Israeli Soldiers Deliberately Fired at Unarmed Aid Seekers near US-Backed Distribution Sites in Gaza: Haaretz

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Israeli soldiers have deliberately opened fire at unarmed aid seekers near or at US-backed aid distribution sites in Gaza over the past month, acting under orders from their commanders.

According to a Haaretz, conversations with officers and soldiers reveal that commanders ordered forces to shoot at crowds waiting for food near or at the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid sites to drive them away or disperse them, despite posing no threat.

Israeli mass killings of aid seekers near GHF aid sites have become a grim daily reality amid chaotic scenes, as desperate Palestinians are given only a narrow window to rush for food and are later targeted by Israeli forces.

Gaza’s Government Media Office and the UN described these sites as “mass mass traps” and “slaughterhouses”

Over 540 aid seekers have been killed by and more than 4,000 wounded by Israeli forces near or at GHF aid distribution sites since it began its operations in Gaza on May 27, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Additionally, 39 others have been reported missing after heading to the GHF sites to obtain food.

After more than 80 days of total blockade, starvation, and growing international outrage, limited aid has allegedly been distributed by the GHF, a scandal-plagued organization backed by the US and Israel, created to bypass the UN’s established aid delivery infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

Most humanitarian organisations, including the UN, have distanced themselves from GHF, arguing that the group violates humanitarian principles by restricting aid to south and central Gaza, requiring Palestinians to walk long distances to collect aid, and only providing limited aid, among other critiques.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned that “weaponizing aid in this manner may constitute crimes against humanity.”

“Every day Palestinians are met with carnage in their attempts to receive supplies from the insufficient amount of aid trickling into Gaza,” MSF said.

Since the rapid distribution centers opened, Haaretz has counted 19 shooting incidents near them.

Soldiers Accounts

One soldier described the situation as a total breakdown of the Israeli military’s’ ethical codes in Gaza.

“It’s a killing field,” one soldier said. “Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day. They’re treated like a hostile force – no crowd-control measures, no tear gas – just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars. Then, once the center opens, the shooting stops, and they know they can approach. Our form of communication is gunfire.”

The soldier added, “We open fire early in the morning if someone tries to get in line from a few hundred meters away, and sometimes we just charge at them from close range. But there’s no danger to the forces.” According to him, “I’m not aware of a single instance of return fire. There’s no enemy, no weapons.”

He also said the activity in his area of service is referred to as Operation Salted Fish – the name of the Israeli version of the children’s game “Red light, green light”.

Isareli officers told Haaretz that the army does not allow the public in Israel or abroad to see footage of what takes place around the food distribution sites.

“Gaza doesn’t interest anyone anymore,” said a reservist who completed another round of duty in the northern Strip this week. “It’s become a place with its own set of rules. The loss of human life means nothing. It’s not even an ‘unfortunate incident,’ like they used to say.”

An officer serving in the security detail of a distribution center described the Israeli approach as deeply flawed: “Working with a civilian population when your only means of interaction is opening fire – that’s highly problematic, to say the least,” he told Haaretz. “It’s neither ethically nor morally acceptable for people to have to reach, or fail to reach, a [humanitarian zone] under tank fire, snipers and mortar shells.”

The officer pointed to another issue with the distribution centers – their lack of consistency. Residents don’t know when each center will open, which adds to the pressure on the sites and contributes to harm to civilians.

“I don’t know who’s making the decisions, but we give instructions to the population and then either don’t follow through with them or change them,” he said.

Testimonies from Israeli commanders and soldiers reveal a stark disconnect between official Israeli directives and actions on the ground in Gaza. While troops were instructed to avoid civilian areas and aid sites, private contractors, paid per house demolished, are driving operations closer to food distribution points, triggering deadly attacks on unarmed Palestinians seeking aid.

“These are areas where Palestinians are allowed to be – we’re the ones who moved closer and decided [they] endangered us. So, for a contractor to make another 5,000 shekels and take down a house, it’s deemed acceptable to kill people who are only looking for food,” said a soldier.

A senior officer whose name repeatedly comes up in testimonies about the shootings near aid sites is Brigadier General Yehuda Vach, commander of the Division 252. Haaretz previously reported how Vach turned the Netzarim corridor into a deadly route, endangered soldiers on the ground, and was suspected of ordering the destruction of a hospital in Gaza without authorization.

Now, an officer in the division says Vach decided to disperse gatherings of Palestinians waiting for UN aid trucks by opening fire. “This is Vach’s policy,” the officer said, “but many of the commanders and soldiers accepted it without question. [The Palestinians] are not supposed to be there, so the idea is to make sure they clear out, even if they’re just there for food.”

A discussion was held at Southern Command, where it emerged that troops had begun dispersing starving crowds using artillery shells.

“They talk about using artillery on a junction full of civilians as if it’s normal,” said a military source who attended the meeting. “An entire conversation about whether it’s right or wrong to use artillery, without even asking why that weapon was needed in the first place. What concerns everyone is whether it’ll hurt our legitimacy to keep operating in Gaza. The moral aspect is practically nonexistent. No one stops to ask why dozens of civilians looking for food are being killed every day.”

Another senior officer said the normalization of killing civilians has often encouraged firing at them near the aid distribution centers.

“The fact that live fire is directed at a civilian population – whether with artillery, tanks, snipers, or drones – goes against everything the army is supposed to stand for,” he said, criticizing the decisions made on the ground. “Why are people collecting food being killed just because they stepped out of line, or because some commander doesn’t like that they’re cutting in? Why have we reached a point where a teenager is willing to risk his life just to pull a sack of rice off a truck? And that’s who we’re firing artillery at?”

Abu Shabab Gang

In addition to Israeli fire, military sources told Haaretz some of the killings near the aid distribution centers were caused by gunfire from members of the Yasser Abu Shabab gang, supported and armed by Israel and are collaborators with Israel.

“Run or Die”: Starving Gazans Describe Chaos and Gunfire During Daily Race for Survival

Haaretz report confirmed testimonies gathered by Quds News Network earlier. Those who reach these aid sites risk their lives. Those who don’t, go home hungry—if they make it home at all.

Speaking to QNN, Yasser Eyad, a starved displaced Palestinian, described what happens before people even reach the supposed “safe zone.”

“Before we get there,” he said, “soldiers on tanks open fire. If you look at them, they shoot. Snipers and drones fire at us or drop bombs to stop us from getting close.”

He said many are injured before they even see the food.

There are no queues, no registration. “Whoever runs faster eats,” Eyad explained. “It’s not a system. It’s a stampede. If you hesitate, you starve.”

What Israel calls a “humanitarian corridor” is anything but safe.

People are told to arrive an hour before food trucks arrive. But by the time they get there, they are already under fire.

“There’s no asking for ID,” Eyad said. “You just run. The ones who make it get food. The ones who don’t, collapse from hunger or bullets.”