26 Killed Near Gaza Aid Site; Hamas, Israel Trade Blame Over Attack

Photo : AP

At least 26 Palestinians lost their lives, and more than 80 were injured in a tragic incident on Sunday in the Rafah area of southern Gaza. Local rescue teams said that thousands of people had gathered near Al-Alam roundabout to collect food aid when Israeli tanks reportedly came close and opened fire.

Hamas strongly blamed Israeli forces for the deaths, saying it was "a new massacre" against starving people. They claimed the places marked for food distribution were actually dangerous and led people into harm instead of helping them.

However, Israeli officials denied the accusations. The Israeli embassy said no such attack took place. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which helps distribute food and is supported by Israel and the US, also said there was no shooting and that everything went smoothly that day.

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Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also responded. In a video posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), he said the reports were false. “This morning, media around the world said Israeli tanks fired at a food centre. That never happened. It’s simply not true,” he said.

The event happened not long after the US turned down a ceasefire offer from Hamas, calling it "totally unacceptable."

After the shooting, injured people were taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, one of the few working hospitals left in Gaza. Many of them were carried on donkey carts because there are very few vehicles left. A news report confirmed that at least 26 people died in the attack.

Hamas repeated their claims later on Sunday, saying that the aid centres were turning into “mass death traps” instead of helping hungry people.

The situation has increased global concern about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The United Nations has already warned that famine could happen soon if more aid doesn’t reach the people. Since March, when a short truce ended, aid trucks have struggled to enter Gaza due to restrictions from Israel.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began its food distribution on May 26 after Israel relaxed its total blockade slightly. GHF says it has handed out over 2 million meals since then. However, some major aid groups and the United Nations have criticized how GHF operates. They say the aid setup does not follow proper humanitarian rules and might be working in line with Israeli military goals.

The UN’s World Food Programme has called on Israel to allow larger amounts of food into Gaza more quickly. They warned that the lack of food is making people desperate and unsafe.

Some international aid agencies have also refused to work with GHF, saying the way it operates puts Palestinians in danger and does not treat them fairly.

In peace efforts, Hamas said over the weekend that it agreed to a new ceasefire proposal backed by the United States. But the US rejected the response, saying it was not acceptable. Hamas wants a permanent stop to the war and for Israeli forces to completely leave Gaza, which remains a major issue between both sides.

Israel, on the other hand, has said Hamas must accept the deal and release the hostages or face serious consequences.

Out of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, Israel says 57 are still in Gaza, including 34 believed to be dead.

Gaza’s health ministry says more than 4,100 people have died since Israel resumed its attacks in mid-March. Since the war began, over 54,000 people in Gaza have died—most of them civilians. Hamas’s attack on Israel last year killed 1,218 people, mostly civilians as well.