“The bread was dipped in blood.” A Palestinian child mourns his mother who was killed when Israeli forces opened fire at an aid distribution point in Rafah, Gaza. More than 100 people have been killed in days of attacks at aid hubs run by the US-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Published On 3 Jun 20253 Jun 2025
June 3 (UPI) — At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured early Tuesday near an aid hub run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in southern Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.
The Hamas-run ministry said in a social media update that the people were waiting at an area designated as an aid distribution point in Rafah and that 27 bodies and 90 injured had been brought to hospitals, “some of them in a critical condition.”
The statement did not say how the victims were killed and injured, but the incident follows the deaths of at least 31 Palestinians and injuring of more than 200 after Israel Defense Forces allegedly opened fire on a crowd at the same location Sunday.
The IDF said on its official account on X on Tuesday that troops fired warning shots to deter “several suspects moving toward them, deviating from the designated routes” leading to the aid site. When the suspects failed to turn back, the soldiers directed additional fire toward individuals continuing to advance toward their positions.
The IDF said it was aware of Tuesday’s reports of casualties and was looking into the details.
“The IDF allows the American Civil Organization (GHF) to operate independently in order to enable the distribution of aid to the Gazan residents — and not to Hamas. IDF troops are not preventing the arrival of Gazan civilians to the humanitarian aid distribution sites. The warning shots were fired approximately half a kilometer away from the humanitarian aid distribution site toward several suspects who advanced toward the troops in such a way that posed a threat to them,” the military’s statement read.
However, an overseas volunteer doctor working in a nearby hospital told the BBC it had been “total carnage” since just before 4 a.m. local time and that they had been deluged with injured people.
On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an urgent, independent probe into the violence that reportedly occurred Sunday.
“I am appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza yesterday. It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” he said.
The IDF has categorically denied any involvement in Sunday’s incident, insisting an initial investigation had found “the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site.”
The Gaza Health Foundation, set up to run the new U.S.-Israeli mechanism for delivering humanitarian assistance into Gaza, which bypasses the United Nations and other aid agencies, also denied the reports of Sunday’s violence, saying aid had been distributed without incident and that there had been no injuries or fatalities.
However, GHF has been plagued by problems since it began operations in Gaza a week ago with thousands of hungry Gazans swamping its Tel al-Sultan Secure Distribution Site One from day one.
The scheme aims to prevent aid from allegedly being stolen and resold by Hamas to fund its military operations against Israel, but the U.N. and legacy aid agencies have roundly condemned it as being in breach of humanitarian ethics and “weaponizing” the issue of aid.
GHF’s two top officials, Executive Director and former U.S. Marine Jake Wood and Chief Operating Officer David Burke, both resigned in the days before the scheme began operating.
Burke has not publicly commented on his decision, but Wood said he resigned because the scheme was out of step with the key humanitarian principles of “humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.”
Israeli forces have killed at least 27 Palestinians and injured 90 more as they opened fire close to an aid distribution site in Rafah, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The latest killings came early on Tuesday at the Flag Roundabout, near an aid hub operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
It was the third such incident around the Rafah hub in as many days. Gaza’s authorities report that more than 100 aid seekers have been killed since the United States- and Israel-backed GHF started operating in the enclave on May 27, with reports of violence, looting and chaos rife.
The Israeli military said it had fired shots as “a number of suspects” deviated from the regulated routes, on which a crowd was making its way to the GHF distribution complex.
The “suspects” were about 500 metres (approximately 550 yards) from the site, the military said in a statement on Telegram, adding that it was looking into reports of casualties.
The death toll was confirmed by Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department.
A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Hisham Mhanna, said 184 wounded people had been taken to its field hospital in Rafah, 19 of whom were found dead on arrival, and eight others died later of their wounds.
Video verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency showed the arrival of dozens of injured people at the hospital.
Gaza’s Government Media Office accused Israel of “a horrific, intentionally repeated crime”, saying it has been luring starving Palestinians to the GHF centres – controversially opened following an 11-week total blockade to take over most aid distribution from the United Nations and other aid agencies – and then opening fire.
It said Tuesday’s death toll brought the number of aid seekers killed at aid sites in the Rafah governorate and the so-called Netzarim Corridor since GHF launched operations to 102, with 490 others injured.
The United Nations on Monday demanded an independent investigation into the repeated mass shootings of aid seekers in Gaza.
“It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” said Secretary General Antonio Guterres. “I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.”
“We heard from witnesses that there was chaos,” said Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting about Tuesday’s killings from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. “The Israeli forces just opened fire randomly, shooting Palestinians … using quadcopters and live ammunition.”
Health Ministry officials and doctors said most of the wounded have been hit in their chest and head, she added.
The bloodshed, she continued, had unfolded in the same way as on the previous two days, amid ongoing chaos around the aid distribution centres.
“There’s no process. There’s no system,” she said. “You just need to run first to be able to get the food.”
Rasha al-Nahal told The Associated Press news agency that “there was gunfire from all directions”, and that she saw more than a dozen people dead and several wounded on the road.
