At least 26 Palestinians were killed and at least 175 were wounded as they made their way to receive food in the Gaza Strip, according to health officials and witnesses.

Witnesses said Israeli forces fired on crowds around 1,000 yards away from an aid site run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. A Palestinian journalist told the BBC that thousands of Palestinians had gathered near the aid site near Gaza’s southern city of Rafah when Israeli tanks approached and opened fire on the crowd.

The Israeli Defense Forces said it is “currently unaware of injuries caused by IDF fire within the Humanitarian Aid distribution site,” adding that “the matter is still under review.”

The foundation said in a statement that it delivered 16 truckloads of aid “without incident” early on Sunday. It has denied previous accounts of chaos and gunfire around its sites, which are in Israeli military zones where independent access is limited.

Smoke rises following an Israeli army bombardment in the Gaza Strip, seen from southern Israel, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)

Israel and the U.S., which also backs the foundation, say the new aid system seeks to prevent Hamas from taking away aid. Israel has not provided any evidence of systematic diversion and the U.N. denies it has happened.

U.N. agencies and major aid groups have refused to work with the new system, arguing that it violates humanitarian principles since it allows Israel to control who receives aid and forces people to relocate to distribution sites.

The U.N. system has struggled to bring in aid after Israel recently slightly eased its total blockade of the territory. The groups say Israel’s restrictions, the breakdown of law and order and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.