With dozens killed while seeking food, UN officials condemn aid distribution failures and intensifying Israeli attacks, calling the situation a humanitarian catastrophe.
At least 46 Palestinians have been killed in two separate incidents while waiting for food aid in central and southern Gaza, local rescue workers and hospitals reported. The deaths occurred amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes and gunfire, which have turned desperate aid lines into deadly zones.
UN agencies have issued a scathing condemnation of the current aid distribution system—backed by the US and Israel—with one senior official calling it “an abomination” and “a death trap.” Despite the growing toll, such incidents have drawn minimal international attention in recent days, overshadowed by Israel’s recent military operations against Iran.
According to the UN, over 410 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire or shelling since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began its operations in late May—figures that don’t yet include the latest casualties.
Among the wounded is the son of Umm Raed al-Nuaizi, a widow from central Gaza, who spoke tearfully of the price her family has paid. “My son went to get a grain of flour so that he could eat and feed his siblings, and now he is in the intensive care unit,” she said. “Why are our children’s lives seen as so cheap?”
The strikes and shelling, part of an ongoing campaign of Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, have increasingly targeted areas where civilians are known to gather for food and aid—raising urgent questions about the coordination and ethics of the relief process.
As the humanitarian crisis deepens and accusations of collective punishment mount, the UN and other international actors are pressing for immediate changes to how aid is delivered in Gaza. Yet, with violence continuing and diplomatic solutions elusive, hopes for safe humanitarian corridors are fading quickly.