Over 30 Palestinians killed trying to reach US group's food distribution
sites, Gaza authorities say
[July 19, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY
DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops opened fire Saturday
toward crowds of Palestinians seeking food from distribution hubs run by
a U.S.-, Israeli-backed group in southern Gaza, killing at least 32
people, according to witnesses and hospital officials.
The two incidents occurred near hubs operated by the Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation. In other violence, two Palestinians were killed in an
Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, health officials said.
The GHF launched operations in late May with backing from the U.S. and
Israel. The two governments are seeking to replace the traditional
U.N.-led aid distribution system in Gaza, saying that Hamas militants
siphon off supplies. The U.N. denies the allegation.
While the GHF says it has distributed millions of meals to hungry
Palestinians, local health officials and witnesses say that hundreds of
people have been killed by Israeli army fire as they try to reach the
distribution hubs.
The army, which is not at the sites but secures them from a distance,
says it only fires warning shots if crowds get too close to its forces.
The GHF, which employs private armed guards, says there have been no
deadly shootings at its sites, though this week, 20 people were killed
at one of its locations, most of them in a stampede. The group accused
Hamas agitators of causing a panic, but gave no evidence to back the
claim.
In a statement, the GHF said there were no incidents at or near its
sites. It said the reported Israeli shootings occurred far from the
sites and hours before they opened. “We have repeatedly warned aid
seekers not to travel to our sites overnight and early morning hours,”
it said.
The Israeli military said it had fired “warning shots” near Rafah after
a group of suspects approached troops and ignored calls to keep their
distance. It said it was investigating reports of casualties, but noted
the incident occurred overnight when the distribution site was closed.
‘Indiscriminate fire’
Most of Saturday’s deaths occurred as Palestinians massed in the Teina
area, around three kilometers (2 miles) away from a GHF aid distribution
center east of the city of Khan Younis.
Mahmoud Mokeimar, an eyewitness, said he was walking with masses of
people — mostly young men — toward the food hub. Troops fired warning
shots as the crowds advanced, before opening fire toward the marching
people.
“It was a massacre … the occupation opened fire at us indiscriminately,”
he said. He said he managed to flee but saw at least three motionless
bodies lying on the ground, and many other wounded fleeing.
Akram Aker, another witness, said troops fired machine guns mounted on
tanks and drones. He said the shooting happened between 5 a.m. and 6
a.m.
“They encircled us and started firing directly at us,” he said. He said
he saw many casualties lying on the ground.
Sanaa al-Jaberi, a 55-year-old woman, said she saw many dead and wounded
as she fled the area.
“We shouted: ‘food, food,’ but they didn’t talk to us. They just opened
fire,” she said.
Monzer Fesifes, a Palestinian-Jordanian, said his 19-year-old son Hisham
was among those killed in the Teina area.
“He went to bring food from the failed US, Zionist aid to feed us,” the
father of six said, pleading for the Jordanian government to help
evacuate them from the Palestinian enclave.
The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received 25 bodies, along
with dozens wounded.
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A Palestinian man who was injured during a food distribution at a
center run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed
organization approved by Israel, is carried into Nasser Hospital in
Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 19, 2025. (AP
Photo/Mariam Dagga)
Seven other people, including one woman, were killed in the Shakoush
area, hundreds of meters (yards) north of another GHF hub in Gaza’s
southernmost city of Rafah, the hospital said. The toll was also
confirmed by the health ministry.
Dr. Mohamed Saker, the head of Nasser's nursing department, said it
received 70 wounded people. He told The Associated Press that most
of the casualties were shot in their heads and chests, and that some
were placed in the already overwhelmed intensive care unit.
“The situation is difficult and tragic,” he said, adding that the
facility lacks badly needed medical supplies to treat the daily flow
of casualties.
Meanwhile, Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry's ambulance and
emergency service in northern Gaza, confirmed the two deaths in Gaza
City. He said an airstrike hit a tent in a camp sheltering displaced
families in the courtyard of the Development Ministry. There were no
further details on the target of the strike.
The Israeli army said it had struck some 90 targets throughout Gaza
over the past day and that it had killed militants and targeted
“terror infrastructure” in northern Gaza and Gaza City.
Humanitarian crisis
Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians are living through a
catastrophic humanitarian crisis, and the territory is teetering on
the edge of famine, according to food security experts.
Distribution at the GHF sites has often been chaotic. Boxes of food
are left stacked on the ground inside the centers and, once opened,
crowds charge in to grab whatever they can, according to witnesses
and videos released by GHF itself.
In videos obtained recently by the AP from an American contractor
working with GHF, contractors are seen using tear gas and stun
grenades to keep crowds behind metal fences or to force them to
disperse. Gunshots can also be heard.
Hamas triggered the ongoing 21-month war in Gaza when it stormed
into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and
taking 250 others hostage.
An Israeli military offensive has killed over 58,000 Palestinians,
according to the Gaza Health Ministry, displaced nearly all of
Gaza’s 2 million people and caused widespread destruction.
The ministry does not say how many militants are among the dead,
though it says over half were women and children. The ministry is
part of the Hamas government, but is seen by the U.N. and other
international organizations as the most reliable source of data on
war casualties.
Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks in Qatar in
recent weeks. But international mediators say there have been no
breakthroughs in the talks.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo.
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