Gaza City — Twenty-four Palestinians were killed near an aid distribution site in southern Gaza on Saturday, according to Nasser Hospital officials, in what witnesses allege was Israeli gunfire on a crowd desperately seeking food, as reported by BBC News.
Eyewitnesses described scenes of panic and bloodshed as Israeli forces reportedly opened fire on people gathered near the site. “They shot at us like we were not human,” said a man interviewed in a video seen by the BBC. “We were just waiting for food.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied the claims, stating that there were “no known injured individuals” as a result of IDF fire in the area. A military official separately confirmed warning shots had been fired to disperse what were described as threatening crowds. These claims remain unverified, as international media are barred from entering Gaza.
Footage shared online and reviewed by the BBC shows rows of body bags in Nasser Hospital’s courtyard, with bloodied civilians and distraught medics gathered around. Reuters reported witnessing bodies wrapped in white shrouds at the hospital and interviewed witnesses who said victims were shot in the head and chest.
The incident marks the latest in a growing toll of reported deaths linked to aid distribution. The UN’s human rights office said Friday that at least 798 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid since the war began — 615 of those near sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial aid effort managed with U.S. support and private contractors.
Despite partial easing of Israel’s total blockade in late May, hunger and desperation persist. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warns of worsening malnutrition among children, with cases rising daily.
A former GHF contractor recently told the BBC he witnessed colleagues firing at unarmed Palestinians. The GHF called those claims “categorically false.”
The war, which erupted after Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack on Israel, has left at least 57,823 Palestinians dead, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
With aid queues becoming frontlines, the humanitarian crisis deepens — and the line between survival and peril grows thinner by the day.
