Deir el-Balah, Gaza, June 4 : Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians gathering at a humanitarian aid distribution site in southern Gaza on Monday, killing at least three people and wounding more than 30, prompting the United Nations to call for an independent investigation.
The shooting occurred at sunrise near the Flag Roundabout in Deir el-Balah, at the same location where Israeli troops had fired on aid seekers a day earlier, according to Gaza health officials and witnesses.
“The Israeli military opened fire on civilians trying to get their hands on any kind of food aid without any kind of warning,” said Tareq Abu Azzoum, a journalist with Al Jazeera.
Witnesses said Israeli snipers and surveillance drones routinely monitor aid points operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a group backed by Israel and the United States. The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital received about 50 casualties, including two people who were dead on arrival. Another fatality was reported at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis.
Among the wounded was 21-year-old Moataz al-Feirani, who said he was shot in the leg as he walked with thousands of others toward the food site. “We had nothing, and they were watching us,” he told the Associated Press.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the incident and called for an immediate, independent investigation into what he described as the “mass shooting of Palestinians.”
“It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” Guterres said. The Israeli military denied deliberately targeting civilians, claiming its forces had fired “warning shots” at individuals who “posed a threat.”
The GHF has denied that the shooting occurred. However, questions over its neutrality have intensified since its founding executive director, former U.S. marine Jake Wood, resigned before operations began, citing concerns about the group’s impartiality and independence. Critics have accused the foundation of enabling Israel’s efforts to depopulate northern Gaza by funneling aid only to southern areas while sidelining established international relief agencies.
Gaza’s humanitarian crisis remains acute. Despite a partial lifting of Israel’s two-month total blockade, aid remains scarce. More than two million residents face critical shortages of food, water, fuel, and medical supplies, with the UN warning that thousands of children are at risk of dying from hunger-related causes.
Elsewhere in the territory, Israeli air strikes continued across residential areas. In Jabalia, in northern Gaza, 14 people—including seven children—were killed in an air raid on a house, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence. At least 20 people remained trapped under the rubble.
Two others were killed and several wounded in Deir el-Balah, while a drone strike in Khan Younis claimed one more life, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 51 Palestinians were killed and 503 injured across the territory in the past 24 hours. Despite international condemnation, the Israeli military on Monday issued new evacuation orders in parts of Khan Younis, stating it would “operate with great force.”
According to new data reported by the Financial Times, roughly 80% of the Gaza Strip is now either under Israeli control or designated for evacuation, forcing the enclave’s 2.3 million residents into an increasingly narrow stretch of land near the Egyptian border.
Israeli officials have openly promoted “voluntary migration” plans for Gazans, which critics have likened to ethnic cleansing. “The Israeli government has been very clear with regards to what their plan is about in Gaza,” political analyst Xavier Abu Eid told Al Jazeera. “It is about ethnic cleansing.”
Satellite imagery has shown Israeli forces clearing land and constructing military infrastructure in evacuated zones. Analysts say the pace of forced evacuations has accelerated since the collapse of a truce in March.
