By Nadine Osman
London, (The Muslim News): On Thursday alone, at least 92 Palestinians were killed across Gaza, according to medical sources. The toll included scores of civilians attempting to access food and basic services amid Israel’s ongoing siege and military campaign, which began in October 2023.
“We were just trying to eat,” said Bassam Abu Shaar, describing the chaos and carnage after Israeli forces opened fire on hungry civilians waiting for food near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza. At least 16 Palestinians were killed in that incident alone on Thursday, as desperate residents gathered in the early hours to receive aid packages.
“They started shooting at us around 1am,” Abu Shaar told AFP. “The gunfire intensified from tanks, aircraft, and quadcopter bombs. We couldn’t help them or even escape ourselves.” The size of the crowd, he said, made fleeing impossible.
The Netzarim Corridor, a heavily militarised route separating northern and southern Gaza, has become a focal point in the worsening humanitarian catastrophe gripping the Strip. Hundreds of starving civilians have been gathering there daily in the hope of receiving rations from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed initiative. The United Nations has condemned the GHF, accusing it of the “weaponisation” of aid.
In the southern Gaza Strip, at least six people were killed and 20 wounded when Israeli forces targeted another crowd of aid seekers between Khan Younis and Rafah.
The Gaza Government Media Office reported that, since May 27, Israeli forces have killed 300 Palestinians and injured 2,649 others near aid distribution points.
Elsewhere in the enclave, an Israeli drone strike killed 15 people — including women and children — near a mobile phone charging station beside displacement tents in Al Shati refugee camp. A further five were killed and 25 injured in Tel al-Hawa, western Gaza City, when a strike hit an internet distribution hub. Another person was killed in a separate attack on a charging tent in the same area.
Israeli strikes also continued to pound residential areas. Fourteen people were killed in an airstrike on a home near the Al-Omari Mosque in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Five more bodies were recovered from the rubble in Al-Zaytoun, southern Gaza City, following another air assault. In central Gaza, an Israeli helicopter strike on an apartment building killed three people.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 69 bodies and 221 wounded individuals were taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours. The overall death toll from Israel’s campaign has now surpassed 55,700, with more than 130,000 injured. “Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” the ministry added.
Despite mounting global calls for a ceasefire, Israel’s military operations show no sign of abating. The Israeli army claimed on Thursday — without providing evidence — that its forces had fired warning shots at “suspects” who posed a threat near Netzarim. It added that it was unaware of casualties from the incident.
But for Gaza’s civilians, the risk of being killed while queuing for aid has become a daily reality. With electricity unavailable for over 18 months, Palestinians have been forced to rely on makeshift charging points — some of which have now become targets themselves.
Al Jazeera reporter Hind Khoudary, speaking from Deir el-Balah, said the targeting of aid distribution centres reflects the Strip’s extreme desperation. “Only a very limited number of trucks are coming in every single day, and people are very desperate; they’re being killed as they try to take whatever is on the trucks,” she said.
The international community has responded with growing alarm. In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The International Court of Justice is simultaneously hearing a genocide case against Israel.
As the humanitarian catastrophe deepens, those left behind are burdened not only by grief but by the agonising choice between hunger and death. “We waited all night just for some food,” Abu Shaar said. “And then they started shooting.”
[Photo: Relatives and loved ones of Palestinians, who were killed in Israeli indiscriminate attacks on a tent for displaced people near al-Saraya Junction, mourn their loved ones during the funeral ceremony held at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Gaza on June 19, 2025. Photojournalist: Khames Alrefi/AA]
