06/08/2025 June 8, 2025 Over 140 media outlets demand access to Gaza

More than 140 media organizations are calling on Israel to lift its ban on international journalists entering Gaza.

The Israeli government says it’s unsafe for reporters to work from the territory during the ongoing conflict with Hamas.

Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists and one of the signatories of the appeal, told DW that the lack of foreign journalists in Gaza allows misinformation to flourish.

“It’s vital during any kind of conflict that we have as many independent media as possible who can communicate to the outside world precisely what is happening,” Ginsberg said.

Press freedom groups demand open access to Gaza To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

“Otherwise, we’re entirely reliant either on the Israeli narrative or that of Hamas.”

She disputed Israel’s claim that Gaza is too dangerous, noting how the world’s media have years of experience in covering wars and know how to manage risk.

Ginsberg said it was “unprecedented in modern warfare” for the media to still be banned from the territory 20 months into the conflict.

Four people were killed and others injured by Israeli forces on Sunday as Palestinians making their way towards an aid distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip came under fire, according to Palestinian paramedics.

It was the latest deadly incident near sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Palestinians have described areas around the sites as chaotic and dangerous, with dozens of fatal shootings over the past week.

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The Israeli military said in a statement that troops had opened fire in southern Gaza but said that it had directed warning shots at a group that was moving towards soldiers and deemed a threat to them.

Palestinian paramedics said they had evacuated the bodies of four people who were killed early on Sunday near an aid distribution venue in the southern Gaza City of Rafah.

Media affiliated with Gaza’s dominant Hamas militant group reported that the Israeli military had opened fire near a distribution site in Rafah operated by the GHF.

The Israeli military statement said the people towards whom warning shots were fired before dawn on Sunday had been verbally warned to leave the area, which was considered an active military zone at the time.

The military has said people should only move to and from the GHF distribution centres between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., with non-daylight hours considered a closed military period.

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The Palestinian Health Ministry said that at least 104 people were killed over the past 24 hours, including five near aid hubs in southern and central Gaza. It did not specify how all 104 had been killed or exactly where.

Sanaa Doghmah said her husband, Khaled, 36, was fatally shot in the head while trying to reach a distribution site in Rafah to collect food for their five children.

“He was going to get food for his children and himself, to make them live, feed them because they don’t have a pinch of flour at home,” Khaled’s aunt, Salwah, said at his funeral.

Hamas-led Palestinian factions said in a statement the new aid distribution sites had “turned into death traps” and called for the aid to be distributed through UN-affiliated agencies.

The GHF, which is providing aid under an Israeli initiative that is bypassing traditional relief agencies who say their deliveries into Israeli-blockaded Gaza have been restricted, said it had handed out 1.15 million meals across three sites in southern and central Gaza without incident on Sunday.

TRUCKLOADS OF FOOD

The US-based organisation said it was also piloting a direct-to-community model, delivering 11 truckloads of food to community leaders for distribution in areas north of Rafah.

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“We are continuing to adapt and improve our operations to ensure the safety of the Palestinian people we aim to serve,” interim GHF Executive Director John Acree said in a statement.

GHF had handed out no aid on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats that “made it impossible” to operate in the enclave, which the Islamist group denied.

The GHF uses private American military contractors to operate its sites and has been accused of a lack of neutrality and independence by UN and other international humanitarian agencies. It has denied such accusations.

Israel relented to international pressure to allow limited UN-led operations to resume on May 19 after an 11-week blockade in the enclave of 2.3 million people where malnutritionhas become widespread. The UN has described aid let in so far as a “drop in the ocean.”

While the GHF has said there have been no incidents at its distribution points set up in late May, Palestinians seeking aid have described scenes of disorder and access routes to the sites have been beset by deadly violence.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed near GHF sites on June 1-3, Gaza health authorities said. Israel’s military has said it was investigating the incidents but that warning shots were fired in each incident.

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The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.

Israel’s military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the heavily built-up coastal territory.

Published By: Harshita Das Published On: Jun 8, 2025

Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic images and descriptions of violence.

CNN —

A CNN investigation into a deadly incident near an aid distribution site in southern Gaza on Sunday points to the Israeli military opening fire on crowds of Palestinians as they tried to make their way to the fenced enclosure to get food.