When she finally made it to the distribution hub, there was no aid, al-Nahal said, adding that Israeli troops “fired at us as we were returning”.
Another witness, Neima al-Aaraj, from Khan Younis, described the shooting as “indiscriminate”.
“I won’t return,” she said. “Either way, we will die.”
The Israeli military, in its statement on Telegram, said troops had fired warning shots as people deviated from “designated access routes” and “after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops”.
However, it denied firing on civilians or blocking them from accessing aid.
This account echoes statements around similar incidents on Sunday, when 31 aid seekers were reportedly killed, and on Monday, when three more were killed.
A five-year-old boy, his baby brother, and their mother were pulled out alive after being trapped for hours
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Shati refugee camp, Gaza – Inside a stifling tent in Shati, one of Gaza’s overcrowded displacement camps, 30-year-old Raneem Abu Al-Eish cares for her sisters, Aseel, 51, and Afaf, 33.
They sit close to Raneem, laughing at times and at others growing agitated when the cries of children playing outside get too loud.
Aseel and Afaf suffer from celiac disease and intellectual disabilities that impair their speech, understanding, and behaviour – conditions that have only deepened under the strain of war and displacement.
They struggle to express themselves, often overwhelmed by their environment, Raneem explains. While she doesn’t know the medical term for their condition, the symptoms at times mirror Tourette syndrome.
The cramped tent shelters seven family members: Raneem, her two sisters, their elderly parents, and another sister with her husband.
Raneem’s mother is frail, and her father is still recovering from an injury sustained in Israel’s relentless war on Gaza, leaving Raneem to shoulder their care alone.
The family used to live in Jabalia camp’s Block 2, until Israel destroyed their home eight months ago. Since then, they have moved from relatives’ homes to makeshift shelters, then to an overcrowded United Nations school.
Now they are in this tent, which traps sweltering heat by midday and lets the bitter cold seep through its thin walls in the night.
Privacy and dignity are nearly impossible in the crowded tent. “When they need to change, we try to get the others to step out,” Raneem says. “But it’s not always possible.”
Yet that is only part of the ordeal for Aseel and Afaf, who are bullied daily due to their conditions.
“People don’t understand what my sisters go through,” Raneem says softly. “They judge by appearances, assuming they’re fine. But they aren’t. They need care, patience, dignity.”
Life in the camp overwhelms Aseel. “She finds it hard to cope with noise or sudden changes,” Raneem explains. “When that happens, she gets distressed – she shouts, cries, sometimes lashes out.”
Afaf, meanwhile, struggles with involuntary movements and impulsive behaviours. “A small argument or loud voice can trigger her,” Raneem adds.
“She doesn’t know how to control it,” she says, which makes it all the more sad that Afaf is frequently targeted for mockery, especially by children.
Using communal bathrooms brings repeated humiliation. “Every bathroom visit becomes a spectacle. People laugh, make cruel remarks, and it devastates them,” Raneem says.
The family’s greatest blow came six months ago, when Mohammad, Raneem’s 22-year-old brother, was taken by Israel.
Mohammad had gone to Kamal Adwan Hospital for surgery after a hand injury. While he was there, Israel raided the hospital on October 25 and seized Mohammad. Since then, the family knows nothing about his whereabouts.
Mohammad was the sibling most adept at navigating the outside world. “He got their medicines, managed hospital visits, dealt with aid agencies,” Raneem explains. “Without him, we’re completely alone.”
Since his detention, the sisters face worsening food shortages and a lack of medical care. “He was their protector,” Raneem says, her voice breaking. “Now we have no one.”
Between March and May, intensified bombing again displaced 436,000 Palestinians, many for the second, third or fourth time since the October 2023 beginning of the war. For families like Raneem’s – already in tents or shelters – each new wave of violence means starting over again, often without food or medicine.
For Aseel and Afaf, even basic nutrition is rife with threats. Celiac sufferers cannot eat gluten, which damages their small intestines.
In a starving Gaza where there is little to eat other than wheat-flour bread, which contains gluten, there is little chance that Raneem can find vegetables or meat for the sisters, especially with Mohammad detained.
Without gluten-free flour, Aseel and Afaf risk severe malnutrition, and they have gotten a dismally small amount of the 80 tonnes of gluten-free flour that aid agencies have thus far delivered to Gaza.
Much of it was blocked by closed borders, damaged roads, and broken distribution systems. “The little that reaches us is too expensive or too late,” Raneem says.
Before the war, Aseel and Afaf had routine medical care at Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Their conditions required special diets, medication, and regular therapy, needs now nearly impossible to meet.
Psychological specialist Dr Sara al-Wahidi says the war has sharply worsened the marginalisation of people with disabilities in Gaza.
“We’ve seen people with disabilities become separated from [their families in] displacement areas – some missing for long periods, sadly later found deceased,” she explains.
A 2025 report estimates that at least 15 percent of Gaza’s displaced population lives with a disability, and they have to navigate the makeshift shelters, whether in encampments, schools, or hospitals, that lack functioning ramps, adapted toilets and basic accessibility.
