In war zones, humanitarian aid should be a lifeline — not a death sentence. Yet in Gaza, where starvation is on the rise, that lifeline has become a deadly trap.

Over the past week, many Palestinians have been killed while simply trying to access food. They were not fighters. They were civilians — mostly fathers and brothers— gunned down near aid distribution sites set up by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Aid should heal, not kill. However, in Gaza, that basic truth has never felt more urgent — or more tragically ignored.

The UN’s human rights office (OHCHR) has joined the chorus of concern over the Israeli killings of Palestinian aid seekers at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites in southern Rafah and near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.

More than 30 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on Sunday, June 1, 2025, as they went to receive food at an aid distribution point set up by the Israeli-backed foundation in Gaza.

Aid groups, including Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders, also condemned the killings.

Doctors Without Borders blamed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation‘s aid distribution system for chaos at the scene in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

The UN’s human rights office said that the killings on Sunday follow multiple reports of deadly attacks at the sites between May 27 and 31, which killed at least 19 Palestinians and wounded 80 others.

On 28 May, 2025, Hamas accused Israel of killing at least three Palestinians and wounding 46 near one of the GHF’s distribution sites, an accusation the group denied. The Israeli military said its troops fired warning shots in the area outside the compound to re-establish control as thousands of Palestinians rushed to an aid distribution site.

The UN’s human rights office stressed once more that “Israel’s militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism violates international standards on aid distribution, endangers civilians, and is contributing to the catastrophic situation in Gaza.”

“The weaponisation of food for civilians and restricting or preventing their access to other life sustaining services constitute a war crime and may constitute elements of other international crimes, including genocide.”
UN’s human rights office (OHCHR)

Also, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) denounced the killing of dozens of hungry Palestinians who gathered at the GHF distribution sites in Gaza.

“These ‘aid’ concentration sites – in which a handful of desperate people are given starvation rations as a cruel publicity stunt designed to deflect attention from Israel’s forced starvation campaign – are in reality ‘killing zones’ for that state’s machine of death and destruction.

“This is pure evil operating with impunity and with the world’s silence. The genocide must stop and the Palestinian people must be recognized as human beings deserving freedom and justice on their own land.”
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies in March, saying Hamas was seizing deliveries for its fighters, which the group denies. Earlier this month, a global hunger monitor said half a million people in the strip faced starvation.

The IPC estimated that nearly 71,000 children under the age of five were expected to be “acutely malnourished,” with 14,100 cases expected to be severe in the next 11 months.

The UN and other humanitarian organisations have rejected the new system for food distribution, saying it would not be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and allowed Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population.

WFP Chief Calls For Access

Cindy McCain, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) urged the Israeli government to grant the UN agency access to the Gaza Strip “so we can do our job.”

“What we need right now is an immediate ceasefire, complete unfettered access [and] every gate open to feed people and stop this catastrophe from happening.

“If we don’t do that, it’s going to be a humanitarian catastrophe… like none other.”
Cindy McCain

McCain also confirmed reports that Israeli forces have killed at least 31 Palestinians who were seeking food aid at the GHF point in Rafah on Sunday. “Our people are reporting the same thing on the ground. It’s a tragedy,” she said.

The latest incident took place as Hamas and Israel exchanged blame over a faltering effort to secure a ceasefire.

Hamas said on Saturday that it was seeking amendments to a US-backed ceasefire proposal, but Donald Trump’s Envoy, Steve Witkoff rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable.”