More than a dozen eyewitnesses, including those wounded in the attack, said Israeli troops shot at crowds in volleys of gunfire that occurred sporadically through the early hours of Sunday morning. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the US and Israeli-backed aid initiative that runs the site, said that Israeli forces were operating in the area during the same period.

Multiple videos geolocated by CNN place the gunfire near a roundabout where hundreds of Palestinians had gathered about half a mile (800 meters) away from the militarized aid site in Tel al-Sultan in Rafah. The designated route to the site along the coast, Al-Rasheed Street, is in an area under the Israeli military’s control and Israeli troops operate at a base nearby.

Ameen Khalifa, 30, filmed himself and others taking cover as gunfire erupted near the Al-Alam roundabout on Sunday. One of Khalifa’s friends told CNN he went back to the site on Tuesday to collect aid and was killed. Ameen Khalifa

Weapons experts said the rate of gunfire heard in the footage, as well as images of bullets retrieved from victims, were consistent with machine guns used by the Israeli military that can be mounted on tanks. Multiple eyewitnesses said that they saw gunfire emanating from Israeli tanks nearby.

None of the videos definitively show who fired shots outside of the aid camp. However, CNN’s review of audiovisual material sheds fresh light on how the pursuit of aid turned chaotic and then dangerous, on the actions of Israeli forces and the consequences of the new aid mechanism, which has been mired in controversy.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initially said on Sunday that its forces did not fire at civilians “while they were near or within the aid site.” An Israeli military source later acknowledged that troops had fired “warning shots” at suspects about 1 kilometer (1,093 yards) away.

The Israeli military declined to answer questions about CNN’s findings.

During a press conference on Tuesday, IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the military investigated and found its troops played no role in any mass casualty event. Defrin said: “This week, it was claimed that the IDF fired at civilians in an aid distribution area. This report is entirely false and echoes the propaganda of the terrorist organization Hamas… Regarding the incident on Sunday – it simply didn’t happen!”

Defrin also suggested casualty figures provided by the Palestinian health ministry were inflated, but did not elaborate as to how many people the military believed had been killed or injured.

Sunday’s mass shooting, which the Palestinian health ministry said killed at least 31 Palestinians and injured dozens, was the deadliest incident involving aid distribution in recent months. It comes amid warnings from the United Nations that the new aid distribution mechanism has become a “death trap” for desperate people seeking food in the strip.

Palestinians pray during a funeral for people who were killed while heading to the GHF-run Gaza aid hub on Sunday. Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

Thousands of starving Palestinians had gathered in the sandy bulldozed area near the GHF-run site before the gates opened on Sunday, braving chaotic scenes when gunfire struck the crowd.

“No one move, stay in your place… no one move!” one Palestinian man is heard yelling in a series of videos posted to TikTok on Sunday, filmed along the coast where crowds had gathered near the aid site.

The videos – reviewed and geolocated by CNN – capture Palestinians taking cover amid repeated bursts of gunfire, and what appear to be two explosive munitions seen landing next to the crowd.

Mohammed Saqer, 43, told CNN in an interview that he only narrowly escaped death, watching people around him get shot in the head as he crouched on the ground, hoping to survive long enough to reach the site run by GHF and get food for his family.

After the US-backed private foundation finally opened the site at 5:00 a.m., witnesses said the Israeli military’s gunfire continued nearby. Surveillance footage shared by GHF shows crowds of onrushing Palestinians scrambling to reach the limited boxes of food as tracer fire explodes into the night sky in the distance.

By sunrise, the extent of the catastrophe was undeniable. Videos captured bloodied bodies of Palestinians scattered across the sands, roughly a half mile from the food distribution center.

Similar deadly incidents on Monday and Tuesday near the same site have raised further questions about whether the militarized aid initiative backed by the US and approved by Israel can deliver food supplies safely. In the subsequent episodes, the IDF acknowledged that Israeli troops had fired warning shots in the area. GHF said none of the shootings occurred within or adjacent to their distribution sites, adding that the location of the shootings was “an area well beyond our secure distribution site.”

For Saqer, who said he managed to finally reach the aid site and escaped with whatever he could carry, the harrowing night still weighs heavily on him.

“We survived a night that was worse than we could imagine,” he said. “The reality for people was one of death and hunger searching for food.”

Videos capture deadly chaos

When GHF announced its distribution plans for Sunday, the instructions were direct: only one aid site would be open starting at 5:00 a.m., and the IDF would be present in the area to secure passage on a designated route.

