At least 115 Palestinians were killed on Sunday while trying to collect food across Gaza, as Israeli troops opened fire at aid distribution points amid a deepening hunger crisis. Image Credit: X@ EyeonPalestine
At least 115 Palestinians were killed on Sunday across the Gaza Strip, including 92 shot dead by Israeli troops while attempting to collect food at humanitarian aid distribution points in Zikim, Rafah, and Khan Younis, according to health officials and humanitarian agencies.
The mass killings occurred as Gaza’s hunger emergency reached unprecedented levels, with local authorities confirming that at least 19 people died from starvation within just 24 hours. The Ministry of Health warned that hundreds more, especially women and children, are at imminent risk of death due to malnutrition.
In the northern town of Zikim, where a United Nations aid convoy was delivering flour, Israeli troops opened fire on large crowds gathered to receive food. Medical sources reported that 79 people were killed in the incident. Additional shootings in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis claimed the lives of at least 13 more.
Survivors described chaos and desperation. Rizeq Betaar, a witness at the Zikim site, recounted carrying a wounded man on a bicycle due to a lack of ambulances. “There’s no food, no medical help, no way to live anymore. We’re barely holding on,” he said.
Osama Marouf, another survivor, transported an injured elderly man, also shot while trying to collect flour. “He’s like my father,” Marouf said. “I didn’t even want the flour anymore—I just wanted to help him survive. I pray this suffering ends.”
The Israeli military claimed the gunfire was a response to an immediate threat but provided no evidence to support this assertion.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) strongly rejected Israel’s justification, stating that the victims were unarmed civilians attempting to feed their families. The agency said the shooting occurred shortly after a 25-truck convoy passed the Zikim checkpoint, where thousands of people had gathered. According to WFP, the crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks and snipers as the aid trucks approached.
The organization warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated dramatically. Nearly one-third of the population is going days without food, and 90,000 women and children require immediate medical treatment for malnutrition.
“Only a massive increase in food aid distribution can prevent further collapse, ease panic, and restore community trust that assistance is on the way,” the agency said.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health echoed those concerns, reporting that at least 71 children have died from malnutrition since the start of the war in 2023. An additional 60,000 children are currently suffering from severe undernourishment.
Al Jazeera journalist Hind Khoudary, reporting from central Gaza, confirmed the deaths of two infants from starvation—one a 35-day-old baby in Gaza City and another four-month-old child in Deir el-Balah “Their mother apologized to her dead child, saying she couldn’t feed her,” Khoudary reported.
She added that many parents face impossible choices. “We met a mother giving her children only water to ease their hunger. She couldn’t afford flour, and even when she could, it was nowhere to be found.”
Israeli troops also reportedly killed 13 more civilians at food distribution points supported by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in Rafah and Khan Younis. The total number of Palestinians killed near GHF aid sites since May is now nearing 1,000, according to aid groups.
One survivor, Ahmed Hassouna, told Al Jazeera that Israeli tanks ambushed them as they tried to transport food. “They fired tear gas at us. We couldn’t breathe. We thought we were going to die.”
Calls for Israel to allow unhindered humanitarian access into Gaza have intensified. Much of the aid remains blocked at the borders, with Israeli troops preventing entry.
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said staff in Gaza are sending increasingly urgent messages about the lack of food. “This is entirely man-made,” he said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “Food is just a few kilometres away. We have enough supplies at the border to feed Gaza for the next three months, if only they’re allowed in.”
The U.S.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also condemned the attacks. “The ongoing slaughter of starving Palestinian civilians with U.S.-supplied weapons, and the inaction of Western governments, represents both a humanitarian disaster and a moral failure,” said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad
“Western leaders are witnessing the starvation, displacement, and killing of civilians in real time and choosing to do nothing. History will not forget their indifference.”
Inside Gaza’s hospitals, doctors say they are overwhelmed and under-resourced. Dr. Mohammed Abu Afash, director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, said women and children are collapsing from hunger at alarming rates.
“We are entering a crisis unlike anything we’ve seen before,” he told Al Jazeera. “Child malnutrition is at record levels. Without immediate aid, the situation will become even more catastrophic.”
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