GAZA CITY (BN24) — Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed at least 94 Palestinians late Wednesday and Thursday, including 45 people trying to collect desperately needed food, Gaza’s Health Ministry and local hospitals said.
Among the dead were 13 members of a single family, their bodies pulled from the wreckage of a tent camp in southern Gaza that was hit overnight while many displaced residents slept. At least six children under the age of 12 were killed in that strike alone.
“My children, my children … my beloved,” sobbed Intisar Abu Assi as she wept over the bodies of her son, daughters, and their young children laid out at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
In central Gaza, a boy stroked the cheek of his six-year-old sister, Heba Abu Etiwi, killed alongside another sibling in an airstrike that struck near a falafel stand Wednesday evening. Eight died in that attack.
A separate strike hit a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City, killing at least 15 more.
The new toll highlighted how lethal the hunt for food has become. Witnesses and medics said near-daily shootings and bombardments continued Thursday as crowds gathered at humanitarian aid distribution points.
Five people were shot dead along roads to Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites—the controversial new U.S.-backed network of distribution points Israel says are meant to deliver aid more effectively than the United Nations. Another 40 Palestinians were killed as they waited near U.N. relief trucks in several locations.
Eyewitnesses have consistently reported that Israeli forces fire on civilians trying to reach both U.N. convoys and GHF sites. The Israeli military acknowledged troops fire warning shots or target Palestinians who approach too close to soldiers or military zones. Armed U.S. contractors have also been deployed to guard the GHF facilities.
Since GHF distribution began in May, over 500 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more injured while seeking food, hospital records show.
Amnesty International: Starvation Used as Weapon of War
Amnesty International released a report Thursday accusing Israel of “using starvation as a weapon of war … as part of its ongoing genocide.”
The organization said the GHF system was designed mainly to “placate international concerns” while keeping food deliveries to a trickle.
“By maintaining a deadly, dehumanizing and ineffective militarized ‘aid’ scheme, Israeli authorities have turned aid-seeking into a booby trap for desperate starved Palestinians,” the report said.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the accusation as “another example of Amnesty echoing Hamas propaganda.” Israeli officials have repeatedly denied that they are committing genocide, and are contesting South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice.
The Israeli government maintains that Hamas routinely diverts U.N. aid—a claim humanitarian groups strongly deny. The U.N. and major relief agencies have refused to participate in the GHF program, arguing it cannot deliver enough food and exposes civilians to more danger.
During the first two and a half months of 2024, Israel cut off all food and fuel deliveries to Gaza in an effort to pressure Hamas to release hostages. The blockade was partially lifted in March. Since May 19, Israel says it has facilitated about 3,000 aid trucks—roughly 28 per day—far fewer than the hundreds humanitarian groups say are required daily to prevent famine.
In a statement this week, GHF defended its operations, claiming it has delivered over 52 million meals in food parcels containing staples like rice and lentils. But aid workers and witnesses describe scenes of chaos and desperation at GHF distribution points, where some families manage to grab multiple boxes while others leave empty-handed. Much of the food ends up resold at exorbitant prices in local markets.
Death Toll Tops 57,000 as Ceasefire Talks Inch Forward
The Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday that more than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s offensive began on October 7, 2023, in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages. The ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its figures but says over half of the dead are women and children.
The Israeli military blames Hamas for civilian casualties, saying militants embed themselves in dense neighborhoods. On Wednesday, the army said it struck rocket launchers in northern Gaza that fired toward Israel.
Even as the violence continues, negotiations are reportedly progressing toward a possible truce. President Trump announced this week that Israel had accepted terms for a 60-day ceasefire and called on Hamas to agree quickly. Hamas has insisted any deal must end the war altogether.
The conflict has devastated Gaza’s infrastructure and displaced more than 90% of the enclave’s 2.3 million people, many of whom have been forced to flee multiple times in search of safety and food.
