Israeli gunfire and airstrikes kill 120 Palestinians in Gaza, including many at aid distribution sites
Palestinian death toll in Israel’s genocidal war surpasses 55,000 amid ongoing bombardment and killings at aid sites
More than 120 Palestinians have been killed across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, according to medical sources. Among the dead are dozens of desperate civilians attempting to obtain food, as Israel continues its unrelenting assault on the besieged enclave. The total death toll in the war has now exceeded a staggering 55,000.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that since Wednesday morning, 57 people seeking aid were killed and over 363 injured by Israeli forces. The victims were attempting to access food at distribution sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial initiative backed by the United States and Israel and located in tightly controlled Israeli zones. Despite scenes of extreme desperation and mounting casualties, Israel’s Foreign Ministry has called the GHF program a “dramatic success,” prompting widespread international condemnation.
The aid points set up in Rafah and the Netzarim Corridor have been described as “human slaughterhouses” by local officials. Since the GHF began operations on May 27, over 220 people have been killed while trying to secure basic food supplies for their families. The Israeli military has acknowledged firing “warning shots” in the Netzarim Corridor, where many aid seekers were reported killed overnight.
Gaza’s Government Media Office accused Israel of “deliberately engineering chaos” through a systematic campaign of starvation and targeted killings of civilians seeking food. The United Nations has also condemned the attacks and has refused to participate in the GHF distribution model, citing the use of private contractors with military support as a violation of humanitarian principles.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) criticized the GHF system as “a distraction from the ongoing atrocities and a misuse of critical resources.” It reaffirmed that established humanitarian organizations, including UNRWA, are fully equipped and prepared to deliver aid effectively and safely.
Despite this, Israel has banned UNRWA and other long established aid agencies from operating in Gaza, where famine conditions are rapidly intensifying under a crippling blockade on humanitarian relief.
Israel’s Aid System Designed to Starve and Displace Palestinians, Analyst Says
Chris Newton, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that Israel’s disorderly and violence-ridden aid distribution system appears intentionally structured to keep Palestinians in a state of desperation and hunger while systematically displacing them southward.
Newton noted that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF)’s target of supplying 1,750 calories per person per day falls below international crisis standards. “That ration is more comparable to the amount used during a 1940s U.S. starvation experiment than it is to Israel’s own 2008 minimum threshold to avoid malnutrition in Gaza,” he explained.
'A War on Children': Dozens Killed in Continued Attacks Across Gaza
As Israeli attacks persist across the Gaza Strip, dozens more Palestinians were killed on Wednesday alone.
An Israeli strike on Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood claimed at least seven lives, according to medical sources. In northern Gaza’s Jabalia, three people including two children were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a home. Meanwhile, a drone strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed three and injured several more, Wafa news agency reported.
In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, Israeli air raids on displacement tents in the Tiberias camp killed four Palestinians, including a child, and injured others. Children continue to suffer disproportionately. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the war’s death toll has now risen to 55,104 since October 7, 2023 most of them women and children.
Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said that medical facilities such as al-Shifa Hospital have been severely debilitated, leaving them unable to adequately treat even the most urgent cases. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder, speaking from al-Shifa, echoed the concern: “Everywhere we go, it’s the same story. Despite doctors’ heroic efforts, we’re seeing children brutalised and burned. This is a war on children.”
Madleen Aid Vessel Crew Detained in 'Arbitrary' Arrests
Meanwhile, Israel continues to detain several crew members and activists from the Madleen, an aid ship intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters while attempting to break the Gaza blockade. Of the 12 onboard, four including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg have been deported, while eight remain in detention.
Adalah , The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel condemned the arrests, calling for the immediate release of the detainees and their return either to the Madleen to complete their humanitarian mission or to their home countries.
Some of the detainees have reportedly faced solitary confinement. Brazilian activist Thiago Avila, currently held in Ayalon Prison, began a hunger and thirst strike and has been subjected to harsh treatment, though not physically assaulted. French national and European Parliament member Rima Hassan was briefly isolated in Neve Tirza Prison after she wrote “Free Palestine” on a prison wall.
Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, condemned the arrests as “arbitrary” and “unlawful,” demanding the detainees' immediate release.
Israeli Military Recovers Captive Bodies in Gaza Operation
Separately, the Israeli military announced the recovery of the bodies of two captives including Yair Yaakov during a joint operation with the Shin Bet intelligence agency in Khan Younis. The identity of the second individual has yet to be made public.
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