It also warned – albeit after gunfire reportedly already erupted – that the Israeli military would be “active” in the area ahead of the site’s opening.

“Using the passage before 5:00 a.m. is prohibited, as we were informed by the military that it will be active in the area before and after the specified safe hours,” the GHF said in a release on Facebook at 4 a.m. “We remind all residents to stay on the road — straying from it poses a significant danger.”

Having endured an 11-week Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid, thousands of desperate Palestinians began making their way down Al-Rasheed Street in hopes of being among the first to reach the aid site – the only one operating in all of Gaza that day – before the limited supplies ran out.

As people attempted to slowly advance to the aid site from the Al-Alam roundabout, more than a dozen witnesses interviewed by CNN described the IDF opening volleys of intense fire on the crowd starting as early as 3:30 a.m.

“I could hear the screams of young people and others from their injuries,” Saqer said. “In front of me were four young men with direct injuries to the head… there was a person next to me who was injured by a bullet in his eye.”

He and others said a quadcopter drone appeared above the crowd, with the voice on its speaker telling people to turn around. But amid the warning, gunfire crackled all around them.

“Even retreating was almost impossible, and everyone was lying on the ground unable to lift their heads because if you lifted your head, you would get shot.”

As the chaos unfolded near the Al-Alam area, the GHF aid site officially opened at 5:00 a.m. Security video of the location released by the organization, which was labeled as beginning at 5:02 a.m., shows crowds of Palestinians running into the fenced distribution center.

Three minutes later, in the background of the video, bursts of tracer gunfire are seen overhead, which forensics experts told CNN appear to be outgoing from an area near the distribution site. In the video, which has no audio, crowds can be seen running in another direction nearby. It is unclear whether they are running from gunfire.

Video released by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation shows crowds of Palestinians arriving at the aid site on Sunday morning as tracer fire is seen in the sky above. Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

Around the same time back in the Al-Alam area approximately 800 meters (874 yards) away, 30-year-old Ameen Khalifa was filming as he took cover. Several videos shared on TikTok by Khalifa show groups of Palestinians lying flat on the ground and taking cover from ongoing bursts of automatic gunfire. CNN geolocated the video to the area using visible spotlights at the Egyptian border and the unfinished hospital that became an Israeli military base.

Robert Maher, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Montana State University, who specializes in forensic audio analysis, examined the footage for CNN and said that the bursts of gunfire were at a rate of 15 and 16 shots per second (or 900 and 960 per minute), fired from a distance of about a quarter of a mile (450 meters).

Based on the erratic nature of the sound, Maher said that the shots seemed to be spread out, fired repeatedly in one direction. “Since the cracks are irregular, it seems more like the gunfire was being sprayed over the area.”

Trevor Ball, a former US Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member, said the rate of fire was consistent with the FN MAG, a heavily-used machine gun in the Israeli military’s arsenal. The FN MAG is commonly equipped on the IDF’s Merkava tanks, which several eyewitnesses said they saw open fire on the crowds.

Ball told CNN he could not confirm the specific weaponry used, or who fired it, but the rate of fire, he said, indicated it wasn’t consistent with machine guns used by Hamas.

Ball also said the tracer fire – ammunition containing a pyrotechnic charge illuminating its trajectory – seen in the GHF’s footage is consistent with the use of machine guns. “Typically belt fed machine guns have tracer rounds inserted every few rounds. So while only 3 tracers are visible in the video, more rounds were fired.”

Khalifa, who loved sports and bodybuilding, survived the harrowing night on Sunday only to be shot and killed by a drone two days later while heading to the same aid site to look for food, one of his close friends told CNN.

By daylight, video footage reviewed by CNN captured the dire scene near the coast, with several bodies strewn in the sand. The Palestinian health ministry said that more than 200 casualties reached hospitals, including dozens with serious injuries. It added that all of those killed had been shot in the head or chest.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said that its nearby field hospital was overwhelmed by patients, describing the carnage as the “highest number of weapon-wounded in a single incident” since it opened over a year ago. Other dead and wounded were taken to Nasser Hospital.

“It’s difficult to describe what we saw with the young and the old, there was severe injuries to the head, severe injuries to the lung,” recalled Dr. Ahmad Abou-Sweid, an Australian working at the Nasser medical complex.

