Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in what the Gaza health ministry says was Israeli fire near a distribution center in Rafah, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Gaza’s Health Ministry says 38 Palestinians have been killed in new shootings in areas of food distribution centers in the south of the territory.
The toll on Monday (June 16, 2025) was the deadliest yet in the near-daily shootings that have taken place as thousands of Palestinians move through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach the food centers. Witnesses say Israeli troops open fire in an attempt to control the crowds.
There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military on Monday’s deaths. It has said in previous instances that troops fired warning shots at what it calls suspects approaching their positions.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said most of the dead were trying to reach the GHF center near the southern city of Rafah, though a few were on the roads to a newly opened hub on the outskirts of the nearby city of Khan Younis.
U.N. agencies criticises new aid system
Two Palestinians trying to get food at the Rafah site, Heba Jouda and Mohammed Abed, told The Associated Press that Israeli forces fired on the crowds at around 4 a.m. at the Flag Roundabout. The traffic circle, hundreds of meters (yards) from the GHF center, has repeatedly been the scene of shootings. The military has designated specific routes to access the food centers, and GHF has warned aid-seekers that leaving the roads is dangerous, but many do in an attempt to get to the food first.
Israel and the United States say the new GHF system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid. GHF says there has been no violence in or around the sites themselves.
U.N. agencies and major aid groups, which have delivered humanitarian aid across Gaza since the start of the 20-month Israel-Hamas war, have rejected the new system, saying it can’t meet the territory’s needs and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon. They deny there is widespread theft of aid by Hamas.
Palestinian health officials say scores of people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the sites opened last month. Experts have warned that Israel’s ongoing military campaign and restrictions on the entry of aid have put Gaza, which is home to some 2 million Palestinians, at risk of famine.
Published – June 16, 2025 05:42 pm IST