Dozens of Palestinians were killed as they sought food in Gaza on Tuesday, according to local health officials, in what appeared to be the deadliest single incident so far to be connected to aid distribution in the shattered enclave.
Dr. Marwan Al-Hams, the director of field hospitals in Gaza, told NBC News that Palestinians were attacked by Israeli forces as they waited to collect aid near Al Tahlia in the area of Khan Younis on Tuesday.
“This is one of the most difficult days I have seen,” he said, adding that he feared that the “death toll will rise further.”
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, later said the people killed had been waiting for food rations arriving in U.N. convoys, according to The Associated Press. OCHA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that a gathering had been identified near an "aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Younis, and in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area."
It said the IDF was aware of "reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd’s approach" and said the details were under review.
"The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals," it added.
Tuesday's deaths follow a string of similar deadly incidents in which Israeli forces have allegedly killed more than 100 Palestinians trying to collect aid from the controversial new U.S. and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, in just more than three weeks.
“It’s a chilling pattern,” Jonathan Whittall, the head of OCHA’s Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said in a social media post on Tuesday. “Repeatedly, survivors recount being attacked as they try to reach the aid that they need to survive.”
OCHA reiterated that “civilians must never be targeted, let alone those seeking food amid ongoing starvation.”
GHF told NBC News in a statement that Tuesday’s incident “did not occur at or in the surrounding vicinity” of its distribution site “nor did it occur during GHF distributing hours.” It said it had distributed more than two million meals on Tuesday “without incident.”
The organization has strenuously defended its operations in Gaza. On Monday, GHF said it had distributed nearly 26 million meals since launching May 26 and after Israel lifted a blockade that barred the entry of food, medical supplies and other vital items for more than two months.
Under the new distribution system in Gaza, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to travel long distances, including in areas controlled by the Israeli military, to reach a handful of aid sites sprinkled across the enclave, with limited supplies being doled out each day.
While the Israeli military designates specific routes during certain hours to access the sites, many of the areas surrounding the facilities are considered combats zone outside of those times. And while GHF has warned Palestinians to avoid trying to access the sites outside of operating hours, many across the enclave feel they have no choice but to walk for hours overnight and into the morning to reach distribution areas early enough to secure some of the limited aid available.
Many still come away hungry after failing to reach the sites early enough, while others have been killed trying to get to the facilities.
‘I’m scared’
“Every day he used to say to me, ‘I’m scared, Mom, but I have to go to bring food and drink for my siblings,’” a grieving mother, Yasmin Abu Muhsein, said of her 19-year-old son, Hadi Saad Abu Taha, who she said had been trying to get aid from a site in west Rafah over the weekend.
“And now he has been killed.”
After ending the blockade, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that only "basic" aid would be allowed into Gaza. He did not elaborate.
Humanitarian groups have warned that in a population of around 2.1 million, the aid distributed so far is a drop in the ocean of what is needed. The United Nations and humanitarian organizations have condemned the new distribution program, saying it has put Palestinian lives at risk while also undermining a long-standing aid framework in the enclave.
Before the war began, around 500 trucks carrying aid and goods were entering the enclave daily, according to the British Red Cross and other humanitarian groups. Since then, the flow of aid has been inconsistent, grinding to a halt under Israel's blockade.
Israel launched its offensive after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict.
Since then, more than 55,000 people, including thousands of children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the local Health Ministry, with much of the enclave destroyed.
CLARIFICATION (June 18, 2025, 10:18 a.m. ET): This article was updated to reflect OCHA’s statement saying Palestinians were killed waiting for food rations arriving in U.N. convoys.