“There was a heavy proportion of head-targeted injuries from bullet wounds.”

Doctors working at Nasser Hospital shared photos with CNN of the bullets retrieved from patients injured and killed in the attack, which weapons experts say appear to match the type of ammunition used in the Israeli military’s machine guns. “This bullet is consistent with the NATO standard 7.62mm M80, which would be fired by IDF 7.62x51mm weapons, including the Negev 7.62 and FN MAG,” Ball said of one of the images.

A bullet pulled by doctors from a patient at Nasser Hospital in Sunday’s shooting near the GHF aid site. A weapons expert said it was consistent with ammunition used in the Israeli military’s machine guns. Obtained by CNN

GHF, which runs the site, insisted: “There was no gunfire in the (distribution) center and also not in the surrounding area.”

“All aid was distributed today without incident. We have heard that these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas. They are untrue and fabricated.”

The IDF said allegations that Israeli soldiers fired on Gazans near or within the aid distribution site were “false reports.” It added: “Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false.”

An Israeli military source told CNN that IDF troops did fire warning shots towards suspects approaching their position approximately a kilometer (1,100 yards) away from the aid distribution site in an incident that happened several hours before the site opened.

Ihab Musleh told CNN he had taken his two young sons along to the aid distribution center. When he told them to stay put at a nearby hill as he went inside the site, he heard more gunfire and rushed back out.

Yazeed, 13, was shot in the stomach by gunfire from an Israeli tank and survived his injuries, according to his dad.

“He was waving his hands towards the tank and within seconds, he was hit with gunfire and fell to the ground,” Musleh said, speaking to CNN from the hospital where his son was being treated.

Other witnesses told CNN they were either injured or saw intense gunfire in the area after the aid site opened.

Mohammad Abu Rezeq was shot in the stomach upon arriving at Al-Alam where he said Israeli forces were deliberately targeting the crowd.

“I have seen a lot of soldiers in this war. When they want to clear an area or warn you, they shoot around you. But yesterday, they were shooting to kill us,” Abu Rezeq said.

CNN asked the IDF about the claim from witnesses that its troops were firing directly at crowds, shooting to kill, but it gave no further comment beyond its published statement.

Not an isolated incident

The chaos in the early hours of Sunday morning was not an isolated incident. In consecutive days since, Palestinians attempting to reach the GHF’s aid distribution sites have come under fire by the Israeli military.

After the intense gunfire near the Al-Alam roundabout on Sunday, GHF’s Facebook posts included updated maps of the safe route for the following days. The new maps included a large, red stop sign at Al-Alam.

On Tuesday, nearly 30 people were killed and dozens wounded while making their way to the aid sites in Tel al-Sultan in Rafah, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military said that its forces opened fire multiple times after identifying “several suspects moving toward them, deviating from the designated access routes.”

“The troops carried out warning fire, and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops,” the IDF said in a statement, adding they were looking into reports of casualties.

While the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots in the area three days in a row, posts from GHF’s Facebook page show the organization works in close coordination with the IDF to establish safe, defined routes.

A Palestinian man carries an empty box of relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation near the group’s distribution point in Rafah, southern Gaza, on Sunday, June 1, 2025. AFP/Getty Images

GHF was set up amid Israeli accusations that Hamas is stealing aid in Gaza and profiting from sales, though Israel hasn’t presented any evidence publicly to back up the claim.

UN aid groups, such as UNRWA, typically check identification and rely on a database of registered families when distributing aid.

But GHF is not screening Palestinians at aid distribution sites, despite Israeli officials saying that additional security measures were a core reason for the creation of the new program.

UN aid agencies have criticized GHF’s aid mechanism, saying it violates humanitarian principles and raises the risks for Palestinians.

Criticism has been mounting against both Israel and GHF after chaos broke out last week when tens of thousands of starving Palestinians arrived at two new food distribution sites.

The UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, was scathing in his assessment to the UN Security Council late last month.

“It restricts aid to only one part of Gaza, while leaving other dire needs unmet,” he said.

“It makes aid conditional on political and military aims. It makes starvation a bargaining chip. It is cynical sideshow. A deliberate distraction. A fig leaf for further violence and displacement.”

Video edited by Oscar Featherstone in London. Tareq Al Hilou in Gaza contributed to this report.

