Israeli forces have killed at least 110 Palestinians in attacks across Gaza on Saturday, including 34 people waiting for food rations at a US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site in southern Rafah. Witnesses described the scene as chaotic, with pools of blood and victims being shrouded in the bags they had hoped to collect food in.
“The bag meant to be filled with food turned into shrouds. I swear to God it is nothing but a death trap,” said Samir Shaat, a survivor of the attack. “They opened gunfire on people in a completely frenzied manner. As I carried my friend over my shoulder, I walked among martyrs.”
Mohammad Barbakh, a Palestinian father who also survived the attack, described the victims being killed by Israeli sniper fire. “They deceive us, letting us come to receive aid. They let us carry the bags, then started shooting at us as if we were ducks being hunted,” he told the AFP news agency.
Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said Israeli soldiers at the GHF site opened fire without warning. “The GHF keeps only one aid centre operational in Rafah, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to move to the southern part of Gaza to get food aid,” Tareq said. “Witnesses report that the Israeli military squarely targeted hungry crowds without prior warning, causing a great deal of panic and fear along with chaotic scenes that erupted following the shooting.”
According to doctors in Gaza, more than 800 Palestinians have been killed and 5,000 others wounded at GHF sites since the group began its operations in late May. “The vast majority were shot in the head and legs,” said Khalil al-Degran, a spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Hospital. “We are struggling to cope with the overwhelming number of casualties amid a devastating shortage of medical supplies.”
The Government Media Office in Gaza reported that 67 children have died due to malnutrition, and 650,000 children under the age of five are at “real and immediate risk of acute malnutrition in the coming weeks”. “Over the past three days, we have recorded dozens of deaths due to shortages of food and essential medical supplies, in an extremely cruel humanitarian situation,” the statement read.
Progress in negotiations between Hamas and Israel to end the war has stalled, with the sides disagreeing over the extent of Israeli forces’ withdrawal from Gaza. A Palestinian source told Reuters that Hamas has objected to the withdrawal maps proposed by Israel, as they would leave about 40% of the territory under Israeli occupation. The indirect talks are expected to continue, despite the latest obstacles.
Omar Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, said Israel is unlikely to give in to pressure to reach a ceasefire quickly, because its goals in Gaza extend far beyond returning the captives held by Hamas there. “It’s been clear since October 2023 that Israel’s ultimate goal here is the physical destruction of Gaza, the engineered collapse of Palestinian society there, and the forcible depopulation of the entirety of the Strip,” Rahman said.