Israeli military kills 23 Palestinians near aid site in Gaza, witnesses and medics say
Source: BBC
Israeli forces have killed 23 Palestinians after opening fire on crowds who had gathered near an aid distribution site, witnesses and medics say.
Tanks and drones fired at thousands of people near an aid distribution centre in central Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the witnesses and medics said.
A spokesperson for al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat confirmed that 23 bodies and more than 100 wounded people had been brought there. Images from the hospital showed bodies on the floor.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed in similar incidents since late May.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0vgerp402o
400.

Duncanpup
(14,931 posts)Last edited Fri Jun 20, 2025, 08:41 AM - Edit history (1)
AIPAC is entitled to our taxpayer dollars to fund FUCKING GENOCIDE.
Butterflylady
(4,498 posts)AIPAC also has ties to a lot of dumps cabinet members.
That certainly answers a lot of questions.
atreides1
(16,799 posts)So what!
An answer that seems to be completely acceptable by their supporters, no matter what!!!
Hamas kills men women and children and everyone loses their fucking minds. The IDF kills men women and children and some will make the excuses for them!!!
Orrex
(65,663 posts)As a result, Bibi had no choice but to murder a few dozen civilians
mpcamb
(3,132 posts)AloeVera
(3,455 posts)But not enough to awaken the willfully-blind and propagandized conscience of our so-called Western "leaders".
But as the killings become more and more normalized, watch for the numbers to creep up... What will our brave leaders do then? Sanction one more West Bank settler? Issue vague threats of unspecified "consequences" that never materialize? Join Israel's destruction of Iran? All of the above? Feckless in the face of genocide!
Lonestarblue
(12,844 posts)Of course, there has been nothing humane about Israels war of genocide against Palestinians, but lots of war crimes and debased treatment of them.
claudette
(5,455 posts)Genocide. When will someone stop this?
ms liberty
(10,425 posts)Last edited Sat Jun 21, 2025, 08:47 AM - Edit history (1)
I'm sure there must have been a Hamas member in there somewhere, and if not well they still probably deserved it.
speak easy
(12,104 posts)QED
muriel_volestrangler
(104,227 posts)Almost immediately, the site descended into chaos. Gunfire. Drones. Then in a flash, shrapnel from a tank shell ripped through his little body. When I met him at a hospital in Khan Younis where painkillers, like food, are scarce the 13-year-old was in agony. I have shrapnel inside my body that they couldnt remove, he told me. I am in real pain; since 6am I have been asking for a painkiller. As he recounted the chaos, his fathers composure shattered, and tears rolled down his face. Was he going to lose his son simply because Abed Al Rahman wanted his family to eat?
...
In the first week of the GHFs operation, there were five mass-casualty events in the vicinity of distribution sites as desperate civilians were met by gun and tank fire. Children have been killed. The UNs aid chief, Tom Fletcher, said the sites made starvation a bargaining chip and were a fig leaf for further violence and displacement. A system that bypasses the UN has, in fact, bypassed humanity. Indeed, politicised aid distribution is unsafe for everyone involved last week, the GHF said eight of its local team members and volunteers had been killed.
...
On the same morning I met Abed Al Rahman, I spoke with 24-year-old Sheima, also hospitalised. She, too, went to one of the GHF distribution sites. Different day, same story: her family was denied humanitarian aid for months. Consumed by hunger, her father too sick to travel, Sheima reached a site. Again, gunfire. Boxes of food thrown to the dirt. I saw dead bodies on the ground, she told me. People stepping over them, just trying to get some food. In the mayhem, Sheima became entangled in wire her leg and arm torn open as she tried to flee. She didnt get any food. Even though I almost died, I would go again, she said. Im the eldest in my family we need food to survive. I wish to die with a full stomach, not from starvation.
...
Abed Al Rahman died of his injuries on 17 June 2025, after this article was written.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/20/gaza-food-aid-unicef-palestinians-starve
But sure, stick your head in the sand of "The Hamas-run health ministry says ... QED". Outside journalists are banned from entering Gaza. Israel has killed 170 journalists and media workers who live there. Hospitals and aid organizations back up what the "Hamas-run health ministry says". But, you know, Hamas said it first, so you can give yourself permission to ignore it.
Bayard
(26,193 posts)And no one stopping them. I don't care which side you favor you can't deny these are war crimes on starving civilians. trump must be so proud to sponsor it.
