Palestinian women mourn the death of loved ones, killed during overnight Israeli strikes, outside the morgue of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on June 26, 2025. (Credit: Omar al-Qattaa/AFP)
Since Israeli and U.S.-run distribution operations in Gaza began one month ago, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed and another 4,066 injured while seeking humanitarian aid at the four sites run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to a statement from Gaza’s Government Media Office released on Thursday.
Calling the aid centers “death traps," the Gaza authority also said that 39 Palestinians who had set out in an attempt to pick up aid boxes are still reported missing, Middle East Eye reports.
“What is taking place at these so-called ‘centers’ constitutes a full-fledged war crime for which the Israeli occupation bears primary and direct responsibility," the statement reads. "We strongly condemn this ongoing crime, wherein starving civilians are lured and then systematically and deliberately gunned down on a daily basis according to pre-set schedules.”
“The occupation is using food as a weapon of mass killing, turning what it claims to be ‘aid’ into a tool of extermination and domination.”
Fifteen human rights groups have come out saying the "militarized aid distribution" method introduced by GHF must be suspended. The American Center for Constitutional Rights also sent GHF a cease-and-desist letter earlier this month, warning of its complicity in war crimes.
GHF itself issued a formal complaint to the Israeli army on Tuesday over “possible harassment by Israeli soldiers directed at our convoys” heading to the Wadi Gaza site, the organization said in a statement.
The foundation, whose CEO quit the day operations were meant to begin, citing humanitarian concerns, holds a monopoly on all supplies entering the Strip, which has been under total Israeli blockade since March 2, creating catastrophic conditions.
GHF runs four distribution sites meant to provide for around two million people. On some days, not all sites are able to open. The organization's security forces are made up of American mercenaries.
