The Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, reported on Tuesday that 32 martyrs arrived at Nasser Medical Complex as a result of the Israeli occupation's shelling of the cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah since dawn today. Dozens of people were killed and wounded as a result of the occupation's shelling and shooting at thousands of people heading to an aid center west of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Twenty-seven Palestinians were killed and dozens more injured early Tuesday morning in a new massacre perpetrated by the Israeli occupation army against hundreds of starving people as they attempted to obtain food from an aid distribution center in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Ministry of Health.
The ministry said in a statement: "Twenty-seven martyrs and dozens of wounded, including some in critical condition, have arrived at hospitals, according to the initial toll of the Israeli occupation's massacre of citizens waiting for aid in the designated distribution area in Rafah."
Eyewitnesses said that Israeli occupation forces opened fire on hundreds of starving Palestinians heading to an aid center in Rafah, which is supervised by the Israeli army.
For its part, the Israeli occupation army admitted to shooting at Palestinians near an aid distribution center in Rafah, claiming there was "suspicious activity" toward its forces.
He claimed in a statement that his forces had spotted "a number of suspects moving toward the forces, bypassing known routes," and that they "opened fire to push them away. After they did not move away, they opened fire again near a number of suspects who continued to advance toward the forces," he claimed.
The occupation army continued, saying, "There were reports of injuries, and the details of the incident are under investigation," it claimed.
By deliberately starving Gaza, Israel has pushed 2.4 million Palestinians to the brink of famine by closing the crossings for 90 days to humanitarian aid, particularly food, according to the government media office in the enclave.
Far from the oversight of the United Nations and international relief organizations, Tel Aviv began implementing a dubious aid distribution plan on May 27 through the so-called "Gaza Humanitarian Relief Foundation," an organization supported by Israel and the United States but denounced by the United Nations.
Aid distribution is taking place in so-called "buffer zones," amid growing signs that this plan is failing. Distribution has been repeatedly interrupted by the influx of starving people, prompting Israeli forces to open fire, leaving civilians dead and wounded.
The distributed quantities are described as scarce and do not meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of hungry people in the Gaza Strip.
The distribution process is carried out according to a mechanism described by human rights and international organizations as "humiliating and degrading," with those in need forced to pass through iron cages enclosed in barbed wire, a scene observers have likened to the practices of the Nazi ghettos in Europe during World War II.
The Israeli army radio confirmed that this plan aims to expedite the evacuation of residents of the northern Gaza Strip by restricting aid distribution to four points in southern Gaza.
In contrast, the Gaza government and human rights organizations, such as the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (a non-governmental organization), have warned that this is a prelude to the displacement of Palestinians in accordance with US President Donald Trump's plan, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared to be one of the war's objectives.
With full American support, Israel has been committing genocidal crimes in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 179,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands displaced.