Klarkashton
(3,670 posts)AloeVera
(3,455 posts)Go ahead and discount the repeated pattern of killings that even the IDF has admitted to. They have admitted firing into crowds with tank shellings. You are not aware of what tank shells and shrapnel cause when fired into a densely-packed crowd? You should look it up. Quadcopters too while you're at it.
Denial feeds the genocide-machine.
Hellbound Hellhound
(455 posts)I, a witness, and my closest and dearest family members, saw a UFO.
Prove us wrong.
"Hamas Sez" indeed.
muriel_volestrangler
(104,227 posts)It all applies to you too.
Hellbound Hellhound
(455 posts)Bodies were brought into a hospital. Prove they were killed by an Israeli attack, since Hamas is also known to attack aid convoys.
Until it can be proven that Israel killed these folks, it's just propaganda.
PROVE IT.
muriel_volestrangler
(104,227 posts)I'd have thought the current US president would have shown you that.
You ignore the eye witnesses. You ignore the Unicef spokesperson, who talked to the victim before he died. You ignore, it seems, everything that is awkward for your point of view. That's what Netanyahu does, of course.
Hellbound Hellhound
(455 posts)Circumstantial evidence isn't evidence; it's the random word of some rando who thinks they know what they saw. Like I said, my family and I saw a UFO! Prove it otherwise! It's Oh-So-Convenient (TM) if they "Die" before they can give properly recorded testimony.
Caps may offend you but the sentiment stands: You can't, and Hamas can't, prove this happened, yet you're spouting it. Why?
"Hamas Sez" indeed.
questionseverything
(11,124 posts)Its not much of a jump to believing the un , and the press when they report Isreal murders people waiting to get food
iemanja
(56,370 posts)At aid sites. I have trouble believing that you actually believe what you say. It requires ignoring even Israels own armed forces. I think we know youre well aware of whats happening.
iemanja
(56,370 posts)Why, I wonder, is Israel so determined to keep journalists out of Gaza? A nation that wants the truth reported welcomes journalists. Israel bans them. There is no question Israel has committed countless war crimes. They are well documented, and Israel has admitted to many of them. You know this, yet you pretend otherwise. It's not even slightly convincing.
Defending genocide and war crimes is not acceptable.
Jit423
(1,568 posts)Tell me again why some Christians believe these people are the "Chosen People?" Chosen for what?
sarisataka
(21,865 posts)who, pray tell, are "these people" you are referring to
iemanja
(56,370 posts)This is becoming an almost daily occurrence.
Mosby
(18,827 posts)In order to demonize Israel and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
@HenMazzig
WATCH: NBC clarifies days later that the people they claimed were killed at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution site in Gaza were actually killed at a United Nations food distribution site.
Media are repeating verbatim bogus Hamas claims that people are getting killed seeking aid. These claims are clear examples of Hamas propaganda meant to discredit the GHF, the new source of aid being delivered directly to Gazan civilians.
Hamas relies on its income from hoarding and selling aid to innocent people. It's their lifeline. That's exactly why the US has funded an alternative.
Mainstream media must stop reporting Hamas propaganda as fact. The future of Gaza and the safety of its citizens depends on it.
Link to tweet
muriel_volestrangler
(104,227 posts)but that was just NBC's reporting that had been wrong. On DU, we had the accurate reporting by midday local time on the Tuesday:
The killings did not appear to be related to a new Israel- and US-supported aid delivery network that was introduced last month and has been marred by controversy and violence.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143480189
The article as it was then:
More than 200 also wounded on Tuesday morning as they waited for UN and commercial trucks to enter territory with aid supplies
At least 51 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 wounded while waiting for UN and commercial trucks to enter the territory with desperately needed food, according to Gazas health ministry and a local hospital.
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a nearby home before opening fire toward the crowd in the southern city of Khan Younis on Tuesday morning. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The killings did not appear to be related to a new Israel- and US-supported aid delivery network that was rolled out last month and has been marred by controversy and violence.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250617091048/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/17/dozens-killed-in-gaza-waiting-for-food-trucks-says-health-ministry
Perhaps Hamas had claimed that was a GHF site, but I saw no sign of it at the time. When it was specified in articles I read, it said it was UN trucks, and not the GHF. It's NBC's problem, not "mainstream media". The tweet has unfortunately implied that this wasn't an instance of people getting killed seeking aid; it was, with UN trucks.
