Report – Shehab News
Hunger was not the only threat besieging Palestinians in Khan Yunis; the very aid queues themselves became deadly traps. Twenty-one Palestinians lost their lives—either suffocated or trampled—while trying to grab scraps of aid from a distribution center operated by the so-called "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" (GHF), a U.S.-backed organization in southern Gaza.
Amid hundreds of desperate young men and grieving families, U.S. soldiers closed the iron gates leading to the center and deployed pepper spray and tear gas after panic and intense crowding broke out. There was no order—only screams, dust, and silently falling lives. Eyewitnesses reported that American company personnel, some speaking English, used guns to intimidate the crowd and fired tear gas canisters and pepper spray. Dozens fell, crushed underfoot.
Within less than 20 minutes, the ground was littered with bodies suffocated by chaos and poor organization, alongside the tears of mothers and fathers who came seeking some lentils, grains of flour, or canned food to alleviate their families' hunger.
With the ongoing Israeli siege depriving Gaza residents of basic necessities, aid centers have increasingly become “death traps” in recent weeks. Civilians, unarmed and desperate for food amid severe shortages and the collapse of humanitarian systems, face direct targeting from snipers and airstrikes.
The "Mass Suffocation" Massacre
The Gaza Government Media Office stated that the Israeli occupation and the American institution called the "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – GHF" perpetrated a horrific massacre against starving civilians. Twenty-one Palestinians were killed, including 15 who suffocated and 6 who were shot directly, along with many injured.
The office described this as one of the most atrocious organized massacres against civilians since the start of the genocide against the Palestinian people. It asserted that the American institution is not a humanitarian entity as claimed, but rather a dangerous security and intelligence tool designed to serve the Israeli occupation’s agenda. The GHF represents a model of mass death traps disguised as humanitarian work.
According to the statement, the incident began after hundreds of thousands were called to receive aid at the SDS3 center in southern Gaza. The institution deliberately closed the iron gates after gathering thousands of starving people in narrow passageways meant to suffocate them. Subsequently, the criminal institution’s staff and Israeli occupation soldiers sprayed burning pepper gas and fired directly on the starving crowds, resulting in suffocation and many casualties from the crush in the confined, death-designed area.
The media office confirmed that testimonies from 14 eyewitnesses at the scene align with the detailed account of the events, and video footage clearly shows members of the American institution firing at the starving civilians. Attempts to blame innocent parties or Palestinian factions were denounced as blatant evasion of responsibility.
So far, over 870 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,700 injured due to the institution’s actions, with 46 missing. These figures indicate the institution’s direct complicity in the genocide and starvation policies led by the occupation against the Palestinian people.
The institution was also criticized for lacking core humanitarian principles such as neutrality, independence, transparency, humanity, and professional capacity to provide aid. It reportedly closes its centers for days or weeks without warning or alternatives, insisting on a militarized, security-driven approach aimed at subjugating, humiliating, and starving people rather than saving them.
The media office strongly condemned the horrific crime and held the American institution fully responsible alongside the Israeli occupation and their supporters, calling on them to bear full legal, moral, and criminal accountability for every drop of blood spilled under the guise of “aid distribution.” It urged the international community, the UN Security Council, and all relevant organizations to immediately halt the institution’s activities, conduct an independent and transparent investigation into all crimes it committed, and prevent it from continuing to endanger civilian lives.