Raneem also battles social stigma, and despite her efforts – talking with neighbours, seeking support from community elders – ignorance persists.
“People provoke them, mock them. All we ask is understanding,” she says.
Some elders occasionally invite the sisters to their tents for a visit, brief moments of respite in a daily reality where they have no consistent medical or social support.
“We’ve been displaced again and again, from Jabalia to the west, then Gaza City,” Raneem recounts. “Every new place, we have to start over, explaining their condition, begging for patience.
“These aren’t just war victims,” she pleads.
“They’re vulnerable people forgotten by the world.”
The morning after a man hurled Molotov cocktails at a crowd of Jewish Americans in Boulder, Colo., Rabbi Noah Farkas celebrated the first day of Shavuot in the usual way: He read the Torah about the giving of the Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai.
But Farkas, the president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, said what was supposed to be a holiday celebrating the establishment of law and order was marred by the weekend violence.
“The community is terrified,” Farkas said outside Temple Ramat Zion in Northridge.
“It’s remarkable to me that those who want to assault us are coming up with ever new and novel ways to do harm to us and to try to kill us.”
Twelve people between the ages of 52 and 88 were burned in the Colorado attack. A man — identified by law enforcement as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, an Egyptian citizen who had overstayed his tourist visa — used a “makeshift flamethrower” to attack demonstrators marching peacefully in a weekly event supporting Israeli hostages in Gaza.
According to an FBI affidavit, the attacker yelled “Free Palestine!” — the same cry uttered by the suspect in a May 21 incident in which two Israeli Embassy aides were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.
The back-to-back attacks have unnerved many Jewish Americans — particularly as they come just a month after a man set fire to the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish. A suspect later said the fire was a response to Shapiro’s stance on Israel’s war on Gaza.
“We are in a completely new era for antisemitic violence in the United States,” said Brian Levin, the founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and professor emeritus at Cal State San Bernardino. “We are now at a point of extraordinary national security concern with respect to protecting Jewish communities across the U.S. and worldwide.”
Anti-Jewish hate crimes, Levin said, hit record levels nationally in 2023 and 2024. In 2023, the last year that the FBI has available data, anti-Jewish hate crimes rose 63% to a record 1,832 incidents, Levin said. Last year, religious hate crimes were up significantly in major U.S. cities, Levin said, with anti-Muslim hate crimes rising 18%, and anti-Jewish ones rising for the fourth consecutive year, up 12% to a new record.
“Over the last decade, we’re seeing more mass casualties attacks and they’re becoming more frequent and more fatal,” Levin said. “It used to be that anti-Jewish hate crimes, unlike a lot of other hate crimes, were much more tied to property damage and intimidation. Now were seeing just a slew of high intensity types of attacks.”
The attacks in the U.S. come as United Nations officials and aid groups warn that the situation in Gaza has become increasingly dire, with Palestinians in Gaza on the brink of famine as Israel continues its 19-month military offensive against Hamas militants.
Two weeks ago, Israel agreed to pause a nearly three-month blockade and allow a “basic quantity” of food into Gaza to avert a “hunger crisis” and prevent mass starvation.
On Sunday, Gaza health officials and witnesses said more than 30 people were reported killed and 170 wounded as Palestinians flocked to an aid distribution center in the southern Gaza, hoping to obtain food. The circumstances were disputed. Witnesses said Israeli forces fired on crowds about 1,000 yards from an aid site run by a U.S.-backed foundation, but Israel’s military denied its forces fired at civilians.
Levin attributed the rise in violence in the U.S. to a number of factors, including the Israel-Hamas war and the “increasingly unregulated freewheeling online environment.” Horrifying imagery coming out of the Middle East, Levin said, was amplified on social media by those who ascribed responsibility to anyone who believes Israel has a right to exist, or is Jewish, or wanted hostages to be released.
“What happens is angry and unstable people not only find a home for their aggression, but a honed amplification and direction to it that is polished by this cesspool of conspiracism and antisemitism,” Levin said.
In Los Angeles’ Pico-Robertson neighborhood, the mood was subdued Monday as a smattering of Orthodox families made their way to services to observe Shavuot. Many kosher establishments were closed and armed guards flanked entrances to larger Jewish centers and temples.
On Pico Boulevard, a 25-year-old Orthodox man carried a prayer shawl close to his chest as he headed to a service at a temple just before noon. He had slept just a few hours after staying up all night reading the Torah.
Despite the news of the attack in Colorado, the man — who identified himself as Laser — carried an easy smile.
“It’s a joyous holiday,” he said.
The Colorado attack was horrifying, he said, but it was not anything new and paled in comparison with the feeling that descended on the Jewish community in Los Angeles and across the world after Oct. 7.
“It’s never good to see or read about those types of things,” he said. “We just pray for the ultimate redemption, for peace here, peace abroad, peace around the world.”