AloeVera
(3,455 posts)Hen Mazzig is one of the best/worst depending on whether you stand for truth or want to bury your head in the sand...
Pounce on one irrelevant mistake by ONE news outlet and generalize it to claim everything is a lie.
The killings by the IDF take place wherever the pitiful amount of food is available. Whether at the aid hubs - and there have been at least 6 or 7 such instances, perhaps more by now - or at the very rare UN aid trucks allowed in - the system is DESIGNED to both starve and kill.
In order to gloss over this harsh reality, genocide-deniers like to nitpick on irrelevant mistakes so that they can generalize it to claim that everything is a lie.
The other thing they like to gloss over is the reality of the suffering of little children and adults alike, created and sustained with relish by the state they idolize.
iemanja
(56,370 posts)At aid sites, as you well know.
Additionally, if Israel were interested in the world knowing the truth, they would allow journalists into Gaza rather than banning foreign journalists and murdering Palestinian journalists.
AloeVera
(3,455 posts)Over and over. This last time, the last remaining cable into Gaza, over a week ago.
Then they pounce on the fact "there are no videos". So the killings must be a "lie".
It's diabolical.
Other than silencing witnesses to the atrocities, lack of internet and phones means people can't access IDF "warnings" to evacuate, or where to get aid and when. Ambulances etc can't get to the wounded or trapped.
To say it's diabolical might even be an understatement. It's genocidal.
MarineCombatEngineer
(15,864 posts)Last edited Sat Jun 21, 2025, 04:29 PM - Edit history (3)
destroying an enemies Comms is standard procedure in a war, the US Military, even when I was active, we were taught to go for the C&C vehicle, or Command posts to deny the enemy being able to communicate with forward forces.
Now, whether or not this is good strategy is not debatable , but within the US Military, and just about any other modern Military, those that have never served would not understand, with my training within the USMC, this is the best strategy to disrupt the enemies plans.
AloeVera
(3,455 posts)You are citing individual instances of blackout - not a general blackout impacting the whole CIVILIAN population.
Further, Gaza is not at all like a conventional war. There is no military defending the assaulted population. It's being assaulted from the air with advanced jet fighters and bombs, quadcopters and on the ground by heavy artillery - against which Gaza has absolutely no defense. So it's not a war, it's a killing field.
However, even if it were anything resembling a conventional war, there are laws governing its conduct - which Israel has ignored and violated repeatedly. In this instance, these amount to cyberattacks and are in violation of the principles of distinction and proportionality, in conjunction with the Customary Rule 54: prohibition of attacks against objects indispensable to the survival of civilian population.
This article from an international law expert explains why blanket blackouts are a form of cyber operations and illegal. Much more at the link:
https://opiniojuris.org/2024/03/20/communication-blackouts-israeli-cyberattacks-against-civilians-in-gaza/
Bolding mine - for emphasis on the awful consequences for civilians. We would not accept this level of suffering for any of "our own". That it's considered acceptable for Palestinians to suffer like this has led me to conclude a while ago that this is racism and Arab/Muslim hate, specifically of Palestinians in this case.
Even if hypothetically, this were done simply for military reasons, that would be disturbing too. It would reveal that concern for Palestinian civilians and international law protecting them is not even a consideration. That only Israel's military interests matter. It's a pattern, since the beginning of this "war" and hence the high civilian casualties and acts that without a doubt amount to war crimes.
MarineCombatEngineer
(15,864 posts)I was just giving you what standard military doctrine, from my training and combat experience, is.
Remember, I enlisted in the Corps during the Cold War when we thought that the Soviets were going to pour through the Fulda Gap in W. Germany, we were trained to take out the tanks and APC's with the command antennas to disrupt the C&C and cause confusion throughout the front line Soviet units because the Soviet Command structure was set up so that no commander could make an independent decision, every action taken by a Soviet commander had to be approved at the Brigade level by an officer, which takes time and therefore created an opportunity to decimate the enemy.
We weren't worried about the morality, we were more worried about staying alive.
Peace out
Dan.
AloeVera
(3,455 posts)And here we are, another war.
MarineCombatEngineer
(15,864 posts)As you know, I have been vehemently opposed to US involvement in this war, but Been A Dick Donald is bound and determined to become a war time Pres. that he doesn't realize the Dogs of War he has unleashed.
MarineCombatEngineer
(15,864 posts)this is all because of Been A Dick Donald's kowtoing to Nuttyahoo's desire to directly US forces in his ill conceived strike on Iran.