AhlulBayt News Agency: An elderly Palestinian woman was killed, and several others were injured on Wednesday when Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened fire on civilians gathered near an aid distribution site in Rafah, southern Gaza.
Local sources identified the victim as 65-year-old Kifah Odeh Suleiman al-Sawarka, who was fatally shot near the Miraj area south of Khan Yunis. Witnesses reported that IOF soldiers fired at a crowd waiting desperately for humanitarian aid.
Dozens of civilians had assembled on Al-Alam Street, where aid had been distributed the previous day. Eyewitnesses and journalists at the scene stated that Israeli helicopters hovered overhead before opening fire and ordering people to vacate the area. The attack led to the cancellation of the day’s aid distribution.
This incident follows a deadly attack on Tuesday, when IOF forces targeted another aid center in Rafah, killing three civilians, injuring 46, and leaving seven others missing. These centers are located within so-called “buffer zones” established by the Israeli occupation military.
The Gaza Government Media Office (GMO) described the attack as a deliberate massacre of civilians who had been lured to the area by promises of food distribution. “This was a war crime committed in cold blood against hungry, besieged civilians,” the Office stated. It added that Gaza residents have endured more than 90 consecutive days of starvation since the complete closure of border crossings and nearly 20 months of escalating genocide.
The Office condemned Israel’s policy of using aid distribution as a tool for forced displacement and population control. “The creation of so-called buffer zones and forced assembly sites amid a backdrop of hunger and death is not humanitarian aid—it is a form of collective punishment,” the GMO stated.
It further emphasized that the situation on the ground reveals the failure of the Israeli aid distribution model. International experts, Hebrew media outlets, and human rights observers have noted the chaos and violence erupting in these areas as hungry civilians, driven by desperation, are met with live ammunition instead of relief.
“The occupation bears full responsibility for the humanitarian catastrophe it has orchestrated through siege, starvation, bombing, and destruction,” the statement added. Citing Article 2 of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the GMO reaffirmed its stance that the events in Rafah constitute part of an ongoing act of genocide.
It stressed that the establishment of “buffer zones” and forced assembly lines amid the threat of death and starvation does not reflect genuine humanitarian intentions. Instead, it embodies a racist political strategy aimed at dismantling Palestinian society, perpetuating its suffering, and providing a false humanitarian cover for Israeli security and military agendas.
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