By Jaroslav Lukiv | BBC News | July 13, 2025

The Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza has reported that 24 Palestinians were killed near an aid distribution point in Rafah on Saturday, in what witnesses allege was an Israeli military attack.

According to people at the scene, Israeli troops opened fire on civilians as they gathered to receive food. Many of the victims were reportedly struck while waiting in line near the aid site. Videos circulating on social media and viewed by the BBC show body bags laid out in the hospital courtyard, with visibly distressed civilians and medical staff surrounding them. One man claimed people were fired upon for five minutes while simply waiting for assistance. A paramedic accused Israeli troops of “cold-blooded killing.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied that anyone was harmed by their fire in the area, stating there were “no known injured individuals” as a result of their actions. A separate IDF source acknowledged that warning shots had been fired to disperse what were perceived as potential threats.

These conflicting accounts could not be independently verified. Due to Israeli restrictions, international media organizations—including the BBC—are barred from entering Gaza.

Witnesses interviewed by Reuters described seeing people shot in the head and torso. Incidents like this have become increasingly common, as desperate civilians attempt to secure limited aid in a region where humanitarian needs are growing more critical by the day.

Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza aid deliveries in March before resuming military operations against Hamas, ending a two-month truce. The goal, Israeli officials said, was to exert pressure on Hamas to release Israeli hostages. Though the blockade was partially lifted in late May following global warnings of famine, severe shortages of food, fuel, and medicine persist.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, reports thousands of malnourished children throughout Gaza, with the numbers increasing daily.

In an effort to control aid distribution, Israel and the United States helped establish the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which now operates aid sites in military-controlled zones in southern and central Gaza. These sites are staffed by private U.S. security contractors.

However, these sites have come under scrutiny. On Friday, the UN human rights office said 798 aid-related deaths had been documented so far, including 615 near GHF-run centers and 183 around UN and other aid convoys. The Israeli military acknowledged that civilians have been harmed but said they are working to reduce tension and conflict between troops and civilians.

The GHF has dismissed the UN’s data as “false and misleading,” claiming it relies on statistics from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. Earlier this month, a former GHF contractor told the BBC he witnessed colleagues shooting at unarmed, hungry Palestinians. The GHF firmly denied the claims, calling them “categorically false.”

The ongoing war began after Hamas launched a cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages. Since then, at least 57,823 Palestinians have been killed, according to figures from Gaza’s health ministry.