In the dark hours of the night on Salah al-Din Street, desperation turned deadly as Israeli troops clashed with aid seekers, leaving a trail of casualties in their wake.
At a Glance
- An Israeli strike targeted a crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid on Salah al-Din Street in central Gaza.
- At least one person was killed and 43 others were wounded in the attack, according to medical sources at Al-Awda Hospital.
- The attack is part of a recurring and deadly pattern of violence against civilians at aid distribution points.
- The incident comes amid a severe hunger crisis in Gaza, with an extremely limited number of aid trucks able to enter the strip.
Violence on Salah al-Din Street
A crowd of desperate Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in central Gaza came under fire from Israeli forces in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Medical sources at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat reported receiving at least one dead and 43 wounded from the incident, which took place on Salah al-Din Street, south of Wadi Gaza.
Eyewitnesses described a chaotic and terrifying scene. “Around 1am [22:00 GMT Tuesday], they started shooting at us,” Bassam Abu Shaar, who was at the site, told news agencies. “The gunfire intensified from tanks, aircraft, and quadcopter bombs.” He described seeing people killed and wounded on the ground, adding, “We couldn’t help them or even escape ourselves.”
A Deepening Humanitarian Crisis
The attack highlights the extreme desperation of Gaza’s civilian population, which is facing a severe and worsening hunger crisis. With only a very limited number of aid trucks able to enter the besieged territory each day, thousands of people regularly gather at distribution points, often overnight, in the hope of securing food for their families.
“Only a limited, very limited number of trucks are coming in [to Gaza] every single day, and people are very desperate,” journalist Hind Khoudary reported from Deir el-Balah for Al Jazeera. “They’re being killed as they try to take whatever is on the trucks.” The incident on Salah al-Din Street was just one of several deadly attacks across Gaza in a 24-hour period that killed dozens of Palestinians.
A Pattern of Deadly Attacks
While the Israeli military has not yet commented on this specific incident, it is part of a deadly pattern of attacks on civilians at aid distribution points. Human rights organizations have repeatedly condemned the attacks, and UN officials have labeled the militarized aid system a “death trap.”
The repeated killings of aid seekers have intensified international calls for a ceasefire and for a safe and effective humanitarian system to be put in place. Without a dramatic change, the cycle of violence and desperation in Gaza appears set to continue.
