Politics Palestinians: Israel attacks crowd at Gaza aid center
According to Palestinian reports, the Israeli military has once again killed people waiting near a distribution center for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-controlled health authority spoke of more than 50 dead and around 200 injured in the south of the sealed-off coastal area. It did not give any details.
17.06.2025, 14:39
SDA
Eyewitnesses told the German Press Agency that some people were on foot and others in vehicles on their way to a distribution point when the Israeli army fired artillery at them in the morning in an area between the towns of Rafah and Chan Junis.
Israeli army: details of the incident are being investigated
Israel's army said that an aid truck got stuck near Chan Junis. A crowd had gathered in the area where Israel's military was deployed and approached the soldiers. The army is aware of reports of casualties caused by Israeli fire. "The details of the incident are currently under investigation," it said in a statement. Israel's army "regrets any harm caused to uninvolved persons and is trying to minimize the damage to them". At the same time, the military must ensure the safety of Israeli troops. The army did not provide any information on casualties.
The information from the army and Palestinians could not be independently verified. There is no footage of the incident. A video was circulated in Palestinian media and social networks that is said to show victims in a clinic, some of them covered in blood. The authenticity of this footage has not been confirmed.
Repeated reports of deaths and injuries at distribution centers
A World Health Organization (WHO) doctor working in the city of Gaza cited unconfirmed reports that there were at least 50 victims, including more than 20 dead. According to the WHO, there were also dozens of patients arriving at hospitals with gunshot wounds on Sunday and Monday. Many did not survive. The survivors reported that they had been attacked near the distribution centers.
The centers are run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is supported by Israel and the USA. It began its work in May after an almost three-month-long Israeli blockade of aid deliveries. The distribution is intended as an alternative to the UN and international aid organizations.
There have been several reports that Israeli soldiers have fired shots near the distribution centers and that people have lost their lives. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, more than 300 Palestinians are said to have died while trying to receive humanitarian aid since the new aid distribution mechanism was introduced.
GHF Foundation is controversial
According to Israel and the USA, the GHF is intended to prevent the terrorist organization Hamas from appropriating humanitarian aid. The United Nations has no evidence that such thefts have taken place on a large scale. Eyewitnesses in the sealed-off Gaza Strip have confirmed several times in the past that Hamas members have hijacked aid deliveries. GHF has accused the terrorist organization of deliberately disrupting the distribution of food.
The foundation is controversial. According to the UN, it violates the humanitarian principles of neutrality, independence and impartiality. The United Nations criticizes the aid mechanism, also because the distribution in centers endangers people, who sometimes have to walk for miles through war zones on the way there and back.
Health sector in Gaza on the brink of collapse
According to the WHO, the 17 of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip that still offer minimal services are on the verge of collapse. Above all, there is a lack of fuel, as WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X. Israel is blocking the import of fuel and, according to Tedros, is also not allowing the WHO to fetch the last reserves from warehouses in areas of the Gaza Strip that Israel has declared an evacuation zone. According to the UN, this covers 80 percent of the territory.
Without fuel, operating theaters, dialysis machines and incubators could not be operated, medicines could not be cooled and water could not be boiled. "Cease fire. NOW," wrote Tedros.
