – including food, medical supplies, fuel and equipment – can ease this man-made catastrophe.
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More than 30 aid seekers killed, Gaza claims
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The Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry said 31 people were killed with a single gunshot wound to the head or chest from Israeli fire as they were gathered in the Al-Alam district aid distribution area in Rafah. It said 169 were injured. In addition to Israeli gunshots, residents and medics said an Israeli tank had opened fire at thousands of people en route to the Rafah site. The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah received 179 casualties, most with gunshot or shrapnel wounds. "All patients said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site. This is the highest number of weapon-wounded in a single incident since the establishment of the field hospital over a year ago," ICRC said. The United Nations has said most of Gaza's 2 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade on aid entering the strip. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched its first distribution sites last week and said it would launch more. The Israeli military has said GHF had established four sites so far. The organization's aid plan, which bypasses traditional aid groups, has come under fierce criticism from the United Nations and humanitarian organizations which say GHF does not follow humanitarian principles. There were chaotic scenes as hungry Gazans rushed its sites last week. Hamas reported deaths and injuries in the tumult, and Israel said its troops fired warning shots. Because the GHF distribution points are few and all in south Gaza, UN officials have said its plans force Palestinians, especially in the north, to relocate and face unsafe conditions. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN's Palestinian relief agency, condemned Sunday's deaths and said in a statement on X that "aid distribution has become a death trap". 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". At Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis city where some casualties were brought, Gaza paramedic Abu Tareq said there was "a tragic situation in this place. I advise them that nobody goes to aid delivery points." 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 centres and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza. US 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. The Red Crescent reported that 14 Palestinians were injured on Sunday near a separate GHF aid site in central Gaza. CEASEFIRE TALKS FALTER Israel and Hamas meanwhile traded blame for the faltering of a new Arab and US 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 US-backed ceasefire proposal, but Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff rejected the group's response as "totally unacceptable". Egypt and Qatar said in a joint statement that they are continuing efforts to overcome disagreements and reach a ceasefire. 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The toll of the occupation's massacre of citizens gathered in the area designated for aid distribution, Al-Alam area, in Rafah Governorate, at dawn today. More than 200 cases have arrived at hospitals so far, including 31 martyrs and dozens with serious injuries. Every martyr who arrived at hospitals had sustained only one gunshot wound to the head or chest, confirming the occupation's insistence on brutally killing civilians. The Palestinian Ministry of Health stated that the "israeli" occupation is using the new mechanism it established for distributing aid in the Gaza Strip as traps for mass killings in the Strip and a tool for the forced displacement of Gaza residents. In press statements today, Sunday, the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Munir Al-Barsh, expressed his condemnation of the international silence regarding the massacres being committed against the starving residents of the Gaza Strip. Dr. Al-Barsh also indicated that Gaza hospitals are facing dire conditions in light of the severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies, noting that the occupation is still preventing approximately 3,000 trucks carrying medical supplies located in the Egyptian city of Al-Arish from crossing into the Gaza Strip. Dr. Al-Barsh blamed the occupation for deliberately spreading infectious diseases and epidemics by continuing to prevent the flow of medicines and vaccines. He pointed to the spread of many vector-borne diseases, acute bloody diarrhea, and meningitis, in addition to depriving the population of water security, as 90% of the population suffers from water insecurity. Ministry of Health June 1, 2025
Scoop
2 days ago
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Dozens Of Palestinians Massacred At US-Israel Backed Food Distribution Sites
Jerusalem: Dozens of Palestinians were killed and hundreds more injured yesterday, 1 June, as they waited for food at the newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centres in Rafah and close to the Netzarim Corridor, according to the Ministry of Health. Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams joined the mass casualty response in Nasser hospital, Khan Younis. Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers on the ground. 'Today's events have shown once again that this new system of aid delivery is dehumanising, dangerous and severely ineffective. It has resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians that could have been prevented. Humanitarian aid must be provided only by humanitarian organisations who have the competence and determination to do it safely and effectively,' states Claire Manera, MSF emergency coordinator. MSF teams at Nasser hospital treated patients with serious injuries today. Some patients in critical condition are still undergoing surgery. But with the blood banks almost empty, medical staff themselves have had to donate blood. 'The hospital corridors were filled with patients, but unlike what I have witnessed before, where most of the patients were women and children, today it was mainly men. They lay in their beds in the hallways because the rooms are already packed with injured people. They had visible gunshot wounds in their limbs, and their clothes were soaked with blood,' says Nour Alsaqa, MSF communications officer. 'They looked shattered and distraught after trying to secure food for their children, returning instead injured and empty handed. Outside, there was shouting, sirens, a constant rush of new arrivals to the emergency room. Amid the chaos, we received confirmation that a colleague's brother had been killed while attempting to collect aid from the distribution centre,' she adds. Mansour Sami Abdi, a father of four, described the chaos: "People fought over five pallets. They told us to take food—then they fired from every direction. I ran 200 metres before realising I'd been shot. This isn't aid. It's a lie. Are we supposed to go get food for our kids and die?" 'I was shot at 3:10am. As we were trapped, I bled constantly until 5:00am. There were many other men with me. One of them tried to get me out. He was shot in the head and died on my chest. We had gone there for nothing but food — just to survive, like everyone else,' says Mohammad Daghmeh, 24, a displaced person in Al-Qarara, Khan Younis. This is the second time this new system of aid distribution has led to bloodshed. On 27 May, the first afternoon of distribution in Rafah, Israeli forces shot dozens of people as wholly insufficient amounts of basic lifesaving supplies were distributed amid chaos. As a result of the total siege that was imposed by the Israeli authorities on 2 March, 100 per cent of Gaza is now at risk of famine, according to the United Nations. Since 19 May, the few hundred food trucks brought in – an insufficient fraction of what is needed – have spread despair among the 2 million plus people who have been largely deprived of food, water, and medication for three months now. Totally or partially blocking humanitarian aid to enter Gaza has aggravated the situation of all Gazans. MSF reinforces that, along with displacement orders and bombing campaigns that kill civilians, weaponising aid in this manner may constitute crimes against humanity. Only a lasting ceasefire and the immediate opening of Gaza's borders for humanitarian aid – including food, medical supplies, fuel and equipment – can ease this man-made catastrophe.