At Tiferet Teman Synagogue, a man standing at the door repeatedly apologized to a Times reporter, saying that he would not discuss the event that happened in Colorado.
“I’m not going to invite politics into the community,” he said. “God bless you all.”
Others observing the holiday declined to have their photo taken and many of the businesses were closed. A quiet buzz pervaded Pico Boulevard as Orthodox members of the community made their way to services, many of them trying their best to avoid eye contact.
A Persian Jewish man from Iran said he has always been hesitant about religious violence. The man, who declined to give his name, was on his way to service.
“You always have to keep your eyes open,” he said. “No matter where you are in the world.”
Noa Tishby, an Israeli-born author who lives in L.A. and is Israel’s former special envoy for combating antisemitism and delegitimization, said that many Jewish people were afraid to congregate.
“The Jewish community feels under siege,” she said. “People are removing their mezuzahs from their doorsteps. They’re removing Jewish insignia from themselves, removing their Star of David or hiding it. They’re afraid to go to Jewish events.”
Tishby said that the Colorado attacker appeared to be motivated by antisemitism: the views and beliefs of the victims didn’t matter.
“What if that particular woman that man tried to burn alive yesterday, what if she was a Bibi hater, would that appease him?” Tishby asked, using a nickname for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The answer is no. He doesn’t know what her political opinions are in America or in Israel. He just burned her because she was Jewish.”
Antisemitism, Tishby argued, was a shape-shifting conspiracy theory that had evolved into anti-Zionism.
“What happened is that the word Zionist is now a code name for Jew,” she said. “We have been warning for decades that anti-Zionism is the new face of antisemitism…. They’re taking all the hate, everything that’s wrong in the world right now, and they’re pinning it on the Jewish state.”
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass was quick to denounce the attack Sunday as “an atrocious affront to the very fabric of our society and our beliefs here in Los Angeles.” In a statement, she said she would call an emergency meeting at City Hall addressing safety and security across the city immediately after Shavuot.
“LAPD is conducting extra patrols at houses of worship and community centers throughout LA. Anti-Semitism will not be tolerated in this city,” she said.
After speaking to Bass on Sunday, Farkas said that he planned to meet in person with the mayor on Wednesday after the Shavuot holiday to have a “real, frank conversation” about antisemitism.
“There is a cycle that we go through where our hearts are shattered and yet we have to keep enduring,” Farkas said. “And it makes us call into question the commitment of our wider community and our government to the safety of the Jewish community.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
AFPThe UN secretary-general has called for an independent investigation into the killing of Palestinians near an aid distribution centre in Gaza on Sunday, amid disputed reports that Israeli forces had opened fire.
Witnesses reported being shot at while waiting for food from the centre in Rafah run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The Red Cross said its hospital received 179 casualties, 21 of whom were dead. The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency put the death toll at 31.
On Sunday, the Israeli military denied its troops fired at civilians near or within the site and said reports to this effect were false.
The GHF said the reports were “outright fabrications” and that it was yet to see evidence of an attack at or near its facility.
Israel does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza, making verifying what is happening in the territory difficult.
UN Secretary-General Guterres said in a statement on Monday: “I am appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza yesterday.
“I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.”
Israel’s foreign ministry responded by branding his comments a “disgrace” in a post on X, and criticised him for not mentioning Hamas.
The Civil Defence agency said 31 people were killed and 176 wounded “after Israeli gunfire targeted thousands of civilians near the American aid centre in Rafah” early on Sunday morning.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah received a “mass casualty influx” of 179 cases, including women and children, at that time.
The majority suffered gunshot or shrapnel wounds, and 21 were declared dead upon arrival, it said, adding “all patients said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site”.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said its teams at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis also treated people with serious injuries, some of whom were in a critical condition.
It added the patients “reported being shot at from all sides by Israeli drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and soldiers”, and that one staff member’s brother was “killed while attempting to collect aid from the distribution centre”.
A journalist in Rafah told the BBC a crowd of Palestinians had gathered near al-Alam roundabout in Rafah, close to the GHF’s site, when Israeli tanks approached and opened fire.
One video posted online on Sunday morning appeared to show Palestinians taking cover in an open area of sandy terrain while what sounds like automatic gunfire rings out. However, the BBC was unable to verify the location because there are not enough features visible.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) put out a statement on Sunday afternoon that said an initial inquiry indicated its troops “did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false”.
Spokesman Brig Gen Effie Defrin accused Hamas of “spreading rumours” and “trying bluntly and violently to stop the people of Gaza from reaching those distribution centres”.
The IDF also released drone video it said showed armed men firing at civilians on their way to collect aid, although the BBC was unable to verify where or when it was filmed.
Later on Sunday, an Israeli military official briefed reporters that soldiers had acted to “prevent a number of suspects from approaching the forces” approximately 1km from the GHF site, before it opened.
“Warning shots were fired,” the official said, before insisting there was “no connection between the incident in question and the false allegations against the IDF”.
The GHF said in a statement on Monday that the reports were “the most egregious in terms of outright fabrications and misinformation fed to the international media community.
