At least 31 people were killed and over 150 injured when Israeli gunfire erupted near aid distribution points in Gaza, according to health officials in the Hamas-run territory. The chaos unfolded early Sunday as desperate civilians gathered to receive food in Rafah and central Gaza.
In harrowing scenes captured by local journalists, families rushed the wounded to hospitals using donkey carts. At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, overwhelmed doctors treated victims with gunshot wounds to the head and chest. British surgeon Victoria Rose, working on the ground, said every hospital bay was full.
“They’re all gunshot wounds,” she said, gesturing behind her in a video message recorded from the emergency ward.
The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 31 bodies had been received and over 200 people injured, many with bullet or shrapnel wounds. Medical teams from the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians confirmed the injuries were consistent with live ammunition.
Yet, amid the horror, confusion reigns. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the group distributing food at the scene, denied any incident had occurred at their centres, accusing Hamas of spreading misinformation. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) also denied responsibility, stating that its forces had not fired at civilians at or near aid sites.
“Reports that we fired at civilians at humanitarian aid distribution points are false,” the IDF stated. An IDF soldier told the BBC that shots were fired near the crowd, but not directly at them.
Palestinian journalist Mohammed Ghareeb, who was near Rafah’s Al-Alam roundabout, gave a different account. He described a crowd of civilians gathered around 4:30am local time when Israeli tanks appeared and opened fire. “The dead and wounded lay on the ground for a long time,” he said. “No rescue crews could access the area, so residents used donkey carts to take victims to a field hospital.”
Gaza Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Israeli fire wounded over 100 people. Video and photographs show injured men, women, and children arriving at the hospital — many unconscious, others crying in pain.
The tragedy underscores the increasingly dire situation in Gaza. Hunger, fear, and desperation are growing as Israeli military operations intensify in Rafah. On Saturday, crowds swarmed aid trucks in scenes the World Food Programme described as chaotic and dangerous.
The GHF, backed by the US and Israel, was set up as part of a controversial plan to deliver food without Hamas interference — a claim Hamas denies. The group says it has delivered 4.7 million meals this week, though this figure cannot be independently verified.
Journalists and aid workers say the lack of independent access to Gaza makes it difficult to confirm what truly happened.
This violence comes as US-led efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas stall. Hamas says it is prepared to release 10 Israeli hostages and return the bodies of 18 more in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. But the group is also demanding a permanent ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal, and unrestricted humanitarian access — none of which are part of the current US deal.
US negotiator Steve Witkoff called Hamas’s demands “unacceptable” and insisted the American proposal is the only viable path to a 60-day truce.
The war began after Hamas’s deadly cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and led to the capture of 251 hostages. Since then, over 54,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to local health authorities.
For the people on the ground — the families carrying their wounded on carts, the doctors forced to work beyond exhaustion, and the children lining up for food — the political blame game offers no relief.