An elderly Palestinian woman was martyred and several others were injured on Wednesday after Israeli occupation forces opened fire on civilians desperately waiting for food aid in southern Gaza.

Local sources identified the victim as 65-year-old Kifah Odeh Suleiman al-Sawarka, who was shot and killed near the Miraj area, south of Khan Yunis. Dozens of civilians had gathered on Al-Alam Street, the site of an earlier aid distribution, when Israeli soldiers began firing on the crowd. Witnesses reported Israeli helicopters circling overhead before the assault began, terrorizing the already starving population.

The attack forced the cancellation of urgently needed aid distribution for the day, further deepening the humanitarian catastrophe faced by over two million besieged Palestinians.

This assault came just 24 hours after Israeli forces launched a deadly strike on another aid center in Rafah, killing three civilians, injuring 46, and leaving at least seven people missing. Both centers are located in so-called "buffer zones" — areas cynically designated by the Israeli military, where civilians are lured with promises of food, only to face gunfire instead.

The Gaza Government Media Office (GMO) condemned Wednesday’s massacre as a cold-blooded war crime, accusing Israel of using humanitarian aid as a tool of psychological warfare, forced displacement, and demographic control.

“This was not a tragic accident — it was a deliberate, calculated massacre against hungry, exhausted civilians,” the GMO stated. “What the world is witnessing in Gaza is not a humanitarian failure, but a genocide in slow motion.”

Gaza has endured more than 90 days of systematic starvation due to the total blockade imposed by Israel, with nearly 20 months of intensifying military aggression destroying homes, hospitals, and lifelines for survival.

The GMO emphasized that so-called "buffer zones" and forced gathering points do not reflect humanitarian concern, but instead represent a racist, colonial policy aimed at uprooting Palestinian society and stripping its people of their dignity and land.

“The occupation bears full responsibility for this humanitarian catastrophe,” the statement read, citing Article 2 of the 1948 Genocide Convention, and reaffirming that Israel’s actions constitute an ongoing act of genocide against the Palestinian people.

As the international community remains largely paralyzed, Palestinians in Gaza continue to be gunned down not just in their homes, but even as they wait for bread and water — their right to life denied with impunity. (ILKHA)