Aid turned into ambush: The ‘Israeli hunger trap massacre’ in Gaza
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Palestinian officials accuse "Israel" and the US of using humanitarian aid as a tool of warfare, luring starving civilians into exposed areas before opening fire, as the death toll in Gaza continues to climb.
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Palestinians pray during the funeral of a person killed by Israeli gunfire while heading to a Gaza aid hub, along with three others who were killed during an Israeli strike, as they gather at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that at least 37 Palestinians were martyred and 136 others wounded in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, as Israeli bombardments continue to intensify across the besieged enclave.
According to the ministry’s latest data, the total number of Palestinians killed since the start of "Israel’s" genocidal campaign on October 7, 2023, has risen to 54,418, with at least 124,190 injured.
The updated toll comes in the immediate aftermath of the Gaza aid massacre, which has sparked widespread outrage. On Sunday morning, Israeli occupation forces, operating in coordination with an American security firm, carried out a deadly ambush near the Wadi Gaza Bridge, under the pretext of distributing “humanitarian aid.” The assault targeted thousands of desperate, hungry civilians who had gathered in central Gaza in hopes of receiving food and relief.
حين تصبح المساعدات واجهة للقتل
— الحـكـيم (@Hakeam_ps) June 1, 2025
وقعت مجزرة مروّعة صباح اليوم في منطقة المواصي غرب مدينة رفح، جنوب قطاع غزة - أسفرت عن ارتقاء أكثر من 200 شهيد وجريح من المدنيين، ممن كانوا يتجمعون قرب مركز توزيع المساعدات الأمريكية.
النقطة التي من المفترض أن تكون ملاذًا إنسانيًا لتأمين الحد… pic.twitter.com/VY7gK3rzgS
ثلاثون شهيداً و150 مصاباً جراء إطلاق نار من آليات الإبادة الإسرائيلية على ألالاف قرب موقع مساعدات تابع للمرتزقة الأمريكيين غرب رفح، جنوبي القطاع . pic.twitter.com/vYcuYFLkMc
— Tamer | تامر (@tamerqdh) June 1, 2025
The massacre was followed just hours later by a separate atrocity in Rafah, compounding what Palestinian officials have described as a deliberate and escalating campaign of mass killings. Together, these incidents are being widely condemned as part of a systematic strategy to weaponize aid and further terrorize an already starving population under siege.
In a statement, the Government Media Office in Gaza described the locations of these alleged aid as "mass death traps rather than humanitarian relief points," accusing "Israel" of systematically using aid as a weapon of war. According to the office, this tactic is being used to blackmail starving civilians and forcibly concentrate them in exposed killing zones.
The media office stressed that the so-called aid centers are "managed and monitored by the occupation army," while enjoying financial and political backing from both "Israel" and the US administration. It asserted that both parties bear full moral and legal responsibility for what it labeled war crimes.
“These sites are not humanitarian in nature,” the office said. “They are a direct extension of a military strategy, used to conceal the occupation’s broader security agenda under the facade of relief work.”
Rafah massacre death toll rises
In a related development, the media office confirmed the preliminary death toll of the massacre in the Al-Alam area of Rafah, reporting at least 31 Palestinians killed and over 200 injured, including dozens in critical condition.
The Ministry of Health revealed that each victim admitted to hospitals had been "shot once, either in the head or chest," indicating a clear intent by the Israeli occupation forces to carry out executions, not crowd control.
As the death toll mounts, Gaza’s hospitals, already crippled by months of siege, are reaching a breaking point. Emergency departments are overwhelmed, and the shortage of surgical supplies, intensive care equipment, and blood units is leaving medical workers unable to cope with the escalating injuries.
Speaking to Al Mayadeen, Amjad Al-Shawa, Director of the Palestinian NGOs Network in Gaza, said civilians had been "deliberately lured into isolated areas to be killed." He warned that aid centers have become militarized zones serving both Israeli and American objectives.
“People who went out in search of food returned to their families as corpses,” he said. “We are witnessing the worst humanitarian crisis Gaza has ever faced.”
Resistance factions: Compound war crime committed
Palestinian Resistance factions denounced the events in Al-Mawasi, Rafah, and the Nuseirat-Netzarim corridor as a compound war crime, placing direct responsibility on "Israel" and the American administration.
They described the so-called "American aid centers" as sites of mass executions and called on the United Nations and the Security Council to immediately intervene, urging the formation of an independent international investigative committee.
In a similar vein, the Popular Resistance Committees have issued a strong statement calling on all international institutions to take immediate and concrete action to uphold their humanitarian obligations in the Gaza Strip. The group urged the restoration and enforcement of effective mechanisms for the distribution of humanitarian aid, warning that the current conditions have pushed the situation beyond catastrophic levels.
The committees also condemned what they described as the latest Zionist-American crime against Gaza’s starving civilians, referring to the recent deadly ambush near the Wadi Gaza Bridge under the pretext of aid distribution. They labeled the incident a war crime, placing full and direct responsibility on the US administration.
“This constitutes a war crime, for which the US administration bears full and direct responsibility,” the statement said, highlighting growing Palestinian frustration over what is seen as American complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
