Latest Shooting at Gaza Aid Sites Leaves 59 Dead, Hundreds Injured

At least 59 Palestinians were killed and more than 220 injured after Israeli forces opened fire near an aid distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip, where thousands had gathered in a desperate search for food, Reuters reported Tuesday.  

The incident was the latest, and one of the deadliest, of the almost daily shootings that have been taking place recently near aid distribution sites in Gaza, the BBC said. 

Witnesses and local journalists told the Associated Press that the incident began with an Israeli airstrike near a home, followed by heavy gunfire and tank shelling targeting a crowd waiting for food near a World Food Programme (WFP) site and a community kitchen in Khan Younis. 

Many of the victims were taken to Nasser Hospital, the only functioning medical facility in the area, which has been overwhelmed by a large number of casualties, so much so that there are no beds left for them, the BBC added. 

Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency and local journalists called the assault unprovoked and a “massacre.”  

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it had opened fire and there were “several casualties,” adding that it is reviewing the incident.  

The incident comes amid growing desperation over the deteriorating aid situation in the Palestinian enclave, with aid officials warning of looming famine. 

Israeli-imposed restrictions on the flow of humanitarian supplies – tightened during the 20-month war sparked by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack – have left much of the territory’s two million residents facing acute hunger.  

Although some aid convoys have been allowed to enter since Israel partially lifted its blockade in May, distribution has been hampered by lawlessness, logistical chaos, and frequent gunfire near aid distribution points. 

Palestinians, human rights groups, and international observers have accused Israeli troops of repeatedly firing at civilians near food convoys and humanitarian centers. IDF officials have acknowledged firing warning shots at individuals they deem suspicious. 

Meanwhile, the killings have also renewed criticism of the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private aid initiative launched last month as an alternative to United Nations operations.  

The GHF was set up to bypass Hamas, with Israeli officials repeatedly claiming that the Iran-backed group is diverting aid for its military use. 

However, the UN and other aid groups have rejected the GHF model, cautioning that it is inadequate, lacks transparency, and violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to control who has access to aid. 

Some have warned that the new system is part of an Israeli effort to displace Palestinians further south and sideline the UN as Gaza’s main aid provider. 

UN human rights chief Volker Türk accused Israel of “weaponizing food” and called for an investigation into the recent shootings.