An Israeli strike kills 18 Palestinians in central Gaza as turmoil
mounts over food distribution
[June 27, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA, KAREEM CHEHAYEB and SAM METZ
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike hit a street in
central Gaza on Thursday where witnesses said a crowd of people was
getting bags of flour from a Palestinian police unit that had
confiscated the goods from gangs looting aid convoys. Hospital officials
said 18 people were killed.
The strike was the latest violence surrounding the distribution of food
to Gaza's population, which has been thrown into turmoil over the past
month. After blocking all food for 2 1/2 months, Israel has allowed only
a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May.
Efforts by the United Nations to distribute the food have been plagued
by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people
offloading supplies from convoys.
The strike in the central town of Deir al-Balah on Thursday appeared to
target members of Sahm, a security unit tasked with stopping looters and
cracking down on merchants who sell stolen aid at high prices. The unit
is part of Gaza's Hamas-led Interior Ministry, but includes members of
other factions.
A horrific scene
Witnesses said the Sahm unit was distributing bags of flour and other
goods confiscated from looters and corrupt merchants, drawing a crowd
when the strike hit.
Video of the aftermath showed bodies, several torn, of multiple young
men in the street with blood splattering on the pavement and walls of
buildings. The dead included a child and at least seven Sahm members,
according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where casualties were
taken.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel has
accused the militant Hamas group of stealing aid and using it to prop up
its rule in the enclave. Israeli forces have repeatedly struck Gaza's
police, considering them a branch of Hamas.
An association of Gaza's influential clans and tribes said Wednesday
they have started an independent effort to guard aid convoys to prevent
looting. The National Gathering of Palestinian Clans and Tribes said it
helped escort a rare shipment of flour that entered northern Gaza that
evening.
It was unclear, however, if the association had coordinated with the
U.N. or Israeli authorities. The World Food Program did not immediately
respond to requests for comment by The Associated Press.
“We will no longer allow thieves to steal from the convoys for the
merchants and force us to buy them for high prices,” Abu Ahmad al-Gharbawi,
a figure involved in the tribal effort, told the AP.
Accusations from Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel
Katz in a joint statement Wednesday accused Hamas of stealing aid that
is entering northern Gaza, and called on the Israeli military to plan to
prevent it.
The National Gathering slammed the statement, saying the accusation of
theft was aimed at justifying the Israeli military's “aggressive
practices.” It said aid was “fully secured” by the tribes, which it said
were committed to delivering the supplies to the population.
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Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages distributed by the Gaza
Humanitarian Foundation operated by the U.S.-backed organization in
Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP
Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The move by tribes to protect aid convoys brings yet another player
in an aid situation that has become fragmented, confused and
violent, even as Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinians struggle to
feed their families.
Throughout the more than 20-month-old war, the U.N. led the massive
aid operation by humanitarian groups providing food, shelter,
medicine and other goods to Palestinians despite the fighting. U.N.
and other aid groups say that when significant amounts of supplies
are allowed into Gaza, looting and theft dwindles.
Israel, however, seeks to replace the U.N.-led system, saying Hamas
has been siphoning off large amounts of supplies from it, a claim
the U.N. and other aid groups deny.
Israel has backed an American private contractor, the Gaza
Humanitarian Foundation, which has started distributing food boxes
at four locations, mainly in the far south of Gaza for the past
month.
Thousands of Palestinians walk for hours to reach the hubs, moving
through Israeli military zones where witnesses say Israeli troops
regularly open fire with heavy barrages to control the crowds.
Health officials say hundreds of people have been killed and
wounded. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots.
A trickle of aid
Israel has continued to allow a smaller number of aid trucks into
Gaza for U.N. distribution. The World Health Organization said on
Thursday it had been able to deliver its first medical shipment into
Gaza since March 2, with nine trucks bringing blood, plasma and
other supplies to Nasser Hospital, the biggest hospital still
functioning in southern Gaza.
In Gaza City, large crowds gathered Thursday at an aid distribution
point to receive bags of flour from the convoy that arrived the
previous evening, according to photos taken by a cameraman
collaborating with the AP.
Hiba Khalil, a mother of seven, said she can't afford looted aid
that is sold in markets for astronomical prices and was relieved to
get flour for the first time in months.
“We've waited for months without having flour or eating much and our
children would always cry,” she said.
Another woman, Umm Alaa Mekdad, said she hoped more convoys would
make it through after struggling to deal with looters.
“The gangs used to take our shares and the shares of our children
who slept hungry and thirsty," she said.
Separately, Israeli strikes overnight and early Thursday killed at
least 28 people across the Gaza Strip, according to the territory’s
Health Ministry. More than 20 dead arrived at Gaza City's Shifa
Hospital, while the bodies of eight others were taken to Nasser
Hospital in the south.
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