Israeli forces have killed at least 115 Palestinians in Gaza, including 92 people shot dead while trying to access food at the Zikim crossing in the north and aid points in Rafah and Khan Younis in the south. This devastating attacks occurred as Israel’s continued siege of Gaza worsened a hunger crisis, with health authorities announcing at least 19 deaths from starvation over the past day.
Survivors of the attack described the horrific scenes, with Rizeq Betaar, a Palestinian man who helped carry a young victim to the hospital, saying, “There are no ambulances, no food, no life, no way to live anymore. We’re barely hanging on.” Another survivor, Osama Marouf, recounted transporting an old man who was shot and wounded, “I tried to save him on the bicycle – I don’t even want the flour anymore, he’s like my father, this old man. May God give me the strength to do good. And may this hardship not last much longer.”
The Israeli military claimed it fired “warning shots to remove an immediate threat posed to the troops” in northern Gaza. However, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) disputed this account, stating that the victims were people “trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation.” The WFP said the Israeli shootings occurred just after a convoy of 25 trucks carrying food assistance crossed the Zikim point, and the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers, and other gunfire.
The WFP warned that Gaza’s hunger crisis has reached new levels of desperation, with people dying from lack of humanitarian assistance and malnutrition surging. According to the agency, 90,000 women and children are in urgent need of treatment, and nearly one person in three is not eating for days. Gaza’s Ministry of Health echoed this warning, stating that hundreds of people whose bodies have wasted away are at risk of imminent death due to hunger. The ministry added that at least 71 children have died of malnutrition since the war began in 2023, while 60,000 others show signs of severe undernourishment.
Dr. Mohammed Abu Afash, director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society in Gaza, said, “We are heading into the unknown. Malnutrition among children has reached its highest levels,” warning of a looming disaster if aid is not allowed in immediately.
The US-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) denounced Israel’s continuous attacks on aid seekers, with Nihad Awad, CAIR’s national executive director, stating, “Western governments cannot claim ignorance. They are watching in real time as innocent civilians are intentionally starved, forcibly displaced, and slaughtered – and are choosing to do nothing.”
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, also highlighted the dire situation, saying, “All man-made, in total impunity. Food is available only a few kilometers away,” and adding that UNRWA has enough supplies at the border to feed Gaza for three months, but Israel has blocked aid since March 2.