Israeli forces fire on people waiting for aid in Gaza, killing 25,
witnesses and hospitals say
[June 24, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces and drones opened fire
toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza early
Tuesday, killing at least 25 people, Palestinian witnesses and hospitals
said.
Responding to an Associated Press inquiry, the military said it was
reviewing reports of casualties from Israeli fire after a group of
people approached troops in an area adjunct to the east-west Netzarim
corridor, which bisects Gaza.
The Awda hospital in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, which received the
victims, said the Palestinians were waiting for the trucks on the Salah
al-Din Road south of Wadi Gaza.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces opened fire as
people were advancing eastward to be close to the approaching trucks.
“It was a massacre,” said Ahmed Halawa. He said tanks and drones fired
at people, “even as we were fleeing. Many people were either martyred or
wounded.”
Hossam Abu Shahada, another eyewitness, said drones were flying over the
area, watching the crowds first, then there was gunfire from tanks and
drones as people were moving eastward. He described a “chaotic and
bloody” scene as people were attempting to escape.
He said he saw at least three people lying on the ground motionless and
many others wounded as he fled the site.
The Awda hospital said another 146 Palestinians were wounded. Among them
were 62 in critical condition, who were transferred to other hospitals
in central Gaza, it said.

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Hamam Al-Farani sits next to his sister, in white, along with other
family members as the body of their father Alaa, killed in an
Israeli army strike that also injured the boy, is prepared for
burial at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, on Tuesday, June 24, 2025.
(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

In the central town of Deir al-Balah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital
said it received the bodies of six people who were killed in the
same incident.
Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have
repeatedly opened fire on crowds seeking desperately needed food,
killing hundreds of people in recent weeks. The military says it has
fired warning shots at people it said approached its forces in a
suspicious manner.
The deaths were the latest in Israel-Hamas war in Gaza which killed
about 56,000 Palestinians, according to the strip’s health ministry.
The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants
but say more than a half of the dead were women and children.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023,
attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed around 1,200
people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostages.
Most of the hostages were released by ceasefire agreements.
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