woensdag 4 juni 2025

What we know about killings near US-Israeli backed Gaza aid site

What we know about killings near US-Israeli backed Gaza aid site

BBC Verify
Reuters Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 3, 2025. 
Reuters

Over the past three days, there have been a series of deadly incidents on the route to an aid distribution site in Gaza run by a controversial group backed by the US and Israel.

The three incidents took place on roads approaching one of the new sites in the extreme south-west of Gaza, which is under full Israeli military control. The facility is being operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The first incident took place early on Sunday morning when 31 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency. Another three people were killed by gunfire on Monday morning, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Meanwhile, a further 27 people were killed by Israeli fire near the site on Tuesday morning, according to health officials.

Israel has denounced what it called "false reports" that its troops fired on civilians at or near the sites. It said that some soldiers fired warning shots on Sunday 1km away, and that they also opened fire after identifying "several suspects" on Monday and Tuesday.

Very few videos have emerged from Gaza that show the incidents themselves, but BBC Verify has examined available footage and attempted to map how they unfolded.


Where have the incidents taken place?

All three are reported to have taken place near an aid distribution centre in the south-west of Gaza, in the Tal al-Sultan area.

The site, named Safe Distribution Site 1 (SDS 1) by the GHF, opened on the 26 May. It is one of four such facilities, three of which are based in southern Gaza.

The facilities are part of a new aid system - widely condemned by humanitarian groups - aiming to bypass the UN, which Israel has accused of failing to prevent Hamas diverting aid to its fighters. The UN says that has not been a big problem and that the GHF's system is unworkable and unethical.

However, only SDS 1 has been open and operational since Friday, according to official GHF posts online. It follows a chaotic opening week which saw the site overrun by desperate civilians, and projectiles being thrown towards Gazans at another facility at the GHF's northern site near Nuseirat on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the foundation did not respond to messages asking why the other facilities have been closed for several days.

The GHF has also encouraged civilians to follow a set route when approaching SDS 1, directing them along a coastal road called al-Rashid Street.


A map showing the route the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has urged civilians to follow to the aid distribution site. It can be seen in the south of the strip. ON the map, SDS 1 and the route along al-Rashid street are shown.

The instructions have been issued on the foundation's official Facebook page.

Chris Newton, a senior analyst at the Brussels-based think tank Crisis Group, said the route was neither "safe nor effective".

He added that directing civilians down a single route towards the site was "a very far cry from what was possible" under the UN-based system, which saw 400 distribution points scattered across the strip.

"This all looks designed to fail," he said of the new aid system.

How Sunday's incident unfolded

According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, some 31 people were killed by gunfire on Sunday.

The GHF posted on its official Facebook page early on Sunday, telling civilians that SDS 1 would be open from 05:00 local time.

However, just an hour later it posted again saying that the site was closed. By this time many Gazans had gathered at the Al-Alam roundabout as they waited to be granted access to the site, Mohammed Ghareeb, a journalist based in Rafah, told the BBC.

We have seen a limited amount of video that is claimed to relate to the shootings. In one video filmed on the route to the aid site, purportedly on Sunday, people lie on the ground and an explosion is heard.

There is a "realistic possibility" this blast sound was a battle tank firing its main armament, says David Heathcote, an intelligence manager with security analysts McKenzie Intelligence, but he adds that "there could be other explanations". Another expert we spoke to said the source of the sound was unclear.

An audio recording provided to the BBC by international staff at the UK-Med field hospital about 3km away from the site captured two apparent explosions and protracted gunfire for over five minutes.

Gaza on brink of famine

Key events in the deepening hunger crisis

Before the war

Around 80% of Gaza’s population needed aid. The UN reported about 500 lorries a day -mostly commercial- entered the Strip.

First 16 months

From 20 Oct 2023 to 16 Jan, an average of 116 aid trucks entered Gaza daily with food, water, medicine and shelter.

19 January 2025

Ceasefire begins, enabling increased aid and a “modest recovery in food consumption,” says UN.

February

Israel reported allowing 600 trucks into Gaza per day - figures higher than the UN’s, which has since stopped publishing comparable data.

2 March

After first ceasefire phase ends, Israel imposes a full blockade, halting all aid and commercial deliveries, including food, medicines and shelter. Military operations resume on 18 March.

1 April

The last of Gaza’s 25 subsidised bakeries closes. UN says most families lack access to affordable bread, flour or fuel for cooking.

Early May

Aid agencies distribute final nutrition supplies. Gaza faces critical famine risk, according to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

10 May

Agencies report 171,000 tons of foodready for delivery, enough to feed Gaza for 3–4 months once the blockade lifts.

12 May

112 of 180 food kitchens operating on 25 Apr have shut, slashing daily meals from over 1 million to 259,000, says UN.

20 May

Israel claims 93 aid lorries have entered Gaza after an 11-week blockade, but the UN reports no aid has been distributed despite trucks reaching the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing.

22 May

UN able to collect and distribute aid from 90 lorries in Gaza after a three-day delay.

27 May

A controversial new aid distribution group backed by the US and Israel begins working in Gaza. Thousands of Palestinians overrun one of their aid distribution sites.

1 June

At least 31 people are reported killed and many more wounded by "Israeli gunfire" near aid distribution centrein Rafah, according to Gaza's civil defence agency. Israel denies its forces fired at people.

3 June

Shooting at aid site in Rafah leaves at least 27 people dead and 90 injured, according to Hamas-run health ministry. Israeli military says it fired shots after identifying "several suspects".

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