CAIRO: At least 58 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza in a single day, including 27 aid seekers who were shot dead at a food distribution site in Rafah, according to medical sources.

Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis received 35 of those killed on Tuesday. Six others were received by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah. In Gaza City, al-Shifa Hospital received 14 bodies, and three more were delivered to al-Ahli Arab Hospital, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

More than 180 Palestinians were wounded when Israeli forces opened fire on a group of Palestinians who were trying to approach the distribution centre in Rafah.

While the attacks on aid operations continued for a third consecutive day, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said, “We are trying to understand what happened”.

UN rights agency says obstructing access to food ‘constitutes a war crime’

The UN human rights office in Geneva said the impediment of access to food relief for civilians in Gaza “constitutes a war crime” and described the attacks on people trying to access food aid as “unconscionable”.

Head of the UN agency Volker Turk urged a prompt and impartial investigation into the killings.

A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah had received 184 casualties, adding that 19 of those were dead upon arrival, and eight died of their wounds shortly afterwards.

Video showed injured people being rushed to a medical centre on carts drawn by donkeys.

The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched its first distribution sites last week in an effort to alleviate widespread hunger amongst Gaza’s 2.3 million people, most of whom have been forced to abandon their homes to flee fighting. The Foundation’s operation, which bypasses traditional aid groups, has been fiercely criticised by the UN and established charities which say it does not follow humanitarian principles.

The private group, which is endorsed by Israel, said it had distributed 21 truckloads of food on Tuesday and claimed that the reported violence had not happened on its site.

“This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site and control. We recognise the difficult nature of the situation and advise all civilians to remain in the safe corridor when travelling to our distribution sites.”

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2025