By: Malik Mukhtar| June 8, 2025
“Even retreating was almost impossible. Everyone was lying on the ground, unable to lift their heads — because if you did, you got shot.”
— Mohammed Saqer, survivor
In the early hours of Sunday, June 1st, as the sky over Rafah began to soften into dawn, thousands of starving Palestinians surged toward a fenced humanitarian aid center — not for hope, but for survival.
They never made it.
According to a CNN investigation backed by geolocated footage, expert analysis, and dozens of testimonies, Israeli gunfire turned a desperate line for food into a massacre near Tel al-Sultan in southern Gaza. It was not an isolated tragedy, but the latest in a string of deadly incidents tied to the controversial aid distribution mechanism controlled by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
“We survived a night that was worse than we could imagine. The reality was death and hunger — we were just searching for food.”
— Saqer
Fired on While Crawling for Aid
At around 3:30 a.m., survivors say, Israeli tanks opened fire on crowds waiting on Al-Rasheed Street — 800 meters from the GHF site. These were not armed militants, but emaciated civilians. Mothers. Children. Sons waving their hands in surrender.
“He was waving his hands toward the tank… and within seconds, he was hit with gunfire and fell to the ground.”
— Ihab Musleh, whose 13-year-old son Yazeed was shot in the stomach
Witnesses described bullets ripping through heads and eyes. Aerial surveillance drones hovered above, giving warnings in Arabic while shots cracked the silence. Gunfire was recorded at 900 rounds per minute — consistent with FN MAG machine guns mounted on Israeli Merkava tanks.
“In front of me were four young men with direct injuries to the head. A man next to me was shot in the eye.”
— Mohammed Saqer
“They weren’t warning shots. I’ve seen soldiers shoot around people to scare them. But this… they were shooting to kill us.”
— Mohammad Abu Rezeq, survivor, shot in the stomach
Ameen Khalifa, a 30-year-old sports enthusiast, survived Sunday’s gunfire, only to be gunned down by a drone two days later — again while seeking food.
“We filmed ourselves lying flat on the sand as bullets flew over us. One of my friends died going back the next day.”
— Ameen’s final message, shared by a friend
Aid in a Killing Field
The GHF site finally opened at 5:00 a.m. What followed was chaos. Surveillance video shows crowds flooding in under tracer fire up the sky. The air smelled of dust, cordite, and desperation.
“They told us to stay on the road. But where was the road? It was a field of death. If you moved, you were a target.”
— Anonymous survivor
By sunrise, the bodies had fallen silent — lifeless in the sand. Blood soaked the ground once meant for bread. CNN confirmed at least 31 dead, over 200 wounded, including children and elderly. Most victims were shot in the head or chest. The Red Cross reported the “highest number of weapon-wounded in a single event” since opening its Gaza field hospital.
“I saw brains outside of skulls. Chests blown open. And it wasn’t just one or two — it was dozens.”
— Dr. Ahmad Abou-Sweid, Australian doctor at Nasser Hospital
Photos of bullets pulled from the wounded matched NATO 7.62mm M80 rounds, standard in Israeli military weapons. Yet both the IDF and GHF deny responsibility. GHF claimed there was “no gunfire within the site or its surroundings” — a statement CNN’s geolocation, survivor accounts, and weapons analysis contradict.
“They handed us a map with a red line and said, ‘Follow this to survive.’ That line led us into a storm of bullets.”
— Khaled, 24, who was shot in the leg
Not One Tragedy, But Three
By Tuesday, Israeli forces had fired on civilians again near Tel al-Sultan — killing nearly 30 more. The military said they fired “warning shots” toward “suspects” deviating from the route. But survivors say the shots were not meant to warn.
“We were not deviating. We were desperate. The only aid site open, and they surrounded it with tanks.”
— Fatima, 39, mother of two, wounded in her arm
Maps shared by GHF show a red "STOP" sign now placed over Al-Alam, the roundabout where the worst bloodshed occurred. But the damage was done. Children are dead. Fathers are burying sons who starved for days only to be killed while trying to survive another.
A Death Trap Funded by Allies
The GHF was designed by U.S. and Israeli officials as a workaround after allegations — never publicly substantiated — that Hamas was siphoning UN aid. But this new model, heavily militarized and run with foreign oversight, has quickly become what the UN warned would be a “death trap”.
“You can’t drop food with one hand and shoot with the other.”
— UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity
Final Thoughts: A War on the Starving
The Sunday massacre is not an outlier — it is a symptom of a deeper rot. When starving people are mowed down in the sand before they can reach a box of rice… when children are shot while waving for mercy… when humanitarian aid becomes a front line — the world cannot afford silence.
Not when the victims are lying face down in the sand, clutching empty sacks meant for bread.
“We did not come to fight. We came for food. Why did they kill us?”
— Yousef, 12, orphaned survivor, speaking from a hospital bed
📌 Share this post if you believe food should not come at the price of life.
💬 Leave a comment if you think the world must hold those responsible accountable.
📷 Source: CNN Investigation, June 5, 2025.
Comments