“There were no injuries, fatalities or incidents during our operations yesterday. Period. We have yet to see any evidence that there was an attack at or near our facility.”
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, accused major news outlets of “reckless and irresponsible reporting” on the matter.
“Drone video and first-hand accounts clearly showed that there were no injuries, no fatalities, no shooting, no chaos,” he said on Monday.
“The only source for these misleading, exaggerated, and utterly fabricated stories came from Hamas sources, which are designed to fan the flames of antisemitic hate that is arguably contributing to violence against Jews in the United States,” he added.
ReutersMeanwhile on Monday, health officials and local media reported that another three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire near the same GHF centre in Rafah’s Tal al-Sultan area.
A Red Cross spokesman told the Associated Press that its field hospital in Rafah received 50 wounded people, mostly with gunshot and shrapnel wounds, including two declared dead on arrival, while Nasser hospital in nearby Khan Younis said it received a third body.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “warning shots were fired toward several suspects who advanced toward” troops approximately 1km from the site.
The military added it was “aware of reports regarding casualties, and the details of the incident are being thoroughly looked into”.
Also on Monday, the Civil Defence reported that 14 people, including six children and three women, were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the northern town of Jabalia. More than 20 others were believed to be missing under the rubble of the destroyed building, it said.
There was no immediate comment from the IDF, but it said in a statement that its aircraft had struck dozens of targets across Gaza over the past day, including “military structures belonging to terror organisations”, underground tunnels, and weapons stores.
Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on 2 March and resumed its military offensive two weeks later, collapsing a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. It said the steps were meant to put pressure on the armed group to release the 58 hostages still held in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
On 19 May, the Israeli military launched an expanded offensive that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would see troops “take control of all areas” of Gaza. The following day, he said Israel would also temporarily ease the blockade and allow a “basic” amount of food into Gaza.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’ cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 54,470 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 4,201 since Israel resumed its offensive, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Israeli forces have opened fire again on Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid from a distribution site in Gaza, killing at least three people and injuring more than 30, as the United Nations demands an independent investigation into the repeated mass shootings of aid seekers in the strip.
The shooting erupted at sunrise on Monday at the same Israeli-backed aid point in southern Gaza where soldiers had opened fire just a day earlier, according to health officials and witnesses.
“The Israeli military opened fire on civilians trying to get their hands on any kind of food aid without any kind of warning,” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
“This is a pattern that’s been widely condemned by international aid organisations because it enhances the breakdown of civil order without ensuring humanitarian relief can be received by those desperately in need.”
Witnesses said Israeli snipers and quadcopter drones routinely monitor aid sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the United States.
A Red Cross field hospital received about 50 people wounded in the latest shooting, including two who were dead on arrival, said Hisham Mhanna, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross. Most had been hit by bullets or shrapnel. A third body was taken to Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis.
Moataz al-Feirani, 21, said he was shot in the leg while walking with thousands of others towards the food site.
“We had nothing, and they [the Israeli military] were watching us,” he told The Associated Press news agency, adding that surveillance drones circled overhead. The shooting began about 5:30am (02:30 GMT) near the Flag Roundabout, he said.
The pattern of deadly violence around the GHF aid distribution site has triggered mounting international outrage, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday demanded an independent inquiry into the mass shooting of Palestinians.
“It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” he said. “I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.”
The Israeli military has denied targeting civilians, claiming its soldiers fired “warning shots” at individuals who “posed a threat”.
The GHF has also denied the shootings occurred although doubts about its neutrality have intensified since its founding executive director, former US marine Jake Wood, resigned before operations even began after he questioned the group’s “impartiality” and “independence”.
Critics said the group functions as a cover for Israel’s broader campaign to depopulate northern Gaza as it concentrates aid in the south while bypassing established international agencies.
Aid is still barely trickling into Gaza after Israel partially lifted a total siege that for more than two months cut off food, water, fuel and medicine to more than two million people.
Thousands of children are at risk of dying from hunger-related causes, the UN has previously warned.
Elsewhere in the territory, Israeli air attacks continued to hammer residential areas.
In Jabalia in northern Gaza, Israeli forces killed 14 people, including seven children, in an attack on a home, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence agency. At least 20 people remained trapped under the rubble.
Two more Palestinians were killed and several wounded in another attack in Deir el-Balah, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, while a drone attack in Khan Younis claimed yet another life.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported that at least 51 Palestinians have been killed and 503 injured in Israeli attacks across the territory in the latest 24-hour reporting period alone.
Despite growing international condemnation, Israel’s military on Monday ordered the displacement of even more civilians from parts of Khan Younis, warning it would “operate with great force”.
Roughly 80 percent of the strip is now either under Israeli military control or designated for forced evacuation, according to new data from the Financial Times, as Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are crammed into an ever-shrinking patch of land in southern Gaza near the Egyptian border.
Israel has made little secret of its aim to permanently displace Gaza’s population as officials openly promote “voluntary migration” plans.
