Israeli tanks unleashed deadly shelling on a crowd of thousands seeking food aid in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Tuesday, killing at least 59 Palestinians and wounding 221, medics reported.
The attack, among the bloodiest since aid resumed in May, struck residents gathered along the main eastern road, hoping for supplies from stalled trucks.
Horrific videos showed bodies torn apart in the street, with survivor Alaa recounting, “All of a sudden, they let us move forward and made everyone gather, and then shells started falling, tank shells.”
Nasser Hospital, stretched beyond capacity, treated the wounded on bloodied floors, with victims ferried in by cars, rickshaws, and donkey carts.
The massacre is the latest in near-daily killings at aid distribution points, with Gaza’s health ministry recording 397 Palestinians killed and over 3,000 injured since late May while pursuing food.
Israel’s military admitted to firing near the crowd after an aid truck got stuck, claiming, “The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimise harm as much as possible to them while maintaining the safety of our troops.”
The U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which controls aid sites, faces mounting criticism.
Anna Halford of Doctors Without Borders labeled it “neither a humanitarian enterprise nor a system. This is basically lethal chaos.”
Gaza’s 2.3 million people grapple with a spiraling famine, worsened by Israel’s military chokehold and a blockade partially eased in May.
The genocide which began on October 2023 has left nearly 55,000 Palestinians dead, mostly women and children, per Gaza’s health ministry.
Tuesday’s toll included 14 more killed in other Israeli strikes across Gaza.
U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk decried Israel’s actions, stating they are “inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians,” as global outrage intensifies over the deadly trap aid sites have become.