Many Palestinians Dead in Gaza Due to Recent Israeli Attacks; Others Gather Near Aid Stations

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Mahmoud Makram recalls how the shooting unfolded. The Palestinian man says he was among a group waiting for food near an aid distribution point in Rafah, southern Gaza, when suddenly gunfire came towards them.

For five minutes he says he and others were trapped under fire.

“The shooting was targeted. It was not random,” Makram told Reuters news agency.

Some, he said, were shot in the head, others in the torso, and a man next to him was shot directly in the heart.

“There is no mercy there, no mercy. People go because they are hungry but they die and come back in body bags.”

Medics in Gaza said 17 people trying to get food aid were killed when Israeli troops opened fire.

The Israeli military said its troops had fired warning shots, but that its review of the incident had found no evidence of anyone hurt by its soldiers’ fire.

Sunday’s (AEST) reported mass shooting was the latest in a series of such incidents that the United Nations rights office said had seen at least 798 people killed trying to get food in the past six weeks.

Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near a distribution center

As truce talks falter, a further 17 Gazans are killed at an aid distribution point shooting. Source: AP / Abdel Kareem Hana

After partially lifting a total blockade of all goods into Gaza in late May, Israel launched a new aid distribution system, relying on US and Israeli-backed group Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) to distribute food under the protection of Israeli troops.

The United Nations has rejected the system as inherently dangerous and a violation of humanitarian neutrality principles. Israel says it is necessary to keep militants from diverting aid.

GHF says it uses “limited, non-violent crowd control measures when necessary to prevent chaos and protect civilians”.

‘Torn to pieces’: fresh airstrikes kill dozens

Meanwhile, airstrikes in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah killed 13 people including four children, Associated Press (AP) reported, citing officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Fifteen others were killed in Khan Younis in the south, according to Nasser Hospital, AP said.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 38 people were killed across the territory on Saturday, including in an overnight air strike on an area sheltering the displaced.

“While we were sleeping, there was an explosion… where two boys, a girl and their mother were staying,” Bassam Hamdan told AFP after the attack in an area of Gaza City.

“We found them torn to pieces, their remains scattered,” he added.

A Palestinian woman carries the body of her son, Majd Ahmed, 6, who was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, 12 July 2025. Source: AP / Jehad Alshrafi/AP

The Israeli military said on Saturday it had attacked “approximately 250 terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip” in the previous 48 hours.

It said fighter jets hit “over 35 Hamas terror targets” around Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.

Gaza ceasefire talks falter

Progress is stalling on talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza, with the sides divided over the extent of Israeli forces’ withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave.

The indirect talks over a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire continued throughout Saturday, an Israeli official told Reuters, seven days since talks began. US President Donald Trump has said he hoped for a breakthrough soon based on a new US-backed ceasefire proposal.

Delegations from Israel and Hamas have been in Qatar pushing for an agreement which envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals and discussions on ending the war.

The Israeli official blamed the impasse on Hamas, which he said “remains stubborn, sticking to positions that do not allow the mediators to advance an agreement”. Hamas has previously blamed Israeli demands for blocking a deal.

A Palestinian source said that Hamas had rejected withdrawal maps which Israel had proposed that would leave around 40 per cent of Gaza under Israeli control, including all of the southern area of Rafah and further territories in northern and eastern Gaza.

Two Israeli sources said Hamas wanted Israel to retreat to lines it held in a previous ceasefire before it renewed its offensive in March.

Thousands demonstrate in Israel for hostage deal

In Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities, former hostages and relatives of those still held in Gaza were among thousands calling for the government to secure the release of the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.

“The window of opportunity to bring home all 50 hostages — living and dead — is open now, and it won’t be for long,” Eli Sharabi, said at the Tel Aviv rally on Sunday AEST, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Sharabi was abducted during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks, and held hostage for 16 months in Gaza.

Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip attend a rally demanding their release

Israelis continue to protest for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip. Source: AP / Oded Balilty

After his release in early February, he learned that his wife and two young daughters had been murdered during the attacks. The body of Sharabi’s brother, Yossi, is still being held in Gaza.

Addressing the Israeli government, Sharabi said: “You were elected to serve this people. With humility, with modesty. It is arrogance that brought disaster upon us — and we must not return to this pattern of behaviour”.

According to official Israeli figures, 50 people kidnapped from Israel are still being held in the Gaza Strip, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.