The Financial Times reported that the areas Palestinians are being pushed into resemble a “desert wasteland with no running water, electricity or even hospitals”.
Satellite images showed Israeli forces clearing land and setting up military infrastructure in evacuated areas.
Analysts who reviewed dozens of recent forced evacuation orders said the trend has accelerated since the collapse of a truce in March.
“The Israeli government has been very clear with regards to what their plan is about in Gaza,” political analyst Xavier Abu Eid told Al Jazeera.
“It is about ethnic cleansing.”
Critics, including US officials, are calling for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s new mission to fail, with twelve volunteers, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on board. The flotilla is trying to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Published On 2 Jun 20252 Jun 2025
Palestinians say even the dead are not safe in Gaza after a mosque and cemetery were hit by an Israeli strike.
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Video shows 5-year-old Osama al-Ruqab is wasting away from Israel's forced starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.
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The 12-person crew, which includes climate activist Greta Thunberg, expects to take seven days to reach Gaza.
International nonprofit organisation Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) says one of its vessels has left Sicily to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, after a previous attempt failed due to a drone attack on a different ship in the Mediterranean.
The 12-person crew, which includes Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Irish actor Liam Cunningham and Franco-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan, set sail on the Madleen from the port of Catania on Sunday, carrying barrels of relief supplies that the group called “limited amounts, though symbolic”.
The voyage comes after another vessel operated by the group, the Conscience, was hit by two drones just outside Maltese territorial waters in early May. While FFC said Israel was to blame for the incident, it has not responded to requests for comment.
“We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity,” Thunberg told reporters at a news conference before the departure. The Swedish climate activist had been due to board the Conscience.
She added that “no matter how dangerous this mission is, it is nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the lives being genocised”.
🇵🇸 ⛵️ Avec @GretaThunberg nous appelons à la mobilisation citoyenne pour soutenir massivement le navire humanitaire de @GazaFFlotilla ! C’est le seul moyen de garantir notre sécurité. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/5DUJbkRdPZ
— Rima Hassan (@RimaHas) June 1, 2025
The activists expect to take seven days to reach their destination, if they are not stopped.
The FCC, launched in 2010, is a non-violent international movement supporting Palestinians, combining humanitarian aid with political protest against the blockade on Gaza.
It said the trip “is not charity. This is a non-violent, direct action to challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes”.
United Nations agencies and major aid groups say Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Gaza’s roughly two million inhabitants.
The situation in Gaza is at its worst since the war between Israel and Hamas began 19 months ago, the UN said on Friday, despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries in the Palestinian enclave.
Under growing global pressure, Israel ended an 11-week blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing extremely limited UN-led operations to resume.
On Monday, a new avenue for aid distribution was also launched: the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by the United States and Israel, but with the UN and international aid groups refusing to work with it, saying it is not neutral and has a distribution model that forces the displacement of Palestinians.
The FCC is the latest among a growing number of critics to accuse Israel of genocidal acts in its war in Gaza, allegations Israel vehemently denies.
“We are breaking the siege of Gaza by sea, but that’s part of a broader strategy of mobilisations that will also attempt to break the siege by land,” said activist Thiago Avila.
Avila also mentioned the upcoming Global March to Gaza – an international initiative also open to doctors, lawyers and members of the media – which is set to leave Egypt and reach the Rafah crossing in mid-June to stage a protest there, calling on Israel to stop the Gaza offensive and reopen the border.
The Madleen, a yacht, is seen in Malta readying to set sail for Gaza and laden with aid for besieged Palestinians and celebrities onboard. Photo courtesy of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition
June 1 (UPI) — A ship filled with aid bound for Gaza set sail Sunday, hoping to break Israel’s blockade on the Palestinian enclave a month after another of its ships was damaged in an alleged Israeli drone strike in Maltese waters.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition launched a ship called the Madleen from Catania in southern Italy with activists onboard.
Ahead of the launch, those expected to join included Greta Thunberg; celebrity artists Brian Eno and Nan Goldin; actors Susan Sarandon, Guy Pearce, Aiysha Hart, Liam Cunningham, and Indya Moore; and Alana Hadid, the daughter of Palestinian-Jordanian real estate developer Mohamed Hadid, among others.
The ship is carrying “as much life-saving aid as she can carry,” including baby formula and medical supplies. Its organizers have stressed that the ship is not carrying any weapons.
Organizers have installed a tracking device on the ship so that the public can view its progress, noting that “the risk is real.” They hope that the tracker can help increase its safety, accountability and solidarity with their mission.
A similar flotilla was raided by the IDF in May 2010, leading to the close-range shooting deaths of at least nine passengers in international waters.
“Unarmed and nonviolent, ‘Madleen’ poses no threat. She sails in full accordance with international law,” the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said in a statement on Telegram. “Any attack or interference will be a deliberate, unlawful assault on civilians.”
Last month, another ship called the Conscience put out an SOS distress signal when it was 16 miles off the coast of Malta.
