Israeli forces kill at least 85 Palestinians seeking aid, health ministry says
At least 85 people have been killed by the Israeli military while waiting for aid at sites across Gaza on Sunday, making it the deadliest day for aid seekers in more than 21 months of war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
A fresh alarm was raised after Israel's military ordered evacuations in parts of central Gaza — an area it has rarely entered with ground troops and where many international aid groups are based. Israel has not yet commented.
The largest toll was in northern Gaza, where at least 79 Palestinians were killed while attempting to access aid entering northern Gaza through the Zikim crossing with Israel, according to the Health Ministry and local hospitals.
The UN World Food Programme said 25 aid trucks entered for 'starving communities' but were met by huge crowds. Palestinians react after carrying the bodies of those killed while trying to reach aid trucks. / Credit: AP
A UN official, speaking anonymously because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said Israeli forces opened fire on crowds trying to take food from the convoy.
More than 150 people were wounded, some critically, hospitals said.
'Suddenly, tanks surrounded us, trapping us as gunfire and strikes rained down. We were trapped for around two hours,' said Ehab Al-Zei, who had been waiting for flour and hadn't eaten bread in 15 days.
Speaking amid the chaos of people carrying the dead and wounded, he added: 'I will never go back again. Let us die of hunger, it's better.'
Nafiz Al-Najjar, who was injured, said tanks and drones targeted people 'randomly,' and he saw his cousin and others shot dead.
Israel's military said soldiers fired at a crowd of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who posed a threat and acknowledged some casualties.
However, it said Gaza officials' casualty figures were much higher than its own initial findings and accused Hamas militants of causing the chaos.
Witnesses and health workers report that several hundred people have been killed by Israeli fire while trying to reach the group's aid distribution points.
Separately, seven Palestinians, including a five-year-old boy, were killed while sheltering in tents in Khan Younis, the Kuwait Specialised Field Hospital said.
The warnings come as Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks in Qatar, but international mediators say there have been no breakthroughs.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that expanding Israeli military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas to negotiate, despite widespread protests.
Military spokesman Avichay Adraee warned that the military will attack 'with intensity' against militants. He called for residents, including those sheltering in tents, to head to the Muwasi area, a desolate tent camp on Gaza's southern shore that the Israeli military has designated a humanitarian zone.
In recent weeks, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.
The United Nations human rights office recently confirmed that at least 875 Palestinians have been killed whilst seeking food since May, with 674 of those in the vicinity of GHF distribution points.
On Saturday, at least 32 people were killed after Israeli troops opened fire towards a crowd of Palestinians waiting for aid at a distribution hub, according to witnesses and hospital officials. Relatives of Palestinians killed at an aid distribution center run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. / Credit: AP
The deaths occurred in two incidents near hubs operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US and Israel-backed group.
Separately, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, health officials said.
The Israeli military said it had struck some 90 targets throughout Gaza on Saturday, and that it had killed militants and targeted 'terror infrastructure' in northern Gaza and Gaza City.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the violence near the aid sites, nor did the GHF.
Gaza's population of more than 2 million Palestinians are facing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
The 21-month war was triggered when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Fifty hostages remain, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.
Israel's military offensive that followed has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which says that more than half of those killed have been women and children. Although the ministry is part of the Hamas government, the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. People take part in a protest demanding the end of the war and immediate release of hostages held by Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel. / Credit: AP
Gaza's population of more than 2 million Palestinians are facing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Hamas triggered the 21-month war when militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty remain, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.
Israel's military offensive that followed has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn't say how many militants are among the dead but says more than half of the dead have been women and children.
The Hostages Family Forum, which represents many of the families of Israeli hostages, condemned the evacuation announcement and demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military explain what they hope to accomplish in the area of central Gaza, accusing Israel of operating without a clear war plan.
'Enough! The Israeli people overwhelmingly want an end to the fighting and a comprehensive agreement that will return all of the hostages,' the forum said. On Saturday night, during the weekly protest, tens of thousands of protesters marched in Tel Aviv, demonstrating for an end to the war.
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Lift the siege, open the gates & guarantee safe movements… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 26, 2025 The Government says it is a question of 'when, not if' statehood is recognised but that its immediate focus should be on getting aid into the territory. Mr Murray said on Sunday: 'As a Government, we're committed to the recognition of Palestine, but we need to work with international partners and we need to use that moment to galvanise change. 'It needs to be part of a pathway to peace.' He added: '140 countries have already recognised Palestine. 'The suffering is still continuing.' Sir Keir and Mr Trump, who is in South Ayrshire on a private visit to his Turnberry golf course, are expected to meet on Monday.
Rhyl Journal
an hour ago
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Britain is working with Jordan to airdrop aid into Gaza and evacuate children needing medical assistance, with military planners deployed for further support. However, the head of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency has warned that such efforts are 'a distraction' that will fail to properly address deepening starvation in the strip, and could in some cases harm civilians. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said: 'A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. 'Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need.' On Sunday, Israel announced military pauses to enable the 'safe movement' of food and medicine to Gaza via designated UN convoys amid mounting international alarm at humanitarian conditions in the strip. Images emerging from Gaza in recent days of emaciated children have seen the country's government criticised for its conduct during the 21-month war. Food experts have warned for months of the risk of famine as Israel continued to restrict aid, which it says is because Hamas siphons off goods. Ceasefire talks between the two sides ground to a standstill this week after the US and Israel withdrew negotiating teams from Qatar, with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of a 'lack of desire' to reach an agreement. Sir Keir Starmer is expected to press Donald Trump on the revival of talks as he meets the US President during his visit to Scotland on Monday. The deal under discussion was expected to include a 60-day ceasefire, and aid supplies would be ramped up as conditions for a lasting truce were brokered. Sir Keir will raise Washington's work with partners in Qatar and Egypt during his talks with Mr Trump and seek to discuss what more can be done to urgently bring about a ceasefire, it is understood. Later in the week he will chair a Cabinet meeting, with further updates on the UK's next steps expected in the coming days as Mr Lammy prepares to attend a UN conference on a two-state solution in New York. Speaking to broadcasters on Sunday, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray acknowledged that airdrops come with 'real limits and drawbacks' but that the situation was 'desperate and urgent.' 'Until the restrictions are lifted, until aid is able to get in at the scale and quantity that is needed, we need to be doing everything we possibly can to help,' he told Sky News' Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips show. It comes after the Prime Minister held crisis talks with French and German counterparts on Saturday, during which Number 10 said they agreed 'it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently-needed ceasefire into lasting peace'. A Downing Street readout of the call made no mention of Palestinian statehood, which Sir Keir has faced calls to immediately recognise after French President Emmanuel Macron announced his country would do so in September. Some 221 MPs from Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and independents have signed a letter pressuring the Government to follow suit at a UN meeting next week. The majority of those who have signed, 131, are Labour MPs. #Gaza: airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving is a distraction & screensmoke. A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates & guarantee safe movements… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 26, 2025 The Government says it is a question of 'when, not if' statehood is recognised but that its immediate focus should be on getting aid into the territory. Mr Murray said on Sunday: 'As a Government, we're committed to the recognition of Palestine, but we need to work with international partners and we need to use that moment to galvanise change. 'It needs to be part of a pathway to peace.' He added: '140 countries have already recognised Palestine. 'The suffering is still continuing.' Sir Keir and Mr Trump, who is in South Ayrshire on a private visit to his Turnberry golf course, are expected to meet on Monday.
