Three Palestinians were killed and dozens of others injured by Israeli attacks near a humanitarian aid distribution site in Rafah, southern Gaza on Monday, health officials and doctors informed ReutersWhile the enclave humanitarian crisis continues to degenerate.
According to the Gaza Civil Defense Agency, the killings took place in the Tal Al-Sultan district near a distribution center operated by the Gaza Humaninian Foundation (GHF) supported by the United States.
The Red Cross confirmed that her hospital on Rafah’s field had received 50 injured, two of whom were declared dead when they arrived.
A third death was reported to the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis nearby.
Medical staff said most of the injuries were caused by gunshots or bursts of shells and included women and children. Witnesses said that large crowds had gathered in the region early on Monday to receive aid when they were criticized.
Three Palestinians were killed in an air strike from Israeli drones which targeted the school from Al Aysheya to Deir Al Balah, Central Gaza. pic.twitter.com/kwq4dklwlm
– Eye on Palestine (@eyeonpalestine) June 2, 2025
The Israeli army has published images of drones which he affirms shows that armed men shoot on civilians heading towards sites, although the Bbc said he couldn’t check the location or date of the sequence.
Meanwhile, a journalist in Rafah told Bbc That Israeli tanks opened fire on a crowd near the Al-Alam roundabout, near the GHF site.
Monday’s killings follow a deadly incident one day earlier in the same area, where at least 31 people were reported and more than 170 injured.
Witnesses told the BBC that civilians had been dismissed when they were trying to recover food.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed a “mass influx” of 179 people at its Rafah Field hospital on Sunday 21, including a death when they arrived.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that he had treated seriously injured patients and said some had described a dismissal from several directions while trying to access the aid.
However, the Israeli army admits that their forces were operating overnight in Rafah, but they claim that it was under Israeli control and that they have drawn warning plans to dissuade the individuals who approached them.
The FDI said that the incident occurred about 1 km from the aid distribution site and that the troops had acted to “prevent several suspects from approaching”. He claims that he is aware of victims’ reports and investigation.
The GHF, which operates with American support and Israeli approval, denied any incident occurred or near its center or nearby, declaring: “There were no injuries, deaths or incidents during our operations.”
The group continues to claim that victims’ reports are “pure and simple manufacturing” and have blamed the disinformation widespread by Hamas.
The Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres expressed his indignation at the repeated loss of civil life during humanitarian operations. “I am dismayed by reports from Palestinians killed and injured while asking for help from Gaza,” Guterres said in a statement on Monday.
He called for “an immediate and independent investigation into these events and that the authors must be held responsible”.
❗The white bags that you see in the “humanitarian” Gaza Foundation Death Distribution Point are not aid bags filled with flour. These are empty bags of flour that people bring with them to transport the help they could receive. Although they can appear full, as we see in the … pic.twitter.com/dpnrheb7ks
– Translation of Falasteen (Palestine) (@translatingpal) June 1, 2025
The United Nations and international aid organizations have made an alarm about the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the population of more than two million faces acute food shortages and famine conditions after months of restricted access to aid.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which opened its first aid distribution sites last week, is supported by the United States and operates with Israeli coordination.
However, its operations have been criticized by the UN and other humanitarian groups to bypass traditional aid channels and work outside of internationally accepted humanitarian principles.
The network of Palestinian NGOs called for a boycott of what it labeled the “American-Israeli aid mechanism” in response to fatal incidents at the distribution point and around the GHF.
Relatives of one of the victims, Hussam Wafi, 37, gathered at Nasser Hospital on Monday to cry before his burial. “They were going peacefully. They went to get food and water for their children – a can of Houmous or Fava beans – and they were slaughtered,” the neighbor of Wafi, Abu Youssef told Reuters.
Rejecting international calls to a ceasefire, Israel has continued a devastating offensive in Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 54,500 Palestinians, most women and children, according to Anadolu.
Only Monday, the ministry reported 51 killed and 500 injured across the enclave, including 16 people with a single air strike in a house in Jabalia.
Aid agencies have warned against the risk of famine among the more than 2 million of the enclave.
Last November, the International Criminal Court published arrest mandates against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Yoav Gallant Minister of Defense for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a case of genocide at the International Court of Justice for its war crimes against civilians in the enclave.