“The front of the vessel was targeted twice, resulting in a fire and a breach in the hull,” the group said at the time. “We have sent an SOS distress signal out, but no one has responded. Water is coming into the ship.”
Foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE had planned the visit to discuss Palestinian statehood and end to war on Gaza.
Saudi Arabia has accused Israel of “extremism and rejection of peace” after it blocked a planned visit by Arab foreign ministers to the occupied West Bank.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud made the remarks during a joint news conference in Jordan’s capital, Amman, on Sunday with his counterparts from Jordan, Egypt, and Bahrain.
“Israel’s refusal of the committee’s visit to the West Bank embodies and confirms its extremism and refusal of any serious attempts for [a] peaceful pathway … It strengthens our will to double our diplomatic efforts within the international community to face this arrogance,” Prince Faisal said.
His comments followed Israel’s decision to block the Arab delegation from reaching Ramallah, where they were set to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had planned the visit as part of efforts to support Palestinian diplomacy amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.
Israel controls the airspace and borders of the West Bank, and on Friday announced it would not grant permission for the visit.
“The Palestinian Authority – which to this day refuses to condemn the October 7 massacre – intended to host in Ramallah a provocative meeting of foreign ministers from Arab countries to discuss the promotion of the establishment of a Palestinian state,” an Israeli official had said, adding that Israel will “not cooperate” with the visit.
Prince Faisal’s trip to the West Bank would have marked the first such visit by a top Saudi official in recent memory.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said blocking the trip was another example of how Israel was “killing any chance of a just and comprehensive” Arab-Israeli settlement.
An international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, is due to be held in New York from June 17 to 20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said the conference would cover security arrangements after a ceasefire in Gaza and reconstruction plans to ensure Palestinians would remain on their land and foil any Israeli plans to evict them.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries, which favour a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
Palestinian group Hamas claims a recent ceasefire proposal passed to them by United States special envoy Steve Witkoff is different from one they had agreed to a week earlier.
Basem Naim, a leading Hamas official, told Al Jazeera on Saturday that the group “responded positively” to the latest proposal relayed by Witkoff, even though it offered “no guarantees to end the war”, according to Naim.
Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians since October 2023, and its total aid blockade since March has caused starvation and a famine-like situation in Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, most of whom were displaced by 19 months of relentless bombardment.
Amid international pressure, Israel has allowed a trickle of aid into Gaza, which has been described as a “drop in an ocean” by humanitarian groups.
Here’s what you need to know about the ceasefire proposal.
According to the group, no.
It says it responded positively but added a few key provisions.
There are a few.
Hamas has responded to the latest US-proposed ceasefire with demands for a pathway to a permanent ceasefire, instead of a temporary one where the Israeli government could unilaterally restart hostilities as they did in March.
They have also called for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the resumption of aid and assistance to the besieged area.
Witkoff proposed a 60-day pause in hostilities. After that, the parties (Israel and Hamas) would work to agree to extend the pause.
The issue with this is that the last time it happened, Israel unilaterally decided to cut aid to Gaza and started bombing it. To avoid a similar scenario, Hamas has tried to negotiate on the timeline for releasing the captives, 10 of them alive and 18 bodies of those killed during the war. Witkoff’s proposal called for the release to take place within a week of the 60-day pause.
However, Hamas fears Israel will resume its bombing campaign upon the release of the captives, so it has called for staggering their release throughout the pause.
It has called for a set list of negotiation topics to avoid what has happened in past negotiations with Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added provisions in what critics say was an attempt to derail talks and prolong the war.
According to the website Drop Site News, Hamas also reinserted a provision from the May 25 agreement that Israel had withdrawn.
That provision would be for Hamas to hand over the governing of Gaza to “an independent technocratic committee”.
Witkoff called Hamas’s response “totally unacceptable” and said it “only takes us backward”.
“Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have at the proximity talks substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire.”
I received the Hamas response to the United States’ proposal. It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward.
Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.
That is the only…
— Office of the Special Envoy to the Middle East (@SE_MiddleEast) May 31, 2025
US President Donald Trump previously said the two sides were nearing a deal.
The US and Israel seem to be in agreement on the terms.
Israel claims its officials agreed with the US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Israel “backed and supported” the new proposal.
Netanyahu criticised the Hamas response, parroting Witkoff and laying the blame on the Palestinian group for failing to accept the proposal.
“As Witkoff said, Hamas’s response is unacceptable and sets the situation back. Israel will continue its action for the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
Hamas is wary of past instances where Israel chose to unilaterally break the ceasefire. That happened in March, when Netanyahu decided to block all aid from entering Gaza and restart the war.
Tamer Qarmout, an associate professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, described the negotiations between Hamas and Israel as taking place with “no good faith whatsoever”.
“They [Israel] are fixated on one key goal, which is Hamas’s capitulation and surrender, and disappearing from the scene,” Qarmout told Al Jazeera.
“Hamas is engaged in these negotiations just to try to reduce the horrors of the war, to allow some humanitarian aid to enter and to also look for a dignified exit. No one in Hamas wants to see themselves surrendering this way.”
