UN says at least 798 people killed while seeking food aid in Gaza since May

By Reuters and ToI Staff 11 July 2025, 12:35 pm

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This photo, provided by an American contractor on condition of anonymity because they were revealing their employers’ internal operations, shows a woman slumped over in a donkey cart after the contractor said she was hit in the head with part of a stun grenade at a food distribution site in Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in June 2025. (AP Photo)

At least 798 people have been killed while trying to receive food aid in Gaza since the end of May, the United Nations Human Rights Office says.

Of the total number of people killed while receiving food assistance since May 27, 615 were in the vicinity of sites operated by the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) tells reporters.

The other 183 were killed on the routes of aid convoys, the spokesperson says.

The controversial GHF has faced harsh criticism from the UN and other aid organizations, which charge that it fails to meet the needs of Gaza’s population.

Gazans have reported near-daily incidents in which groups trying to reach GHF facilities are shot at by Israeli forces, leading to mass casualties.

Israel has accused Hamas of attacking Gazan aid seekers and falsifying death tolls, but has also acknowledged that “several” Palestinian civilians have been killed by the IDF near GHF aid distribution sites. The IDF says troops have been issued new instructions following what it called “lessons learned.”