What we know about killings near US-Israeli backed Gaza aid site

5 days ago Share Save BBC Verify Share Save

Reuters

Over the past three days, there have been a series of deadly incidents on the route to an aid distribution site in Gaza run by a controversial group backed by the US and Israel. The three incidents took place on roads approaching one of the new sites in the extreme south-west of Gaza, which is under full Israeli military control. The facility is being operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The first incident took place early on Sunday morning when 31 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency. Another three people were killed by gunfire on Monday morning, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Meanwhile, a further 27 people were killed by Israeli fire near the site on Tuesday morning, according to health officials. Israel has denounced what it called “false reports” that its troops fired on civilians at or near the sites. It said that some soldiers fired warning shots on Sunday 1km away, and that they also opened fire after identifying “several suspects” on Monday and Tuesday. Very few videos have emerged from Gaza that show the incidents themselves, but BBC Verify has examined available footage and attempted to map how they unfolded.

Where have the incidents taken place?

All three are reported to have taken place near an aid distribution centre in the south-west of Gaza, in the Tal al-Sultan area. The site, named Safe Distribution Site 1 (SDS 1) by the GHF, opened on the 26 May. It is one of four such facilities, three of which are based in southern Gaza. The facilities are part of a new aid system – widely condemned by humanitarian groups – aiming to bypass the UN, which Israel has accused of failing to prevent Hamas diverting aid to its fighters. The UN says that has not been a big problem and that the GHF’s system is unworkable and unethical. However, only SDS 1 has been open and operational since Friday, according to official GHF posts online. It follows a chaotic opening week which saw the site overrun by desperate civilians, and projectiles being thrown towards Gazans at another facility at the GHF’s northern site near Nuseirat on Thursday. A spokesperson for the foundation did not respond to messages asking why the other facilities have been closed for several days. The GHF has also encouraged civilians to follow a set route when approaching SDS 1, directing them along a coastal road called al-Rashid Street.

The instructions have been issued on the foundation’s official Facebook page. Chris Newton, a senior analyst at the Brussels-based think tank Crisis Group, said the route was neither “safe nor effective”. He added that directing civilians down a single route towards the site was “a very far cry from what was possible” under the UN-based system, which saw 400 distribution points scattered across the strip. “This all looks designed to fail,” he said of the new aid system.

How Sunday’s incident unfolded

According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, some 31 people were killed by gunfire on Sunday. The GHF posted on its official Facebook page early on Sunday, telling civilians that SDS 1 would be open from 05:00 local time. However, just an hour later it posted again saying that the site was closed. By this time many Gazans had gathered at the Al-Alam roundabout as they waited to be granted access to the site, Mohammed Ghareeb, a journalist based in Rafah, told the BBC. We have seen a limited amount of video that is claimed to relate to the shootings. In one video filmed on the route to the aid site, purportedly on Sunday, people lie on the ground and an explosion is heard. There is a “realistic possibility” this blast sound was a battle tank firing its main armament, says David Heathcote, an intelligence manager with security analysts McKenzie Intelligence, but he adds that “there could be other explanations”. Another expert we spoke to said the source of the sound was unclear. An audio recording provided to the BBC by international staff at the UK-Med field hospital about 3km away from the site captured two apparent explosions and protracted gunfire for over five minutes.

Video footage posted at 06:08 showed dozens of people lying prone on sand, with automatic gunfire audible. BBC Verify could not definitively geolocate the footage. Another clip reviewed by BBC Verify, which claimed to be from the aftermath of the incident, showed a number of bodies lying on a beach on Gaza’s coast. As the video progresses, several of the bodies were covered by white bags. One of those lying on the beach appeared to be a young woman. We cannot definitively geolocate the footage. However, lights seen in the distance suggest that the footage may have been filmed in an area about 1km from SDS 1. Images – provided to the BBC by doctors – of bullets recovered from those killed and wounded in the incidents showed that both 5.56mm and 7.62mm rounds were used. But Benedict Manzin – an analyst with the risk consultancy Sibylline – said that the source of the rounds was unclear, noting that both the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian armed groups “will have access to weapons that fire 5.56mm and 7.62mm rounds”. The IDF denied its troops fired at civilians “near or within” the site and said reports to this effect were false. But an Israeli military source later said warning shots were fired approximately 1km (0.6 miles) away from the site “to prevent suspects from approaching the troops”. The GHF said in a statement: “There were no injuries, fatalities or incidents during our operations yesterday. Period. We have yet to see any evidence that there was an attack at or near our facility.”

