Israeli forces opened fire on thousands of starving Palestinians near a United States and Israeli-controlled aid site in western Rafah today, killing at least 40 and injuring over 150.
Palestinians accused the Israelis of targeting and blocking ambulances, which delayed medical help reaching those who needed it.
Thousands of Palestinians were heading toward the distribution site hours before dawn. As they headed toward the site, Israeli forces ordered them to disperse and come back later, witnesses said.
When the crowds reached the Flag Roundabout, around 1,000 yards (914 meters) away, Israeli forces opened fire, the witnesses said.
“There was fire from all directions, from naval warships, from tanks and drones,” said Amr Abu Teiba, who was in the crowd.
Teiba said he saw at least 10 bodies with gunshot wounds and several other wounded people, including women. People used carts to ferry the dead and wounded to the field hospital.
“The scene was horrible,” he said.
Ibrahim Abu Saoud, another eyewitness, provided a nearly identical account. He said the military fired from about 300 yards (274 meters) away.
Saoud said he saw many people with gunshot wounds, including a young man who he said had died at the scene. “We weren’t able to help him,” he said.
Killed his cousin and another woman
Mohammed Abu Teaima said he saw Israeli forces open fire and kill his cousin and another woman as they were heading toward the distribution site. He said his cousin was shot in the chest and died at the scene.
Sameh Hamuda, a displaced resident from northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya city, said he had walked more than 20 miles from Gaza City and spent the night with relatives in a tent near Rafah before heading to the aid center at dawn to wait among a crowd of people.
He explained soon after aid began to be distributed that “quadcopter drones opened fire on the people, and tanks started shooting heavily. Several people were killed right in front of me.
“I ran and survived. Death follows you as long as you’re in Gaza.”
Abdullah Barbakh described a scene of “overcrowding, chaos, and screaming.”
“The army opened fire from drones and tanks. Chaos broke out, and the area was filled with martyrs and wounded. I don’t understand why they call people to the aid centres and then open fire on them,” he said. “What are we supposed to do?”
Barbakh said he witnessed many people injured from Israeli fire, including his brother-in-law.
Eyewitnesses also reported seeing crowds of people returning from the distribution point. Some were carrying boxes of aid, but most appeared to be coming back empty-handed.
The Israelis released a brief statement saying it was “currently unaware of injuries caused by [Israeli military] fire within the humanitarian aid distribution site. The matter is still under review.”
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, brought in by the U.S. and the Israelis to coordinate aid distribution, claimed in a statement that it had delivered aid “without incident” on Sunday and has denied previous accounts of chaos and gunfire around its sites, which are in Israeli military zones where independent access is limited.
It should be noted that the very sparse and inadequate aid that is available is now provided by private contractors hired by the U.S., and, unlike the UN, which formerly handled aid, the contractors are free to do whatever they wish. They are not accountable to any public body. Unlike the UN, they can follow any instructions given by the Israeli military, including covering up for criminal activity by Israeli troops.
It is difficult to take seriously, then, the foundation’s dismissal of these events as “false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos.”
Not being taken seriously enough
Communist parties warn that the killing by Israeli troops is going unchallenged by too many governments around the world. The British Communist Party’s international secretary, Kevan Nelson, said: “As negotiations continue on a hostage exchange, the Israeli killing machine continues unchallenged by its Western sponsors. The refusal of the U.S. and Israel to countenance a permanent end to the war reveals an agenda to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.”
There was also condemnation from an array of U.S. activists who note that killing starving people reflects the barbaric tactics of the Israeli military.
The killings show that Israeli promises of abiding by a safe humanitarian zone for civilians in Gaza are a ruse to allow them to continue a policy of genocide as they lure governments around the world into ignoring their brutality.
The latest killings of people at food distribution centers strengthen the positions of those who say Israel is carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.
Demonstrations in support of Palestinian rights have taken place around the world and can be expected now to intensify as Israel steps up attacks on people struggling to feed their families. The demonstrators note that failure to mobilize against these crimes now can mean the removal of the Palestinian people entirely from the Gaza Strip.
President Trump, in the style of a crass imperialist leader, has said repeatedly that “Gaza is destroyed, no one wants to live there” and that surrounding Arab countries should take in the Palestinians. He has shown zero regard for the Palestinian people or their homeland, as, in true autocratic fashion, he plans for a grand military parade in Washington, DC, featuring himself as the great leader.
Executive editor of Black Agenda Reports, Margaret Kimberley, addressed the issue of lack of real concern not only by Trump but also by other Western leaders when she said: “The leaders of the collective West cannot be absolved with their half-hearted expressions of concern.
“Israel could not carry out its war crimes without their military and financial support.”
Bassam Zaqout, director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, said: “People walk for miles from early morning, trying to reach the limited aid points, now just four across Gaza and all surrounded by Israeli soldiers.
“When they sense the crowds grow and are not controllable, soldiers open fire on those waiting for supplies.”
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) describes the Israeli massacre of Palestinians at aid sites as “a genocide with international complicity and American participation.”
Full-fledged war crime
“What happened constitutes a full-fledged war crime,” and the aid distribution points were “death traps.”
“We demand urgent international and Arab intervention to stop this ongoing massacre and impose strict accountability mechanisms on the criminal occupation, in addition to immediately breaking the siege,” the PFLP said.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official said on Saturday that the organization was seeking amendments to the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal for Gaza.
But U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff called the Hamas response “totally unacceptable.”
The Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said proposed amendments focused on “the U.S. guarantees, the timing of hostage release, the delivery of aid and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.”
A separate Hamas statement said the proposal aims for a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and an ensured flow of aid.
It said 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others would be released “in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners.”
Some 58 hostages remain, and Israel believes 35 are dead.
But Witkoff on social media instead described a 60-day ceasefire deal that would free half the living hostages in Gaza and return half of those who have died.
He urged Hamas to accept the framework proposal as the basis for talks that he said could begin next week.
Israeli officials have approved the US proposal for a temporary ceasefire.
A top Hamas official, Bassem Naim, accused Israel of disagreeing with agreed-upon provisions and alleged a “complete bias toward the other side” that he said violates the fairness of mediation.
John Wojcik contributed to this article, which appeared June 2 in the Morning Star
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