Israeli Army Admits Firing on Starving Palestinians at Aid Points in Gaza
Military officials confess to deadly artillery strikes on civilians seeking food, claim it was to maintain "order" amid accusations of war crimes and mass starvation.
Watan-Israeli military officials admitted Monday to opening fire on Palestinians seeking aid at distribution points in the Gaza Strip — including with artillery — even though the civilians posed no threat to Israeli forces.
Their comments were made in response to a report published Friday by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which included testimonies from Israeli soldiers and officers confirming they had received orders to shoot at starving Palestinians near aid distribution centers.
Haaretz quoted unnamed officials from the army’s Southern Command as saying that incidents occurred in Gaza in which civilians were killed due to what they described as “imprecise and uncalculated” artillery fire.
They noted that the most serious incident involved shells being fired directly at civilians, injuring between 30 and 40 people — some of whom died as a result.
The officials claimed the shootings were aimed at “maintaining order at food distribution points.”
Despite daily massacres targeting the hungry, Israeli military officials further claimed the army is now “working in different ways to avoid this.”
Since May 27, 2025, Israel and the United States have implemented a unilateral plan to distribute limited aid in Gaza, away from UN and international supervision. According to multiple reports, Israeli forces regularly fire at Palestinians lining up for aid, forcing them to choose between starvation or death by bullets.
Meanwhile, Israel has sealed off Gaza’s crossings since March 2, allowing only a trickle of aid trucks in, despite over 500 trucks per day being the minimum required to address the humanitarian needs.
The Haaretz report also noted that Southern Command officials denied the existence of a famine in Gaza and claimed “residents are relatively satisfied with the current food distribution.”
Yet, they also admitted that “most of the aid entering via convoys is looted by clans,” attributing this to “Hamas losing control over large areas.”
The officials added that the Israeli military “does not intervene to prevent aid looting,” asserting their only role is to ensure the aid enters Gaza — not to guarantee it reaches the designated distribution points.