What happened in the later incidents?

CNN —

A new program for getting desperately needed food into the hands of starving Palestinians in Gaza is only days old, but it’s already mired in chaos and tragedy.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed over the past few days while on their way to trying to obtain aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). This group, backed by Israel and the US, is intended to replace the UN-led system of distributing aid in Gaza, to address a hunger crisis sparked by a months-long Israeli blockade.

Over the past week, tens of thousands of Palestinians have converged on distribution points run by GHF, hoping to grab one of the limited number of packages before they run out.

Palestinian authorities and witnesses accused Israeli forces of shooting dozens of civilians dead near one of the aid sites in Rafah on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

On Monday and Tuesday, Israel’s military said it fired “warning shots” toward what were described as “suspects” approaching a military position, and the military was looking into reports of casualties. On Sunday, during the first deadly shooting, the military said it did not fire at civilians “near or within” the distribution site, even as a military source admitted Israeli forces fired towards individuals about a kilometer away from the site.

GHF announced that the distribution sites would be closed on Wednesday because of logistical preparations to better handle the massive number of people arriving and for the Israeli military to make “preparations on the access routes to the centers.” The closure is expected to last for one day.

As international condemnation grows, here’s what to know about aid and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

What is the situation with food in Gaza?

Israel halted all humanitarian aid into Gaza in early March, with government officials saying their goal was to force Hamas to accept new ceasefire terms and release hostages taken during the militant group’s terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The ban meant no supplies entered the territory for 11 weeks, pushing Gaza’s 2.1 million people deeper into a hunger crisis. A UN-backed report warned in late April that one in five people were facing starvation and that the entire Gaza Strip was edging closer to famine.

Faced with growing international pressure, Israel eased its blockade two weeks ago, allowing a small amount of aid to enter Gaza, to be distributed through UN channels as well as through GHF. But the amount of aid trickling in is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of the population, according to Palestinian officials and international aid groups.

On the first day of GHF’s delivery in southern Gaza last Tuesday, chaos broke out, as thousands of Palestinians rushed to receive food supplies, with Israeli troops firing warning shots into the air and the US contractors overseeing the site briefly withdrawing.

Gaza’s hunger crisis long predates Israel’s total blockade, however. Since Hamas’ attack, Israel has severely restricted the amount of aid that can enter the strip. And even before October 2023, Israel and Egypt had imposed a partial blockade on Gaza, meaning that 63% of the population was food insecure, according to the UN.

What is GHF?

GHF is a private, non-profit organization created with the backing of Israel and the US to take over aid delivery in Gaza, following Israeli accusations that Hamas was stealing some of the humanitarian aid that was destined for civilians. GHF relies on private military contractors for security and aims to replace traditional methods of aid delivery in Gaza employed by humanitarian organizations.

On Tuesday, the organization doubled down on its mechanism, saying its work continues “full-steam ahead” as it asserts it has delivered millions of meals in pre-packaged boxes to Palestinians. “In an operating environment as complex and volatile as Gaza, that kind of safe, direct, and large-scale aid delivery is unprecedented,” GHF said in a statement.

The group has faced internal turmoil – its executive director, Jake Wood, quit the day before GHF began operations in Gaza, and in a further blow, the Boston Consulting Group confirmed on Tuesday that it had canceled its contract with GHF.

The organization appointed evangelical Christian leader Rev. Johnnie Moore as its new executive director on Tuesday. A strong supporter of US President Donald Trump, Moore has visited the White House on numerous occasions and prayed over Trump in the Oval Office earlier this year.

Moore has also previously praised a controversial Trump proposal for the US to “take over” Gaza, stating on X in February: “The USA will take full responsibility for future of Gaza, giving everyone hope & a future.”

Palestinians carry food packages from the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on June 1. Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

The foundation set up four “Secure Distribution Sites” in southern and central Gaza aiming to feed around 1.2 million of Gaza’s estimated 2.1 million population. That pales in comparison to the United Nations system, which relies on some 400 aid distribution points dotted up and down Gaza.

The foundation coordinates with the Israeli military to designate specific routes for traveling Palestinians – many of whom must walk a long way through the devastated strip to get food – and issues warnings on Facebook against diverging from the designated roads.

