Displaced Palestinians gather to receive relief supplies at a distribution center in the central Gaza Strip, June 8, 2025. (Credit: Eyad Baba/AFP)
The Gaza Strip Civil Defense announced Sunday the deaths of 10 people, including two minors, in Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territory, where the war has entered its 21st month.
"Five martyrs and dozens of injured were transported to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis after the occupation opened fire, around 6 a.m. on civilians," described Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for the relief organization, to AFP.
According to him, these people were heading to an aid distribution center west of Rafah, where one of the sites of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is located, an opaquely funded organization supported by the United States and Israel, with which the U.N. refuses to cooperate. When questioned by AFP, the army stated it fired on people who, despite warnings, "continued to advance in a way that endangered soldiers." They added that the vicinity of the distribution site had been publicly declared an "active night combat zone."
"Around 4:30 a.m., people began to gather in the al-Alam area in Rafah, and after about an hour and a half, hundreds of people advanced [toward the distribution site], but the army opened fire," described Abdallah Nour al-Din, a witness at the scene, to AFP.
In the courtyard of Nasser Hospital, where emergency services reported bringing the bodies, an AFP video shows dozens of people weeping around blood-stained white plastic shrouds. "I can't see you like that," cried Line al-Daghma in front of her father's body, while a man lay on his brother's corpse, embracing the mortuary bag at the dead man's face.
These individuals gave the same account of events as Nour al-Din and lamented the difficulties accessing food aid after more than two months of total blockade and dozens recently killed at the outskirts of distribution sites, according to the Civil Defense.
In his report, Bassal also reported five deaths, including two girls, in a strike around 1 a.m. on a dwelling in the al-Mawassi displaced persons' camp in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli army accused Bassal on Sunday of spreading false information to "serve the war objectives" of Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007 and considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union. He denied this to AFP.
Gaza's health ministry announced Sunday a toll of 106 dead and 393 injured from Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours.
Among them, five people were killed and more than 123 were injured, Gazans waiting in lines at humanitarian aid distribution sites. According to the ministry's statement, the war in Gaza has resulted in a total of 54,880 deaths and 126,227 injuries since Oct. 7, 2023. AFP is unable to independently verify the conflict's toll.