31 said killed near aid hub in Rafah; IDF denies ‘false reports’ after Hamas blames Israel
Army says it didn’t shoot Gazans at or in vicinity of GHF distribution site; official acknowledges troops fired on ‘number of suspects’ a kilometer away but insists incidents not linked
At least 31 Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded early Sunday by Israeli fire as they were on their way to a humanitarian aid distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip, multiple witnesses and Hamas authorities said. The Israel Defense Forces late Sunday said it didn’t shoot Gazans at or near the distribution site, and denounced what it called false allegations.
The IDF initially issued a vague statement, saying that “at this time, we are unaware of injuries caused by IDF troops’ fire within the [humanitarian aid] distribution site” in Rafah, adding that “the matter is still under review.”
When asked for clarification, the IDF did not explicitly deny that there had been gunfire, but said it was unaware of any injuries “within” the aid site. Witnesses said Israeli forces fired on crowds around a kilometer away from the aid site hours before the distribution took place.
Hours later, the military denied opening fire on Palestinians at or near the aid distribution site, slamming the “false reports… including serious allegations against the IDF.”
An Israeli military official acknowledged that troops did fire warning shots overnight around a kilometer away from the aid site, hours before the facility opened to distribute aid to Palestinians.
“IDF troops worked to prevent a number of suspects from approaching the forces,” the official said. “During the activity, warning shots were fired at a number of suspects who approached the forces.”
“There is no connection between the incident in question and the false allegations against the IDF,” added the official.
מצלמות האבטחה של החברה שאחראית על חלוקה המזון בעזה תיעדו את הרגעים בהם נטען לכאורה שבוצע ירי לעבר פלסטינים במתחם הסיוע. לפי התיעוד, לא נראה שבוצע ירי@ItayBlumental pic.twitter.com/HGLLrVRY4o
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 1, 2025
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the US- and Israel-backed body in charge of the aid distribution, insisted that the “aid was again distributed today without incident.”
GHF published videos ostensibly showing that no Palestinian civilians were shot at the site. “Reports of injuries and fatalities are completely false and fabricated,” the organization said, attaching around 15 minutes of footage from the distribution site after dawn.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, whose tolls cannot be verified, said 31 people were killed and 170 others were wounded by Israeli fire in the incident in Rafah on Sunday. Another person was killed and over a dozen were injured at an aid distribution site in the Netzarim corridor area, Palestinian media reported.
The Associated Press cited eyewitnesses as saying that the incident in Rafah occurred before dawn, as thousands marched toward the aid site. Israeli troops had ordered them to disperse and come back later, and as the crowds arrived at a roundabout around a kilometer away at 3 a.m., the IDF opened fire, the witnesses said.
An AP reporter arrived at a field hospital at around 6 a.m. and saw dozens of wounded, including women and children. The reporter also saw crowds of people returning from the distribution point. Some were carrying boxes of aid, but most appeared to be coming back empty-handed.
After carrying out a preliminary investigation, the military said that it determined that troops “did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false.”
“The IDF is enabling the American civil organization (GHF) and international aid organizations to distribute aid to the residents of Gaza and not to Hamas,” the military said.
“Hamas does everything in its power to undermine food distribution efforts in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that starves and endangers the population to preserve its control over the Gaza Strip. As part of its brutal behavior and its attempts to disrupt humanitarian aid, Hamas directly harms the residents of Gaza,” the statement continued.
The military also “calls on the media to be cautious with information published by the Hamas terror organization, as proven in several previous incidents.”
Separately, the IDF published a drone video it said showed Palestinian gunmen and other masked Palestinians opening fire and throwing stones at Gazans heading to collect humanitarian aid that had been looted in southern Khan Younis earlier Sunday. The video was unrelated to the deadly incident in Rafah.
The IDF did not explicitly say that the armed men were Hamas members, but added that “Hamas does everything it can to prevent the success of the food distribution in Gaza.”
“Hamas is a murderous and brutal terror organization that starves the residents of Gaza,” the military said.
תיעוד רחפן חושף: חמושים בעזה יורים לעבר אזרחים עזתים בדרכם לאסוף סיוע הומניטרי
תיעוד מרחפן של צה״ל שצולם מוקדם יותר היום (א׳), חושף חמושים ורעולי פנים, משליכים אבנים ויורים לעבר עזתים שמנסים לאסוף סיוע הומניטרי שנבזז בדרום חאן יונס.
חמאס הוא ארגון טרור רצחני ואכזרי שמרעיב את… pic.twitter.com/q95TUoS0DK
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 1, 2025
For its part, Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Sunday that people it treated at a Gaza aid site run by a new US-backed organization reported being “shot from all sides” by Israeli forces.
The NGO, known by its French name MSF, blamed the GHF system for chaos at the scene in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
“Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers on the ground,” MSF said in a statement.
MSF emergency coordinator Claire Manera in the statement called the GHF’s system of aid delivery “dehumanizing, dangerous and severely ineffective.”
“It has resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians that could have been prevented. Humanitarian aid must be provided only by humanitarian organizations who have the competence and determination to do it safely and effectively.”
MSF communications officer Nour Alsaqa in the statement reported hospital corridors filled with patients, mostly men, with “visible gunshot wounds in their limbs.”
MSF quoted one injured man, Mansour Sami Abdi, as describing people fighting over just five pallets of aid.
“They told us to take food — then they fired from every direction,” he said. “This isn’t aid. It’s a lie.”
Meanwhile, former prime minister Naftali Bennett slammed the government for the fact that it did not provide any information on what happened in Rafah, aside from the military’s earlier vague statement, amid coverage in international media of the incident.
He said international media were reporting a “huge lie.”
“Israel has no public diplomacy. The matter is not being managed,” Bennett said.
Here’s the PROOF:
This is the SPECIFIC food distribution site, at the PRECISE time that Israeli tanks supposedly shot them.
Nothing. No shooting. Everything going well.
100% fake.
The headline is simply a LIE.
This is simply unbelievable.
When it’s about Israel, all… pic.twitter.com/70m5BW09yQ— Naftali Bennett נפתלי בנט (@naftalibennett) June 1, 2025
GHF has denied previous accounts of chaos and gunfire around its sites, which are in Israeli military zones. The IDF has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions.
GHF said Sunday that it had distributed 4.7 million meals at three distribution sites in southern and central Gaza over the past six days. But its classification of meals is based on boxes of dry food products that still require cooking equipment or community kitchens, which are very limited throughout the Strip after nearly 20 months of devastating conflict.
Under pressure from allies, Israel last month began allowing some humanitarian aid into Gaza after blocking all food, medicine, fuel and other goods from entering since March 2, a move Jerusalem said was aimed at pressuring Hamas into releasing hostages.
The UN and other aid groups have refused to participate in the GHF system, saying it violates humanitarian principles. They say it puts aid under Israel’s control, to use to carry out its announced plans to move Gaza’s entire population to the south. They also say it cannot meet the massive needs of the population and endangers those seeking food.
Israel demanded the new system, saying it is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off supplies, as it accuses the terror group of regularly doing. UN agencies say their mechanisms already prevent significant diversion. Still, there is footage of aid being stolen by gunmen in Gaza, and one former hostage has testified that Hamas would eat from the stolen aid.
The Times of Israel Community.