But it’s unclear how many of those people are aware of these detailed instructions, nor how access to one of the hubs, designated SDS-01, takes them close to positions of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Over the past three nights, Palestinians appear to have come too near to these positions, and the IDF said Tuesday it had opened fire towards people who had left the designated route.

The United Nations had warned that the Israeli military’s involvement in securing the areas around the sites could discourage participation or lead to recipients facing reprisals.

How has aid distribution changed and why?

Before GHF arrived in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) were the main distributors of aid in the enclave. Additionally, UNWRA took a leading role in providing education and healthcare services.

But Israel has long had a contentious relationship with UNRWA and the UN at large. This relationship ruptured completely in the aftermath of the October 7 attack.

Israel’s parliament subsequently banned UNRWA from operating in the country, making any UN-led humanitarian efforts extremely difficult.

Both Israel and the US had also accused Hamas of stealing aid distributed by the UN. Hamas has rejected those claims, and humanitarian aid organizations say most of the food aid reaches civilians.

The UN has refused to participate in the new Gaza aid initiative, saying that GHF model violates some basic humanitarian principles. It warned that locating the initial distribution points only in southern and central Gaza could be perceived as encouraging Israel’s publicly stated goal of depopulating northern Gaza.

GHF has said it is working to open new sites, including in northern Gaza, but no such distribution points have yet opened.

What has been happening recently?

There is not enough food for everyone who needs it. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to seek aid from a tiny number of sites – and while a lucky few have been able to secure some relief, for most, the results have been disastrous.

Palestinian authorities have said more than 60 people have been killed by Israeli forces in the past three days near a GHF aid site near the southern city of Rafah.

Establishing exactly what happened at all these incidents is difficult, as Israel prevents international media from entering Gaza.

Emergency crews arrive to evacuate injured people after an Israeli drone reportedly opened fire on civilians near an aid distribution point near the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza, on June 1. Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images

On Tuesday, nearly 30 people were killed, and dozens wounded, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and Nasser hospital. The Israeli military said its forces opened fire multiple times after identifying “several suspects moving toward them, deviating from the designated access routes.”

On Monday, three Palestinians were shot dead and dozens wounded as they were on their way to access aid, Palestinian and hospital authorities said. The IDF said that Israeli forces fired warning shots approximately a kilometer (about 1,100 yards) from the aid distribution site.

On Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry, hospital officials and a half-dozen eyewitnesses said the Israeli military was responsible for gunfire that Palestinian officials said killed 31 people.

A Palestinian boy mourns loved ones who were killed by Israeli fire, as they gathered to try and access food near a US-backed aid center in Rafah, at Nasser Hospital, in southern Gaza, on June 3. Stringer/AFP/Getty Images

At the time, the Israeli military said its forces “did not fire at civilians while they were near or within” the aid site, but an Israeli military source acknowledged that Israeli forces fired toward individuals about a kilometer away, before the aid site opened.

GHF said on Sunday that none of the gunfire was in the distribution center itself or the surrounding area. After Tuesday’s shooting, the organization directed questions about shootings near the aid site to the IDF.

“This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site. We recognize the tragic nature of the situation and remain committed to ensuring the safety of all civilians during humanitarian operations at all of our sites,” GHF said in a statement.

What has the reaction been?

There has been widespread international condemnation, particularly from the UN.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday he was “appalled” by the reports of deaths and injuries on Sunday.

“It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” Guterres said in a statement, calling for “an immediate and independent investigation” into the events and “for perpetrators to be held accountable.”

The UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, said on Tuesday that Palestinians have been given “the grimmest of choices: die from starvation or risk being killed while trying to access the meagre food that is being made available through Israel’s militarized humanitarian assistance mechanism.”

In a post on X, Philippe Lazzarini, executive director of UNRWA, also slammed the new mechanism, saying: “aid distribution has become a death trap. Mass casualties including scores of injured & killed among starving civilians due to gunshots this morning. This is according to reports from international medics on ground.”

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, last week criticized the new aid mechanism run by GHF, saying the EU does not support “any kind of privatization of the distribution of humanitarian aid.”

The leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada have also threatened to take “concrete action,” including targeted sanctions, if Israel does not stop its renewed military offensive and continues to block aid from entering Gaza.