By Kevin Reed
On Thursday, Israeli forces continued their bloody wave of deadly attacks across Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinian civilians seeking food and shelter and further tightening the blockade on northern Gaza.
According to Al Jazeera, Gaza authorities reported that at least 71 people were killed on Thursday in Israeli military actions. Local health officials detailed attacks on a school in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, which left nine dead, and another strike near a tent settlement in Khan Younis that killed nine more.
A drone strike on Deir el-Balah’s market street resulted in nine deaths and multiple injuries. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society also confirmed that three people were killed by Israeli army fire while waiting for humanitarian assistance at a distribution point in the Netzarim Corridor, marking yet another fatal incident at aid sites.
Every day, eyewitness accounts are being given of massacres of Palestinians seeking food at aid distribution sites. Based on Al Jazeera’s reporting since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operations on May 27, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed near aid sites, with 4,066 injured and another 39 civilians still missing after these attacks.
Reporting on Thursday, the New York Times stated that “hundreds of Palestinians have been killed over the past month near aid hubs set up under a new Israel-backed system, according to Gaza health officials.” The Times described how accessing these heavily fortified distribution centers requires Palestinians to risk their lives.
The United Nations has condemned the situation, with Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, characterizing the new aid distribution centers as “death traps” for those in Gaza. Laerke stated:
Gaza is a hungry place. When we manage to bring anything in, it gets looted by the desperate. That is the level of desperation.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the agency for Palestinian refugees, has also issued condemnations. Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA’s commissioner general, called the US- and Israeli-backed GHF “an abomination” and “a death trap costing more lives than it saves.”
Lazzarini said:
Humanitarian principles must be reinstated. The humanitarian community, including UNRWA, has the expertise and must be allowed to do their jobs and provide assistance with respect and dignity.
Israeli officials have remained silent on the specifics of Thursday’s killings. While the IDF has previously claimed it is targeting militants, it does not bother to back up these statements with evidence. As it has done throughout its 20-month genocide, the fascist regime of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to provide any proof that justifies killing unarmed civilians.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Israel further tightened its stranglehold on Gaza by closing crossings into the northern part of the territory. According to a report by the Guardian, Israel halted aid deliveries, claiming to have intelligence that Hamas was seizing supplies intended for civilians.
However, Palestinian leaders and representatives of the Higher Commission for Tribal Affairs in Gaza have denied these allegations, stating that the trucks were being protected as part of an aid security process managed “solely through tribal efforts.” They emphasized that no Palestinian faction, including Hamas, was involved in the process.
A video circulating on Wednesday showed dozens of masked men, some armed with rifles but most carrying sticks, riding on aid trucks. Israeli officials claimed this was proof that militants were stealing food. Hamas itself denied any involvement.
Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement late on Wednesday ordering the military to present a plan within two days to prevent Hamas from taking control of aid. They cited unspecified information to justify the border closures but again provided no evidence.
The reality is that the closures and the restriction of aid distribution have led to catastrophic levels of hunger and desperation, with the UN and humanitarian organizations warning of imminent famine.
The shutdown of the crossings into the north of Gaza and the use of aid sites as death traps in the south make clear that the scheme of controlling food distribution is a central component of Israel’s ethnic cleansing operation and plan to forcibly drive Palestinians into Egypt.
UN Rights Office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan has pointed to the role of the GHF in setting up Palestinians for death. Al-Kheetan stated that the aid group has become a cover for Israel’s military operations, with aid seekers targeted by Israeli forces as they attempt to access food.
This is a clear violation of international law and constitutes a war crime. The result is a situation where “no place is safe in Gaza, and no one is spared,” as Lazzarini stated. The UN has called for humanitarian principles to be reinstated and for aid to be delivered with respect and dignity, but these calls have gone unheeded by Israel and its international backers.
The GHF manages a limited number of aid distribution points, operated by private contractors and under Israeli military control, where repeated massacres have occurred. The World Health Organization and other agencies note a correlation between the locations of these food distribution sites and mass casualty events. These massacres are not accidents of war but part of a broader, systematic policy.
Civilians are forced to walk long, exposed routes to reach the distribution centers, only to be targeted by military vehicles, drones, helicopters and artillery shells. Those who survive the journey often receive only a meager amount of food that is below minimum survival needs.
The repeated killings at aid sites have created an atmosphere of fear and desperation. This has led to widespread terror and the collapse of social cohesion, as people are afraid to leave their homes or seek assistance. The Israeli strategy is not only to starve the population but to break its will to resist and to herd it into tightly controlled zones and out of Gaza entirely.
The death toll has now reached more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The US and European imperialist powers have played a central role in facilitating Israel’s actions. The US has provided billions in military aid and diplomatic cover, while European governments have largely followed Washington’s lead. They have continued to trade with Israel and maintain close political and economic ties, despite overwhelming evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
There has been mass opposition to these policies among the public. Protests have erupted across Europe, with hundreds of thousands of people marching in cities like London, Paris, Berlin and Madrid to demand an end to the genocide and a halt to arms sales to Israel. These protests reveal the popular outrage against the complicity of these governments in the ongoing slaughter in Gaza.
27 June 2025
Source: countercurrents.org