At least 32 Palestinians were killed and over 70 injured Saturday when Israeli troops opened fire on crowds seeking food at two US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution sites in southern Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and witnesses. The shootings, near Rafah and Khan Younis, mark another deadly chapter in the chaotic aid distribution effort amid Gaza’s worsening humanitarian crisis.
In the Teina area, about three kilometers from a GHF hub east of Khan Younis, eyewitness Mahmoud Mokeimar described a “massacre” as troops fired warning shots before targeting crowds with machine guns and drones between 5 and 6 a.m. “They opened fire indiscriminately,” he said, reporting motionless bodies and fleeing wounded. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received 25 bodies and dozens of injured, many with head and chest gunshot wounds, said Dr. Mohamed Saker, head of nursing. Seven others, including a woman, were killed near a GHF site in Rafah’s Shakoush area, the ministry confirmed.
The Israeli military claimed it fired “warning shots” near Rafah after “suspects” ignored orders to stay back, asserting the incident occurred overnight when the site was closed. The GHF, which employs armed US contractors, denied shootings at its sites, blaming a prior incident’s 20 deaths on a Hamas-provoked stampede without evidence. Videos show contractors using tear gas and stun grenades to control crowds, with gunfire audible.
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Gaza’s 2.3 million people face near-famine conditions after Israel’s partial lifting of an 80-day aid blockade in May. The GHF, launched to replace UN-led aid distribution, has been criticized by the UN for endangering civilians and enabling Israeli control over aid flow. Witnesses report chaotic scenes, with desperate crowds rushing for limited food parcels. The war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack killing 1,200 and taking 250 hostages, has killed over 58,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, per Gaza’s Health Ministry.
In separate violence, 11 died in Gaza City airstrikes, including nine in a strike on a police official’s family tent. Ceasefire talks in Qatar remain stalled. In the West Bank, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee condemned a July 9 settler attack on a Christian village’s church, calling it “an act of terror.”
Also Read: "Gaza Aid Disaster: 20 Crushed in Stampede, 41 Killed in Israeli Strikes!"