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At least 10 people were killed after Israeli forces opened fire near two aid distribution sites where crowds of hungry Palestinians again sought food, witnesses and health workers said Saturday.
The violence came a day after US officials visited the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation GHF site, and the US ambassador Steve Witkoff described the troubled system as “an incredible feat.”
The latest deaths come nearly a week after Israel, under international pressure amid growing scenes of starving children, announced limited humanitarian pauses and airdrops meant to get more food to Gaza’s over 2 million people. They now largely rely on aid after almost 22 months of war.
But the United Nations, partners and Palestinians say far too little aid is coming in, with months of supplies piled up outside Gaza waiting for Israeli approval.
And although the UN estimates that 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed daily, the trucks entering are mostly stripped of supplies by desperate people and criminal groups before reaching warehouses for distribution.
On Saturday, Gaza’s health ministry said seven Palestinians had died of malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, including a child.
More deaths near US-supported GHF sites
Near the northernmost GHF distribution site near the Netzarim corridor, Yahia Youssef, who had come to seek aid, described a grimly familiar scene. After helping carry three people wounded by gunshots, he said he saw others on the ground, bleeding.
“It’s the same daily episode,” Youssef said. Health workers said at least eight people were killed. Israel’s military said it fired warning shots at a gathering approaching its forces.
At least two people were killed in the Shakoush area, hundreds of meters (yards) from where the GHF operates in the southernmost city of Rafah, witnesses said. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received two bodies and many injured.
Witness Mohamed Abu Taha said Israeli troops opened fire on the crowds. He saw three people — two men and a woman — shot as he fled.
Israel’s military said it was not aware of any fire by its forces in the area. The GHF said nothing happened near its sites.
GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. On Friday, Israel's military said it was working to make the routes under its control safer.
The GHF — backed by millions of dollars in US support — launched in May as Israel sought an alternative to the U.N.-run system, which had safely delivered aid for much of the war but was accused by Israel of allowing Hamas to siphon off supplies. Israel has not provided evidence to support that claim, and the U.N. has denied it.
From May 27 to July 31, 859 people were killed near GHF sites, according to a UN report Thursday. Hundreds more have been killed along the routes of UN-led food convoys. Hamas-led police once guarded those convoys, but Israeli fire targeted the officers.
Israel and GHF have claimed the toll has been exaggerated.
Hostage families push Israel to cut deal
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with hostages’ families on Saturday, a week after quitting ceasefire talks, blaming Hamas’ intransigence.
Witkoff accompanied US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's (GHF) assistance delivery station in the southern city of Rafah, one of only three such sites in the blockaded region.
According to The Washington Post, Witkoff declared that the country had developed a plan to free all of the remaining hostages.
Trump "now believes that everybody should come home at once, no piecemeal deals," Witkoff stated during the discussion, which was captured on tape and broadcast on Israeli television.
"He didn't say anything new to me. The father of Israeli hostage Guy Illouz, Michel Illouz, stated, "We didn't hear anything practical, but I heard that the Americans were pressuring us to stop this operation." He claimed to have received "no answers" when he requested Witkoff to establish a deadline.
Protesters from families at the plaza known as the hostages' square in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday called on Israel’s government to make a deal to end the war, imploring them to “stop this nightmare and bring them out of the tunnels.”
According to Witkoff, US authorities want half of the remaining 20 hostages to be freed on the first day of a cease-fire, with the remaining hostages to follow shortly after. Twenty of the 50 hostages are said to be dead.
