Palestinians gather at an aid distribution point set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, on June 25, 2025. (Credit: Eyad Baba/AFP)
94 Palestinians were killed by airstrikes and Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip between last night and early Thursday morning, according to hospitals and the health ministry of the enclave, cited by the American agency The Associated Press, adding that the Israeli army did not comment on these strikes immediately.
Among the victims, 45 were trying to obtain essential humanitarian aid. Five people were killed while they were in front of sites associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the newly created American organization supported by Israel to feed the population of the Gaza Strip, while 40 others were killed as they waited for aid in other locations throughout Gaza, reported AP.
According to a statement from the health ministry in Gaza, the total death toll from Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours amounted to 118 with 581 injured. Since Oct. 7, 2023, at least 57,130 people have been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza, and more than 135,173 injured.
The United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) requested, in a message posted on its website, the opening of an investigation into the deadly shootings targeting Palestinians attempting to obtain food under the current food distribution mechanism in Gaza, supported by the United States and Israel, reported AFP. While the former United Nations-led distribution network operated approximately 400 sites in the Gaza Strip, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, guarded by armed private security agents working for an American company, has only set up four "mega-sites," three in the south and one in the center of Gaza – none in the north, where conditions are the most difficult.
Strikes on a school sheltering displaced persons
Among the death toll in the past hours, 15 people were killed in strikes targeting tents in the vast al-Mawassi area, where many displaced Palestinians are located. Another strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced persons also killed 15 people. Thursday in Gaza City, a civil defense official, Mohammad al-Moughayir, told AFP that there were "12 martyrs among whom a majority of children and women, and a large number of injured during an Israeli airstrike on the Mustafa Hafez school, which houses displaced persons, in the al-Rimal neighborhood."
AFP images show young children wandering through the charred building after the bombing, amid a heap of debris where some sift through the rubble. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army responded that it was examining this information and another incident in central Gaza, where according to rescuers, six Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid were killed by Israeli gunfire.
Israel has recently expanded its military operations in the Gaza Strip, where the war triggered by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil on Oct. 7, 2023, has created dire humanitarian conditions and displaced almost the entire approximately 2.4 million inhabitants of the small coastal territory. Many people are trying to find refuge in school buildings, but these have repeatedly been the target of Israeli attacks, which according to the army, target Hamas militants hiding among civilians.
On Thursday, the Israeli army claimed to have targeted a terrorist cell in Gaza that launched rockets towards Israel yesterday, according to Haaretz, adding that its members were killed during an air strike.
The GHF in question
The humanitarian aid distribution mechanism has been controversial since late May with its takeover by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an organization supported by the United States and Israel. The United Nations accused Israeli military of "bombing and shooting at Palestinians trying to reach distribution points, causing many deaths." The Israeli army acknowledged opening fire near aid distribution sites but claimed to have responded to a "threat."
"We will not close. We have a task to accomplish. It is very simple: provide free food to the people of Gaza every day. That's it," stated GHF President Johnnie Moore on Wednesday. Given the restrictions imposed on the media by Israel, which surrounds the Gaza Strip, and the difficulties of access on the ground, AFP was unable to independently verify the claims of the civil defense.
'Our children will suffer from it'
Behind the scenes, the Israeli political class continued to be divided between supporters of a 60-day truce — during which half of the hostages still alive held in Gaza would be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners — and those who favor continuing fighting until Hamas is destroyed. "If we fail to eliminate Hamas, our children will suffer from it!" said National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in an interview with Channel 14.
He intends, with another far-right minister, Bezalel Smotrich, to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss American proposals for a cease-fire in Gaza. Netanyahu is expected to travel next week to the United States for a third meeting in less than six months with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is pressing for a rapid cessation of hostilities.
The Oct. 7, 2023, attack resulted in the death of 1,219 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 49 are still hostages in Gaza, 27 of whom have been declared dead by the Israeli army. More than 57,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli military retaliatory campaign, according to data from the health ministry in Gaza, deemed reliable by the U.N.
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