Israeli Army Snipers Gun Down, Kill At Least 30 Palestinians at Food Aid Site in Gaza

Israeli army snipers killed at least 30 Palestinians and injured nearly 180 others others as they waited for humanitarian aid at one of four U.S.-operated distribution sites in the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, Israeli authorities informed Palestinians that food parcels would be distributed in Rafah at 6:00 a.m. As desperate families gathered after a monthslong aid blockade, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) opened fire, striking many in the head and upper body, according to reporting by Al Jazeera.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said 21 people, including women and children, were "declared dead upon arrival" and 179 others were injured; 15 of whom are in critical condition, the BBC reported.

The Government Media Office in Gaza accused Israel of intentionally targeting civilians, adding that the incident was further evidence of a deliberate policy of genocide through starvation.

Since the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) opened its aid distribution centers earlier this week, 39 Palestinians have been killed by indiscriminate shooting by IDF soldiers.

A Palestinian man told The Palestine Chronicle that IDF soldiers fired quadcopters and tank shells.

"The people are running for food because of famine. They are not there to fight or do anything," the unidentified man stated. "They don't even belong to the resistance. These are needy people. People who want to fetch aid to eat and drink. They are not there to fight."

"We are peaceful and have nothing to do with anything," he added.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) condemned the Israeli force's actions and equated GHF's aid distribution to death traps.

"This humiliating system has forced thousands of hungry and desperate people to walk for tens of miles to an area that's all but pulverized due to heavy bombardment by the Israeli Army. Aid deliveries and distribution must be at scale and safe," UNWRA wrote in a statement shared to X Sunday, adding that this can only be done through the United Nations.

"The State of Israel must lift the siege and allow the UN safe and unhindered access to bring in aid and distribute it safely. This is the only way to avert mass starvation including among 1 million children," the statement continued. "With competing narratives and disinformation campaigns in full gear, international media must be allowed into Gaza to independently report on the ongoing atrocities including this morning's heinous crime."

Despite on-the-ground reports and footage of the deadly massacre, the IDF denied allegations that they fired at Palestinians. They pinned the incident on Hamas, which the IDF claimed 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 in order 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 IDF said in a statement, according to an X post from Israel War Room.