Eight Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces on Monday morning while waiting for food aid near the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to local sources and eyewitnesses.

The victims were part of a crowd of starving civilians gathered near a U.S. aid distribution point west of Rafah when Israeli forces reportedly opened fire without provocation. The massacre comes amid growing warnings from international aid agencies and the United Nations about the catastrophic humanitarian conditions and the lethal risks Palestinians face simply trying to access food.

Local sources reported that the victims were unarmed and had been queuing for aid when they were gunned down in cold blood.

This incident adds to mounting international outrage over Israel’s so-called “aid mechanism,” which critics say deliberately endangers civilians and obstructs the delivery of humanitarian relief. Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), described the situation last week as a “death trap.”

“Aid distribution has become a death trap,” Lazzarini said in a statement. “This humiliating system has forced thousands of hungry and desperate people to walk for tens of miles to an area that’s all but pulverized due to heavy bombardment by the Israeli Army.”

He emphasized that only a large-scale, UN-led aid operation can deliver supplies safely and effectively, and called for immediate international intervention.

Since the beginning of Israel’s full-scale war on Gaza in October 2023, the death toll among Palestinians has soared to at least 54,880, with over 126,227 others wounded, according to the latest figures from health authorities. Thousands more are believed to be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings, inaccessible to emergency responders due to ongoing Israeli attacks.

Despite international condemnation and multiple calls for a ceasefire—including resolutions from the UN Security Council and legal orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to prevent acts of genocide—Israel's military campaign has continued unabated. Human rights groups and legal experts have increasingly characterized the war as genocidal in nature, pointing to deliberate attacks on civilians, starvation tactics, and the decimation of Gaza’s infrastructure.

The killing of civilians seeking food only deepens the urgent humanitarian crisis facing Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, most of whom are now displaced, hungry, and living under constant threat.

Calls for an immediate ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian access, and international accountability are growing louder, but Palestinians continue to pay the price for global inaction. (ILKHA)