In the interim, Israel is continuing to attack Gaza.
On Sunday, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians who had gathered at aid distribution sites run by a US-backed group, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in southern and central Gaza. At least 31 people were killed in Rafah and another near the Netzarim Corridor.
Meanwhile, residential homes across Gaza are still being bombed relentlessly.
Activist Greta Thunberg says silence is more dangerous than sailing to Gaza, as she boarded a vessel that will try to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The Gaza Freedom Flotilla had to abandon its last attempt on May 2 when it was bombed.
Published On 1 Jun 20251 Jun 2025
At least 30 Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for aid near a distribution hub in Rafah, run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The attack comes amid disputes over the text of a US-backed ceasefire proposal.
Published On 1 Jun 20251 Jun 2025
Israel has killed at least 32 Palestinians waiting to get food at two aid distribution sites in Gaza, leaving more than 200 others injured.
Israeli tanks opened fire on thousands of civilians gathered at a distribution site in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Sunday morning, killing at least 31 people, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.
Soon after, a Palestinian was reportedly killed in a shooting at a similar distribution point south of the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza City.
The aid is being distributed by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial group backed by Israel and the United States, which has completed a chaotic first week of operations in the enclave.
The United Nations and other aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, accusing it of lacking neutrality and suggesting the group has been formed to enable Israel to achieve its stated military objective of taking over all of Gaza.
Ibrahim Abu Saoud, who witnessed the attack on aid seekers in Rafah, told The Associated Press news agency that Israeli forces opened fire on people as they moved towards the distribution point.
Abu Saoud, 40, said the crowd was about 300 metres (328 yards) away from the military. He said he saw many people with gunshot wounds, including a young man who died at the scene.
“We weren’t able to help him,” he said.
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said Palestinians are being killed while trying to secure “one meal for their children”.
“This is why Palestinians have been going to these distribution points, despite the fact that they know that they are controversial. They [distribution points] are backed by the US and Israel, but they do not have any other option,” she said.
“[Even] the food parcels that were distributed to Palestinians are barely enough. We are talking about one kilo of flour, a couple of bags of pasta, a couple of cans of fava beans – and it’s not nutritious. It’s not enough for a family in Gaza nowadays.”
The GHF told the AP that Israeli soldiers fired “warning shots” as Palestinians gathered to receive food. The group denied reports that dozens of people were killed, describing them as “false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos”.
The Israeli army said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that it was “currently unaware of injuries caused by [Israeli] fire within the humanitarian aid distribution site” and that the incident was still under review.
The Government Media Office in Gaza condemned the attacks, describing the GHF’s distribution points as “mass death traps, not humanitarian relief points”.
“We confirm to the entire world that what is happening is a systematic and malicious use of aid as a tool of war, employed to blackmail starving civilians and forcibly gather them in exposed killing points, managed and monitored by the occupation army and funded and politically covered by … the US administration,” it said in a statement.
Speaking from Gaza City, Bassam Zaqout of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society said the current aid distribution mechanism had replaced 400 former distribution points with just four.
“I think there are different hidden agendas in this aid distribution mechanism,” he told Al Jazeera. “The mechanism does not cater to the needs of the people, such as the elderly and people with disabilities.”
Palestinian group Hamas, which runs the enclave’s government, released a statement, saying the Israeli shootings were a “blatant confirmation of premeditated intent” as it held Israel and the US fully responsible for the killings.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said the killings were a “full-fledged war crime” and demanded international intervention to “stop this ongoing massacre and impose strict accountability mechanisms”.
Sunday’s killings capped a deadly first week for the project’s operations, coming on the back of two earlier shootings at two distribution points in the south – the first in Rafah, the second west of the city – which saw a combined total of nine Palestinians killed.
In Gaza, crucial aid is only trickling in after Israel partially lifted a more than two-month total blockade, which brought more than two million of its starving residents to the brink of a famine.
Gaza Doctor Hamdi al-Najjar has died 8 days after being wounded in an Israeli strike that killed nine of his children.
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HAMAS has said that it is ready to release hostages in a bid to end the war in Gaza.
The move by the terror group is part of a response to a US ceasefire proposal.
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Hamas said it would release ten living hostages and 18 bodies in return for Israel’s release of a number of Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas said: “This proposal aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, (Israeli) withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and ensure the flow of aid to our people and families.”
There was no immediate response from Israel to the statement.
But PM Benjamin Netanyahu had last week told families of the hostages they had accepted the US proposals.
It comes as Gaza health officials said yesterday that 14 people had been killed and 284 injured in the past day.
Yesterday, The UN warned that Gaza had become “the hungriest place on Earth”.
It said the territory’s entire population was at risk of famine.
Displaced Palestinians living in tents were handed food by aid agencies.
Women and children were among those gathered in Khan Yunis holding pots and pans.
Jens Laerke, of the UN’s humanitarian agency, said it was the only area on the planet where 100 per cent of the population was at risk of famine.
He added: “Gaza is the hungriest place on Earth.”
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