The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has continued to turn the aid distribution points they established in dangerous areas in Rafah and north of central Gaza Strip into sites of death, humiliation, and dehumanization of Palestinian civilians, who have been starved over the past few months to unprecedented levels.

Since last Tuesday, IOF attacks on desperate aid seeker have killed at least 11 civilians, injured dozens more, and left others missing.

The most recent crime occurred at around 06:15 on Friday, 30 May 2025, when Israeli warplanes targeted a group of displaced people on al-Mohararat Street in al-Mawasi area, northwest of Rafah, while they were heading to an aid distribution point established by the IOF in Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, southwest of Rafah. As a result, Ratib Ayman Ratib Jouda (18) was killed, while eight others sustained various injuries.

Later, the IOF opened fire at many displaced people in the vicinity of al-‘Alam Square on al-Mohararat Street in al-Mawasi area in Rafah. As a result, 4 displaced people sustained various injuries.  

According to our researchers’ field documentation, thousands of people headed to aid distribution points, where they found a very limited amount of aid. As a result, many  returned empty-handed, as the IOF opened fire on them and used quadcopter drones to launch strikes in order to disperse the crowd. Moreover, 20 people were injured after the IOF, stationed near the aid distribution point established near the Netzarim corridor in northern central Gaza Strip, opened fire at them.

It is worth noting that on Thursday, 29 May 2025, the IOF opened the aid distribution point near the Netzarim corridor, recording recurrence of distribution chaos amid lack of process. The IOF then intervened by opening fire on the people gathered there, injuring many and causing at least one person to go missing. Mughari family stated that they lost contact with their son ‘Abdullah Ahmed Mughari, a young man suffering from cerebral atrophy, who, like thousands of innocent civilians, had gone to receive aid from the Netzarim corridor, south of the Gaza Strip. ‘Abdullah disappeared after Israeli military vehicles advanced toward the distribution point and indiscriminately opened fire at the civilians gathered there.

In separate incidents on Wednesday, 28 May 2025, the IOF killed at least 10 people, including an elderly woman and two siblings, while others were injured, while they were heading or returning from the aid distribution point established by the IOF near Mouraj area, north of Rafah.

According to our researchers’ information, in the early hours of Wednesday, hundreds of people headed to the aid distribution point established near the al-Hashasheen area, using a road near Qizan Abu Rashwan, south of Khan Yunis. While on their way, they were targeted by an Israeli drone and subjected to repeated gunfire, inflicting deaths and injuries.

On Tuesday, 27 May 2025, the IOF killed a Palestinian and injured 50 others after opening fire on thousands of starving Palestinian civilians near the aid distribution point established in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

It should be noted that on Tuesday, IOF established the first distribution point in Tal al-Sultan in Rafah. The aid was distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) under the direct protection of a private US security company called (SRS) amid the deployment of the IOF in the vicinity. In the following two days, two similar points were set up: one in al-Hashasheen area, northern Rafah and the other in Netzarim corridor, northern Central Gaza Strip.  In order to get aid, the displaced had to walk several kilometers to reach a dangerous security area dubbed by IOF as a humanitarian corridor, where the displaced were ordered not to move forward to the aid distribution point lined by barbed wires.  Narrow tracks- corridors fenced in by barbed wire- had been established, where civilians were ordered to gather in a clearly humiliating and controlling scene.  At the end of these tracks, the GHF staff is stationed at the distribution point to hand out the parcels, which include a limited amount of aid with no clear standards, verification, or criteria.

PCHR reiterates that these incidents further prove that the new aid distribution mechanism violates all standards of humanitarian relief operations codified in international humanitarian law. It is a degrading and humiliating procedure undermining the human dignity of the Palestinian civilians who have suffered throughout 20 months of an Israeli deliberate and systematic starvation policy- one of the most heinous crimes of our time.

The Israeli mechanism does not effectively address starvation crisis; rather, it fosters disorder and chaos and constitutes a deliberate step to exclude the international organizations and neutral humanitarian agencies, foremostly the UN and its agencies, particularly UNRWA, and prevent them from carrying out their role in Gaza.

The mechanism offers no real solution to the crisis that is ravaging the Gaza Strip population but gives Israel a false legitimacy to entrench the criminal policy of starvation as a weapon of war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It also allows the continuous exploitation of relief and aid to blackmail the population and maintain control over their daily lives and essentials of their survival.

In light of this, PCHR urges the international community to exert pressure on Israel to abolish this mechanism that requires civilians to move to dangerous areas under IOF’s control, resume aid entry and allow the international organizations to distribute aid across areas of displacement in addition to allowing the free and uninterrupted entry of goods.

PCHR condemns opening fire on civilians, calling upon the international community, including the UN Member States, to fulfil their legal and humanitarian responsibilities and take immediate action to pressure Israel to stop the ongoing crime of genocide, reopen Gaza’s border crossings and resume the unrestricted, immediate and widescale entry of humanitarian aid under the supervision of the UN and its specialized agencies, free from any military or political interference.