Israeli forces on Tuesday gunned down dozens of Palestinians, including children, near a food distribution site in southern Gaza, the third such deadly incident in as many days. The site, operated by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), has become a focal point of what humanitarian workers and witnesses now call “aid massacres,” as Israel’s military continues firing on starving civilians amid a deepening famine.
At least 27 people were killed Tuesday morning, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. A doctor at nearby Nasser Hospital told The New York Times that the facility, already overwhelmed and under-resourced, received 19 of the bodies. “Most of the victims,” said Dr. Ahmad al-Farra, “were children between the ages of 10 and 13, many with gunshot wounds to the head or chest.”
Haaretz described the killings as “another aid massacre,” and reported that the incident “shocked local residents and activists,” calling it “one of the deadliest incidents since the beginning of aid allocation in the southern Gaza Strip.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that its troops opened fire near the aid site, claiming that “shots were directed near individual suspects who advanced toward the troops.” However, an IDF spokesperson “declined to explain the nature of the perceived threat,” The Times reported.
Witnesses and humanitarian workers contradicted the military’s account, describing widespread and indiscriminate gunfire. “There was gunfire from all directions,” said Rasha al-Nahal, who recounted seeing more than a dozen dead and many wounded along the road to the aid site. “They fired at us as we were returning.”
Yasser Abu Lubda, a 50-year-old from Rafah, said the shooting began around 4 a.m. near the Flag Roundabout area, about one kilometer from the GHF aid hub. “I saw several people killed or wounded,” he told the Associated Press. Another witness, Neima al-Aaraj from Khan Younis, said she managed to reach the site but found no food. “There were many martyrs and wounded,” she said. “The shooting by Israeli forces was indiscriminate… After the martyrs and wounded, I won’t return. Either way we will die.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that its field hospital in Rafah treated 184 wounded people on Tuesday. “All patients said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site,” said spokesperson Hisham Mhanna. “This is the highest number of weapon-wounded in a single incident since the establishment of the field hospital over a year ago.”
Tuesday’s attack followed similar mass casualty incidents on Sunday and Monday, each centered around the GHF’s distribution site in Rafah. On Sunday alone, 31 Palestinians were killed and 169 injured, many with single gunshot wounds to the head or chest, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Israeli officials denied responsibility, saying its soldiers did not shoot at civilians “near or within the distribution site.”
Despite Israeli denials, humanitarian organizations have consistently condemned the GHF’s role in exacerbating the crisis. The GHF, a U.S.-based and Israeli-endorsed organization, was established to administer aid to Palestinians outside of the United Nations-led infrastructure. Since launching its operations last week, it has established four distribution sites—all in southern Gaza—leading to massive crowds and dangerous conditions as desperate civilians seek food.
The system has been criticized for violating international humanitarian norms. “Aid distribution has become a death trap,” said Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), following the earlier deaths on Sunday.
The UN estimates that Gaza’s population of more than two million is at imminent risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade that has choked humanitarian access. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office accused Israel of using the GHF distribution model as a weapon “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, paramedic Abu Tareq described “a tragic situation in this place” and warned civilians not to approach GHF food distribution points. “I advise them that nobody goes to aid delivery points,” he said.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the escalating violence on Monday. “It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” he said. “I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable. Israel has clear obligations under international humanitarian law to agree to and facilitate humanitarian aid. The unimpeded entry of assistance at scale to meet the enormous needs in Gaza must be restored immediately. The U.N. must be allowed to work in safety and security under conditions of full respect of humanitarian principles.”
As aid deaths mount, ceasefire talks remain stalled. On Saturday, Hamas requested amendments to a proposed U.S.-backed ceasefire deal. Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff rejected the revised proposal as “totally unacceptable.” Egypt and Qatar, acting as mediators, said they are continuing their efforts to overcome disagreements and reach an agreement. Hamas has stated its readiness to begin a new round of indirect negotiations immediately.
Meanwhile, violence on the ground continues to escalate. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw 251 people taken hostage into Gaza. Since then, more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, with entire neighborhoods destroyed and most of the population now displaced and living in makeshift shelters.
Reda Abu Jazar told reporters her brother was killed Tuesday as he waited for food. “Let them stop these massacres, stop this genocide. They are killing us,” she said.
Despite mounting casualties and growing global concern, Israeli officials continue to defend the military’s conduct. “We’re not going to walk away from anybody,” said Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons in a separate context earlier this week, echoing a sentiment of uncompromising enforcement that has shaped Israeli operations as well.
The GHF has released undated video purporting to show successful food distribution without violence, but humanitarian officials say the reality on the ground tells a different story. “This is no longer a logistical problem,” said one UN aid worker anonymously. “It’s a deliberate policy.”
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