31 killed in Israeli attack near Gaza aid point
• Locals say soldiers, tank opened fire at people headed towards distribution site
• Trump’s envoy terms Hamas demand for changes to ceasefire proposal ‘unacceptable’
CAIRO: An Israeli attack near an aid distribution point in Gaza killed as many as 31 Palestinians on Sunday, local health authorities said.
The incident in Rafah is the latest in a series of Israeli attacks on aid delivery to Gaza, following the easing of an almost three-month Israeli blockade last month.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its medical teams had recovered the bodies of 23 Palestinians and treated another 23 injured people near the aid collection site in Rafah.
Earlier, the Palestinian news agency WAFA put the number of deaths at 30.
Local health authorities said at least 31 bodies had so far arrived at Nasser Hospital.
Residents and medics said Israeli soldiers fired from the ground at a crane nearby that overlooks the area, and a tank opened fire at thousands of people who were en route to get aid from the site in Rafah.
Reuters footage showed ambulances carrying injured people to Nasser Hospital.
Israel’s military said in a statement it was looking into reports that Palestinians had been shot at an aid distribution site, but that it was unaware of injuries caused by military fire.
The US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which operates the aid distribution sites in Rafah, denied anyone was killed or injured near its site in Rafah and that all of its distribution had taken place without incident.
But the Gaza government media office has accused Israel of turning the distribution sites into “death traps” for people seeking aid.
“We affirm to the world that what is taking place is a deliberate and malicious use of aid as a ‘weapon of war’, employed to exploit starving civilians and forcibly gather them at exposed killing zones, which are managed and monitored by the Israeli military,” it said.
Reda Abu Jazar said her brother was killed as he waited to collect food at an aid distribution centre in Rafah.
“Let them stop these massacres, stop this genocide. They are killing us,” she said, as Palestinian men gathered for funeral prayers.
The Red Crescent also reported that 14 more Palestinians were injured on Sunday by Israeli fire near a separate site in central Gaza.
Ceasefire talks falter
Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas traded blame for the faltering of a new Arab and US mediation bid to secure a temporary ceasefire and the release of Israeli prisoners held in Gaza by Hamas, in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli jails.
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed ceasefire proposal, but President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable.”
On Sunday, dozens of Palestinians marched at the funeral of a Gaza doctor, Hamdi Al-Najjar, who was critically injured late in May in an air strike that killed all but one of his 10 children.
Najjar died late on Saturday.
“We could die any time, but we are still staying in our land, remaining to work to do our duty towards our people,” said Mohammed Zaqout, director of Gaza hospitals.
The Israeli military has confirmed it conducted an air strike on Khan Younis that day, but said it was targeting suspects in a structure that was close to Israeli soldiers.
The military is looking into claims that “uninvolved civilians” were killed, it said, adding that the military had evacuated civilians from the area before the operation began.
Israel began its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken as prisoners into Gaza.
Israel’s campaign has devastated much of Gaza, killing over 54,000 Palestinians and destroying most buildings.
Much of the population now lives in shelters in makeshift camps.
Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2025
