[News] Aid turned into ambush: The ‘Israeli hunger trap massacre’ in Gaza

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/aid-turned-into-ambush--the--israeli-hunger-trap-massacre--i>
Aid turned into ambush: The ‘Israeli hunger trap massacre’ in Gaza
Al Mayadeen English
June 1, 2025
------------------------------

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.

   - [image: Aid turned into ambush: The ‘Israeli hunger trap massacre’ in
   Gaza]
   <https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/1/ebe562e8-5ec0-477d-a319-9f40dc545d75.jpg?v=3&width=1000>
   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
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/over-30-killed-in-israeli-attack-on-gazans-getting-aid-in-ra>,
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.

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
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/17-palestinians-killed-in-us-israeli-designated-aid-zones-in>
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
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israel-setting-dangerous-precedent-for-ihl-violations-in-gaz>
.

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.
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