TEL AVIV, June 27, 2025 (WAFA) – The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Friday that the Israeli army has issued explicit orders to its forces to deliberately fire at Palestinians gathered near aid distribution points in Gaza over the past month, despite knowing they posed no threat.
Citing testimonies from Israeli soldiers and officers, the report revealed that the shootings were carried out under the pretext of dispersing or pushing back civilians, even though many were merely waiting for food. One soldier described the situation in Gaza as one of “complete loss of the purity of arms,” while another referred to the scenes as “an execution field,” where between one to five people are killed daily near distribution sites.
The so-called humanitarian centers, operated under an Israeli-U.S. mechanism by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, are supervised by Israeli forces and open for only one hour a day. They often lack proper organization, and many civilians who arrive early or after closing are fired upon with no warning, soldiers said.
Soldiers further confirmed that instead of using crowd dispersal methods such as tear gas, troops resorted to heavy gunfire, grenade launchers, and mortar shells. One soldier reported that civilians were sometimes shot at close range even when standing hundreds of meters away in early morning hours. He noted that no gunfire had ever come from the Palestinian side.
An officer acknowledged that the army avoids documenting these incidents and suggested that the humanitarian façade provided by the aid centers is meant to maintain international legitimacy for continuing the war. “Gaza no longer matters to anyone,” another reservist said. “The death of civilians isn’t even called a tragic incident anymore.”
The report also noted that civilians are not informed of the exact opening times of aid centers, leading to chaotic and often deadly scenes. In some cases, when people arrived early to secure food, aid distribution was canceled entirely.
According to Palestinian medical sources, more than 550 civilians have been killed and over 4,000 injured by Israeli fire across Gaza while waiting for aid since late May.
M.N
