More than 30 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on Sunday as they approached an aid distribution point in Rafah, run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to witnesses and a Red Cross field hospital.
Witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire as crowds gathered near the site early in the morning. “My brother went to receive aid… when the bullets started raining down on them,” Yarin Abu al-Naja told reporters. Another witness, Hani Baraka, said a drone ordered people to wait until 6am, but when they moved forward, soldiers “panicked and began firing”.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah received 179 people, 21 of whom were declared dead on arrival – the highest number of weapon-wounded in a single incident since the hospital opened over a year ago. Local health authorities said at least 31 bodies were taken to Nasser hospital.
Israel Defence Forces denied “firing at civilians” but admitted soldiers fired warning shots “toward several suspects who advanced toward the troops”. The GHF claimed it delivered aid “without incident” and rejected previous accounts of gunfire near its sites.
Witnesses reported that private security contractors, including armed Americans, did not fire at the crowd. The Red Crescent also reported 14 injuries at a separate aid distribution site in central Gaza.
