Aid Massacre: Israeli Forces Kill 75 Palestinians at U.S.-Run Aid Distribution Center
By Sheerpost-Tareq S. Hajjaj - June 3, 2025
On Sunday morning at dawn, Palestinians from southern Gaza headed to the aid distribution point in Rafah run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF), the U.S. contractor tasked with delivering aid to Palestinians instead of the UN. Once thousands of aid-seekers arrived at the al-Alam area of Rafah’s Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, the Israeli army opened fire on the crowds, according to eyewitnesses who spoke to Mondoweiss.
As throngs of people waited outside the aid site in the early morning hours, waiting for the instructions of the American employees, eyewitnesses described an Israeli quadcopter drone hovering overhead and ordering them via loudspeaker to enter the fenced delivery site at 6:00 a.m.
After hundreds of people had entered, soldiers opened fire on the crowd, killing 75 people at the Rafah aid site and wounding a total of 400 others across aid distribution sites, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said in an updated statement on Monday.*
In an earlier statement on Sunday, the Health Ministry said that fatalities arriving at Nasser Hospital “had sustained only one gunshot wound to the head or chest,” which the Ministry said “confirms the occupation’s intent to kill civilians.”
Director of Hospitals in Gaza, Muhammad Zaqout, said at a press conference in front of Nasser Hospital on Sunday in Khan Younis that the injured had arrived at the medical compound in animal-drawn carts or were carried on people’s shoulders due to the Israeli army’s prevention of ambulances from reaching the aid site.
The Israeli army denied that any soldiers had fired at civilians in the center, regarding the allegations as “false reports.” The GHF also denied the reports as “completely false and fabricated,” publishing CCTV footage of aid distribution in Rafah as apparent proof that the day had gone on “without incident.”
Last week, three people were killed at the GHF-run aid distribution point in al-Bureij, north of the Netzarim Axis, and seven others were reported missing in the wake of the chaos last week in the southern GHF site in Rafah. Today, June 2, the Israeli army killed another 3 people at the al-Bureij GHF site.
‘The Americans and Israelis set a trap for us’
Ahmad Abu Libdeh, 28, arrived at the aid distribution center in Rafah at 5:00 a.m. from eastern Khan Younis. Instead of receiving food, he witnessed what he described as “one of the most horrific massacres perpetrated by the [Israeli] army” at the Rafah center.
“We were standing outside the distribution point,” Abu Libdeh told Mondoweiss. “At around 6:00 a.m., a quadcopter flew overhead and announced over the loudspeaker that the place was safe and we could enter to get the food.”
“The quadcopter loudspeaker said, ‘walk, you’re safe. We’ll get the aid out in a little while,’” Abu Libdeh added, stating that after the aid had arrived, “they began bombing and killing us.”
“As soon as we entered the distribution point and started carrying the aid, the Israeli army opened fire,” he explained. “The scene was horrific. We couldn’t see anything because of the dust and the shelling and the heavy gunfire directed at us. Dozens of people were killed. And the airstrikes also killed dozens of people.”
Abu Libdeh noted that the first strike occurred at around 6:15, with a drone bombing a car full of people who had received food and were leaving the area. “After the car was bombed, tanks opened fire on us,” he described.
Ahmad said that the first few minutes were “a shock to everyone,” explaining that they had entered the distribution site according to Israeli army instructions. “We didn’t know where the bombing was coming from or from whom. Dust filled the area, and people were running without knowing what was going on. People were falling in the stampede, and I saw dozens lying on the ground, bleeding. They all died because no one could save them.”
“The Americans and Israelis set a huge trap for us to lure us here and kill us by the dozens,” Abu Libdeh concluded. “We don’t want America’s help. We want to stop the war and stop the hunger.”
The massacre on Sunday has led many Palestinians in Gaza to conclude that the goal of the GHF is not to distribute food to the people but to aid and abet the Israeli army’s goal of “exterminating” Palestinians.
Arafat, 49, who preferred not to give his surname, is shown sitting in Nasser Hospital with a small child in his lap in video testimony for Mondoweiss. Both are crying, while Arafat lets out a sigh for his brother, who he says was killed by the Israeli army in Rafah while on his way to secure food for his family.
“Why do they tell us to go get food only to kill us when we get there?” Arafat says. “They are liars. They lie to us and the world. The Americans are conspiring with the Israelis to kill us. They killed my brother because he went to get food for his family.” Arafat explains that the child in his lap is his brother’s son.
“They made a place for us to go and be killed in cold blood,” Arafat continued. “They shouldn’t say this is a humanitarian area. It’s a trip and a massacre of starving people.”
Arafat notes that some people had been queuing near the distribution point since 11 p.m. the night before. “The result is that we’re getting death instead of food,” he says. “We don’t want America’s help. We don’t want America’s food. If America wants to help us, as it claims, let it stop the war. We don’t want anything more from it.”
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Tareq S. Hajjaj
Tareq S. Hajjaj is the Mondoweiss Gaza Correspondent, and a member of the Palestinian Writers Union. He studied English Literature at Al-Azhar University in Gaza. He started his career in journalism in 2015 working as a news writer and translator for the local newspaper, Donia al-Watan. He has reported for Elbadi, Middle East Eye, and Al Monitor. Follow him on Twitter at @Tareqshajjaj.
